History of The Wm. B. Tennison
Please see the articles in the Bugeye Times by Richard J. S. Dodds
A
Century of Service as Bugeye, Buyboat, and Tour Boat
The
Wm. B. Tennison - Part II
The following is the full article
taken from
National Historic Landmark Theme Study
by Ralph Eshelman, 1993
Click
here if you would like to go to the original web site where this article
is located
Wm. B. Tennison
National Historic Landmark Theme Study
by Ralph Eshelman, 1993
Physical Description:
Wm. B. Tennison is a nine-log
sailing bugeye hull converted to powered buy-boat, official number
081674. She is homeported at Back Creek, Solomons Harbor, Solomons,
Calvert County, Maryland. Tennison was built in 1899 by Frank
Laird at Crabb Island (near Oriole), Maryland. She is 60 feet, 6 inches
long on deck, has a beam of 17 feet, 6 inches and a draft of 4 feet, 6
inches. Her wide beam and shoal draft, typical of the bugeye type, is
ideally suited for oyster dredging on the shallow waters of the
Chesapeake Bay.
Tennison maintains essentially the
appearance of her conversion to a powered buy-boat in 1908-9. She is the
only bugeye buy-boat conversion extant and is the oldest licensed
passenger vessel in the fifth Coast Guard district and reputed to be the
second oldest in the United States.
HULL
The hull bottom is constructed of nine logs
of hand hewn heart pitch pine. The hull is approximately 9 inches thick
at the center or keel log and tapers to 6 inches at the outermost edges.
The wing logs are approximately 6 inches thick to the turn of the bilge
and taper to approximately 3 inches at their outermost edges. The keel
uses the heaviest log to help stabilize the craft. The four wing logs on
each side of the keel log are fastened together with 5/8-inch
wrought-iron bolts. The hull has a flat bottom with rounded bilges, and
is double ended or sharp at each end. She exhibits a well-formed sheer
with raked stem and stern posts.
The hull is framed and planked above the
logs to add freeboard. Sawn oak transverse frames 3 1/2 by 4 inches are
spaced approximately on 30-inch centers. Sawn oak deck beam clamps
measure 2 1/2 by 8 inches. The deck beams are sawn oak sided 5 by 6
inches and spaced approximately 5 feet apart. Main structural members
closed by deck beams, frames, and clamps are bolted with galvanized
drifts cinch rings.
The forward bulkhead separates the foc'sle
from the main hold. When Tennison was converted to power, a
second bulkhead was added which separated the engine compartment aft
from the hold. Both bulkheads, constructed of vertical tongue and groove
planking attached to athwartship stiffenings, afford partially
watertight compartments.
The centerboard trunk was removed during
the 1908-9 conversion. The hull is painted white above the water line
and red below. The hull bottom is covered with copper sheathing to just
above the waterline for protection from marine boring worms and ice. The
rudder is hung outboard of the sternpost on iron pintals.
DECK
Heavy deck planks along the centerline,
called the king plank, reinforce the bow from the stem to the foc'sle
coaming and then continue aft to the foremast. The king plank is made up
of four members each 5 1/2 inches wide forward of the foc'sle and three
members aft measuring 8 1/2 inches, 6 inches, and 8 1/4 inches, reading
left to right facing the bow. Decking is laid fore and aft, of 2-inch by
2 1/2-inch heart pitch pine, seated in bedding compound and fastened
with galvanized boat nails. The hold is fitted with hatch coamings and
hatch coverings amidship.
A construction detail common to most
bugeyes is the very sharp canoe stern, nearly as narrow as the bow. The
deck at the stern is given more work space by a "patent stern"
which extends out beyond the hull. The patent stern is framed of oak and
drifted to the stern post, sheer strake, and covering boards. This
technological improvement over earlier bugeyes, was by 1910 a standard
feature. The deck is painted white with light tan trim. RIG
Originally Tennison was a sailing
vessel with two masts. During the conversion to power, the mainmast and
the running rigging of the foremast was removed. The foremast was
retained to hold the hoisting rig used by a buyboat to move cargo. The
present foremast, installed in 1976, is at least the second foremast on Tennison.
Reflecting its new function, it is nearly perpendicular to the deck
rather than raked as in the traditional Chesapeake sailing mast. Two
wooden gaff-rigged booms on the foremast helped lift cargo over each
side of the buy-boat. From each boom hung a bushel-size oyster measuring
bucket which was used to empty the vessels of oysters after the catch
was sold. The booms and hoisting rig were removed in the early 1970s and
replaced with a fixed pipe boom which was subsequently removed in the
late 1970s when Tennison stopped buying oysters. Standing rigging
consists of three galvanized wire stays, one from the bow and one from
each side.
