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11 Most Endangered
Chesapeake Bay Skipjacks
Year Listed: 2002
Location: Chesapeake Bay , Maryland
Current Status: Endangered
Threat: Deterioration, Natural Forces
Skipjacks along the water in Maryland. The Chesapeake Bay Skipjack Fleet was on the 2002 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.
Credit: National Trust for Historic Preservation
Significance
Constructed between 1886 and 1956, wooden skipjacks with their brightly decorated trailboards, represent a time when the natural resources of the Chesapeake Bay contributed greatly to the economy of not only Maryland but the whole Mid-Atlantic region. However, as the bay's oyster population plummeted, so did the skipjacks. Additionally, the high cost of maintaining a wooden boat has caused the fleet to disappear one by one. Once numbering nearly 1,000, today there are only about a dozen skipjacks remaining in commercial use.
Updates
Through the Bartus Trew Providence Preservation Fund, the National Trust has awarded a total of $60,000 to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum to help preserve the historic fleet, both as working vessels and museum exhibits. Grants from the National Trust have leveraged additional funding for skipjacks from private donors and a federal Save America's Treasures grant of $94,000 for the skipjack Nellie L. Byrd.
In addition to direct grants to skipjack restoration, the National Trust awarded $12,000 from the Trew Preservation Fund to the Coastal Heritage Alliance, a new non-profit dedicated to bringing expert restoration skills to historic vessels for a reduced rate. The Coastal Heritage Alliance works on projects throughout the country, and offers an innovative apprenticeship program to help perpetuate traditional boatbuilding skills on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
Unfortunately, despite these efforts, skipjacks remain threatened by severely diminishing oyster harvests and a vanishing way of life. The commercial fleet has been reduced from 2,000 boats in 1900 to less than 15 boats today. A taskforce appointed by Maryland Comptroller William Donald Schaefer is no longer active, and the once-impressive Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum's skipjack restoration project is stalled. Many advocates, including the National Trust, are working to bring financial and technical resources to the support the rehabilitation and continued use of these endangered, nationally significant symbols of Maryland's maritime past. However, most of the remaining skipjacks are idle or on exhibit as museum artifacts.
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