Watermen
Waterman is a term unique to the Chesapeake Bay region in the United States and derives from the waterman of the Thames River in England.
B. Bush remembers:
Most of the able-bodied men made a living working on the water. Starting in September, the oyster business began and lasted until the last of April. Because they had no refrigeration in those days, the law was to harvest oysters only in months with an “R” in them. In the summer months, fishing and crabbing was a practice of many people. In the beginning most of the boats were sailboats because there were no motors. I have seen in my time, on a given day during the oyster season, more that two hundred boats tonguing oyster on the Nansemond Ridge. The oysters then were large and fat and much in demand.
*Excerpt from The River Binds Us - 2007
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