PILOT HOUSE
The pilot house is rectangular with a
rounded forward side as is typical of Chesapeake buy-boats. Along the
front are 3 drop windows. Both port and starboard sides of the pilot
house are pierced by an access door and drop window. A third door is
located at the aft end of the pilot house. The house is covered with
vertical tongue-and-groove cypress siding. A traditional wooden spoke
wheel steers the boat through a rope system to the rudder. On the port
interior side forward are an upper and lower berth, with an enclosed
head aft. Access to the engine compartment is through a floor hatch. The
pilot house is painted white inside and out.
CHANGES IN PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
Originally a two-masted, three-sail-rigged
bugeye, Tennison was converted to a power oyster buy-boat in
1908-9. The mainmast, centerboard trunk, and the original deck cabin
were removed, an engine compartment was built aft and outfitted with
engine, shaft and propeller. The rudder was cut out for the propeller,
and a pilot house was built on deck.
Tennison, like all old working
boats, was subjected to heavy wear and deterioration and was constantly
undergoing maintenance and repair throughout her career. A partial
rebuild was conducted at the H. Krentz Railway in Harryhogan, Virginia,
in 1952. The pilot house was probably rebuilt at this time. Tennison was
converted from buy-boat to passenger boat in 1977. At this time a canvas
fly was attached by stanchions to the side of the vessel providing a
protected area from sun and rain over the central hold portion of the
deck. The iron side rails were replaced for added passenger safety.
Plywood covering over the hold and steering mechanism aft was also added
as a safety measure. All of the frames except those under the engine
have been replaced as per U.S. Coast Guard requirements.
Presently Tennison is undergoing
another partial rebuild, a phased renovation over the next three years.
The quarter boards believed to date from her 1911 conversion and power
winders, dredges, and roller bars are in the collections of the Calvert
Marine Museum but are not used onboard the vessel.
Thanks to the original construction of
Frank Laird and Tennison's subsequent owners, Tennison survives
today in good condition. She exhibits her essentially 1908-9 physical
appearance of a bugeye oyster buy-boat and is the only such conversion
extant of the scores of such converted boats which over the years have
been neglected, abandoned and lost.
Statement of Significance
Wm. B. Tennison is the last of the
bugeyes form oyster buy-boats on the Chesapeake Bay. She represents one
of the first bugeyes to be converted to power and one of the few
log-hulled vessels left in the world. Her maritime architectural
significance is vested in her multi-log hull form and early conversion
to power as a buy-boat. Her commercial significance begins with her
participation in the sailing oyster dredge fleet of the Chesapeake. The
bugeye type dredged more oysters than any other vessel type in the
world. As the peak years of oyster harvests on the Chesapeake Bay began
to wane in the 1890s the smaller, easier-to-handle and cheaper-to-build
skipjack became popular and began to replace the bugeye. The owner of Tennison
realizing the age of the bugeye was fading, converted her into a
powered buy-boat. A few have argued that Tennison should be
restored to her 1899 sailing condition but Edna E. Lockwood already
well serves this purpose. Tennison instead better represents
another significant period of maritime oyster related history--the
passage of sail to power and the importance of buy-boats to the oyster
industry.
THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPORTANCE OF THE
OYSTER BUY-BOAT
The buy-boat was a vessel that purchased
oysters directly from the oystermen working the beds. Buyboats sailed
or, with the development of the internal combustion engine, powered to
the oyster beds in early afternoon, purchased oysters, and travelled to
processing or shipment points. They were operated by oyster-processing
companies or to a lesser degree private individuals. Buy-boats were
popular because they saved oystermen time and expense in not having to
go directly to the processing houses to sell their catch. Oystermen
preferred to see more than one buy-boat on the beds to insure a little
competition in price. In the Chesapeake if one buy-boat appeared to be
getting most of the business, the other buy-boat(s) might raise a bushel
basket up its mast indicating it would pay a nickel more a bushel than
the other buy-boat(s). Counter measures by the other buy-boat(s) might
be two bushel baskets hoisted up its mast, meaning a dime more per
bushel. The price wars never got out of hand as rarely did the biding go
up more than three or four baskets in an afternoon.
The oysterman tied up his boat to the
anchored buy-boat from which a metal bushel measure bucket, perforated
on the bottom to allow water to drain, hung from its boom. The tub
varied in size over the years but generally was a "twenty-one
incher" which meant it was 21 inches from the bottom to the lip.
The tub would be lowered onto the oysterman's boat and filled with a
flat shovel. As the tub was hoisted by pulley and rope and dumped into
the hold of the buy-boat the captain of the buy-boat recorded each
bushel on a tally board. When the oyster boat was emptied the oysterman
was paid in cash.
