Subject Type: Fishing

Claud W. Somers is a skipjack that was used for oyster dredging in Virginia and Maryland waters and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Register of Historic Places. It is one of the few skipjacks remaining in operational condition on Chesapeake Bay. Commissioned by Edward Thomas Somers, she was built in 1911 by Tom Young at Young’s Creek near the settlement known as Clam, Virginia, just north of Onancock and named after Edward’s son. After a working career of at least 60 years, she was eventually donated to the Reedville Fishermen’s Museum.

A buy boat built in 1922 by Gilbert S. White in Westland, VA. She was built for Capt. Lee Abbot of Foxwells, who named her after his daughter and used her for pound net fishing and freight until 1955. She had two more owners before being donated to the Reedville Fishermen’s Museum.

1920 Chesapeake Bay buyboat. Part of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

1955 Chesapeake Bay skipjack. Part of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

1909 log-built crab dredger. Old Point also hauled freight fish in the summer and carried oysters during the fall. Part of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

1934 Hoopers Island dovetail crab boat. Part of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

A National Historic Landmark, and the oldest sailing log-bottom bugeye, built in 1889. Part of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

1934 Hoopers Island dovetail crab boat. Part of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

Chesapeake Bay skipjack . Part of the Calvert Marine Museum.