[Leica] IMG: Postcars from Home

[Barney Quinn]

This is the William B. Tennison. Today she lives at the Cavert Marine Museum in Solomon's Island, Maryland. She was built in 1899 and started her life as a Bugeye, which is a large sailboat used to dredge for Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. In 1909 she was converted to power and started her life as a buy boat.

The idea behind a buy boat is simple. Sailboats were used to dredge for Oysters. Sailboats are wonderful, but they are slow. The buy boats would go out to the dredgers and buy their Oysters from them, allowing them to keep on dredging and saving them a trip back to land. Later she was moved to Virginia where she was used as a buy boat, an Oyster Dredge, and ( of all things ) to haul vegetables. She is named after William B Tennison. People have tried to find out, but no one has any idea who he was.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Barney/W_B_Tennison_1.jpg.html

Comments and Criticisms Welcome.

Barney