Occasionally an oysterman would practice a
technique known as "cribbing." This involved placing foreign
objects such as rocks or empty shell in the tub. Once caught, and after
repeated warning, the oysterman might be "hawsed"; that is the
next time this same oysterman came to sell his catch the captain would
throw his mooring line back meaning he was not welcome. Word of mouth to
other buy-boat operators could seriously affect the operation of such an
ostracized oysterman, thus making such occurrences rare. Not all
oystermen used the buy-boats preferring to take their catch to market
themselves where the dock price was higher. But most oystermen sold
their catch to buy-boat operators realizing the extra time and cost in a
trip to the dock usually did not make up for the difference in price.
In the off season, Chesapeake buy-boats
were used to haul produce, lumber, and even l ivestock to markets in
Baltimore, Norfolk, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. Since the 1960s, with
the advent of trucks and better roads, however, most oystermen unload
their oyster catch directly onto their own pick-up trucks backed up to
the pier where they dock. They then drive their catch to their favorite
processing plant or where the best prices are being paid. This made for
a longer day but also allowed higher profits. Today, trucking of produce
and lumber is faster, more convenient, and more cost effective. This
change in transportation medium marked the end for the buy-boat.
Buy-boats are generally large, well built
and capable of long service. Chris Judy compiled a list of 120 known
buy-boats used on the Chesapeake Bay. They ranged from Betty I.
Conway, built in Stoney Point, New York, in 1866 to Thomas W.,
built in Deltaville, Virginia, in 1961. Only a few survive today.
CONSTRUCTION AND CAREER OF WM. B.
TENNISON
Tennison was built in 1899 by master
carpenter Frank Laird of Monie, Maryland, at Crabb Island (now
abandoned) near Oriole, Somerset County, Maryland, on a tributary of the
Manokin River off Tangier Sound. The date of 1899 was a late one for the
construction of a "chunk" or log hull bugeye. By this time
logs were becoming scare and the bugeye was beginning to be replaced by
the smaller, easier to operate, and cheaper to build skipjack. This late
construction date in part explains Tennison's survival.
Laird also has the distinction of having
built the largest chunk bugeye, A. Von Nyvenheim in 1906. Tennison
was built for Benjamin P. and Rufus L. Miles of Monie, Maryland, who
used her as a bugeye oyster dredge boat until 1908-9 when she was
converted to power. At this time the net tonnage changed from 18 to 11
tons reflecting the loss of hold space now occupied by the engine. Tennison
essentially maintains her physical appearance from this time period.
Tennison's conversion was an early
example. Of the hundreds of sailing bugeyes dredging in the 1880s, less
than 50 survived to 1938. Records from the List of Merchant Vessels
of the United States indicate Tennison's registered homeport
varied from Crisfield, Maryland, to Norfolk and Newport News, Virginia,
during the Miles ownership. The type and size of the first engine
installed on Tennison was said to be a 37 horsepower Palmer
engine but the List of Vessels of the United States does not
indicate engine size until 1924 when a 37 horsepower engine is confirmed
as being installed.
In 1910 the Miles sold Tennison to
Alphonse Lafayette Hazelwood of Eclipse, Virginia, who used her until
1930 for hauling produce in Virginia, making frequent trips to Norfolk
and across the Albermarle Sound into the Carolinas. It was during one of
these trips while loaded with 500 barrels of Carolina sweet potatoes,
that Tennison collided with a tugboat, damaging her port side and
losing some of her cargo. The captain of the tug was reputedly drunk.
Tennison was also used as a buy-boat
during the oyster season. During the Hazelwood ownership she was painted
white with green trim and green or grey decks. The foc'sle at this time
had three bunks, a table for eating and a cooking stove. It is probable
that the Palmer engine was replaced with a 60 horsepower engine during
this period. Hazelwood rented Tennison to Barney B. Winnal of
Carrollton, Virginia, for a few years to haul oysters and finally sold
her to Winnal in 1933 for $2,050. Winnal registered Tennison as a
freight boat and sold her to O. A. Bloxom of the Battery Park Fish and
Oyster Company located on the Pagan River near Smithfield, Virginia. At
this time Tennison's homeport was registered as Norfolk, and by
1944, her use was recorded as fishing. Bloxom sold her to the J.C. Lore
& Sons Company of Solomons, Maryland, in 1945.
The Lores's used Tennison as a
buy-boat and for dredging oysters on their private beds where power
dredging was allowed. They installed a 36 horsepower Palmer gas turbine
engine (purchased from G. T. Elliott of Hampton, Virginia) to drive her
dredge winders as well as a new Delco lighting system. The Lore Company
had Tennison overhauled at the H. Krentz Marine Railway in
Harryhogan, Virginia in 1952. The Krentz yard, established in 1905, had
a good reputation for wooden work boat repair. Scores of skipjacks, and
other Chesapeake workboats had their repair work done here.
During this rebuild several changes took
place. The pilot house was rebuilt and the deck replaced. One report
indicated the deck was raised 10 to 12 inches to provide more room in
the hold, although there is no physical evidence that this ever took
place. Alton Kersey, the last to operate Tennison as a buy-boat
never heard of such a change. During the Hazelwood ownership it is
stated there were two hatch openings in the deck, possibly dating from
the configuration when hand winders were still used onboard. With the
deck replaced during the Krentz rebuild it may be possible that this is
when the configuration from two hatches to one hatch took place.
Ironically, after her rebuild, Tennison
was left "high and dry" on the shore of the Poquoson River,
Virginia, after suffering through hurricane Hazel in October 1952. When
she was pulled back into the river, a long scar in the hull resulted
from being dragged over an obstruction. This damage is supposedly
visible when Tennison is haulled out of the water. In 1955 the
present 165 horsepower Grey Marine 6-71 diesel engine was installed. It
is believed to have been taken from a surplus naval landing craft. The
present hold and hatch coaming configuration was made at the Rice Marine
Railway, Reedville, Virginia in the late 1960s or early 1970s. The
result was a larger main hatch hold opening over the previous smaller
single opening. The larger hatch made it more convenient to store
oysters below for more stability while working on the often choppy and
stormy, Potomac River.
Tennison was used by the Lore
Company until 1978 when the company closed. Under Lore ownership she was
registered as homeported in Baltimore 1946-1954, Annapolis 1955-1973,
and Washington, D.C., 1974-1980. The Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons,
Maryland was able to purchase Tennison and the J.C. Lore &
Sons oyster house in 1979 through a Heritage, Conservation, and
Recreation Service grant of the U.S. Department of Interior. Under the
museum's ownership, Tennison is still associated with the very
processing house for which she bought oysters for 37 years.
Alton Kersey, owner and operator of the
vessel at the time of the purchase, knew the end of Tennison's
career as a buy-boat was near. To help maintain the vessel he began
taking onboard passengers for hire. The museum has continued this use to
the present allowing Tennison to help maintain her keep as a
working vessel.
As the oldest licensed passenger vessel in
the Fifth Coast Guard District and reputedly the second oldest in the
United States, Tennison receives annual inspection and survey by
the U. S. Coast Guard. This has required regular mandatory maintenance
and repair work which has resulted in a vessel in good to excellent
condition. At present the vessel has just completed the first phase of a
two phase, three year renovation program conducted in close cooperation
with the Coast Guard. During this renovation, the bow stem and false
stem were replaced, as well as the bullwarks from the gangway on each
side around the stern.
Wm. B. Tennison exhibits the classic
physical characteristics of a buy-boat converted from a
log-hull-constructed bugeye and as such represents the last of her type.
Despite considerable research, the identity of Wm. B. Tennison,
for whom the vessel was named, is unknown.
Major Bibliographic References:
Brewington, Marion V. , Chesapeake Bay Bugeyes. Newport News,
Virginia: The Mariner's Museum, 1941.
-------------------, Chesapeake Bay Log
Canoes and Bugeyes. Cambridge, Maryland: Cornell Maritime Press,
1963.
Burgess, Robert H., Chesapeake Bay
Sailing Craft. Pt. 1. Cambridge, Maryland: Cornell Maritime Press,
1975.
----------------------, This Was
Chesapeake Bay. Centreville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers, 1963.
Chowning, Larry S., Harvesting The
Chesapeake: Tools & Traditions. Centreville, Maryland: Tidewater
Publishers, 1990.
Hazelwood, Ernest, Taped interview by Paula
Johnson, 23 October 1981, tape and transcript in archives of Calvert
Marine Museum, Solomons, Maryland.
de Gast, Robert, The Oystermen of the
Chesapeake. Camden, Maine: International Marine Publishing Co.,
1970.
Johnson, Paula J., Working The Water:
The Commercial Fisheries of the Patuxent River. Charlottesville,
Virginia: Calvert Marine Museum and The University of Virginia Press,
1988.
Judy, Chris, Chesapeake Buy-boat List,
vertical file, buy-boats, Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons, Maryland, no
date.
Kersey, Alton, Phone interview by Ralph
Eshelman, Solomons, Maryland, 24 August 1993.
Krentz, E. Maston, Sr., Interview by Ralph
Eshelman, Harryhogan, Virginia, 16 March 1987, notes on file, Wm. B.
Tennison vertical file, Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons, Maryland.
"Samples Show Oysters Fat and of Good
Quality in Maryland," Southern Fisherman, September, 1945.
Drawings at the top of
this page by Alan B. Chesley, 1980
|
