The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s boat shop has recently partnered with Chesapeake Community College welding instructor Mike Lyons to restore the crab dredging rig of the 1909 crab dredger Old Point. An old dredging rig was salvaged from wreckage outside of Poquoson, Va. by CBMM Assistant Curator of Watercraft Richard Scofield more than a decade ago to use for the historic boat.
CBMM volunteer Jim Meholic (left) and Chesapeake Community College welding instructor Mike Lyons
The rollers were fitted to a larger vessel and needed to be cut down and welded to fit Old Point. Recently, boatshop volunteer Jim Meholic spearheaded the Chesapeake College collaboration and in utilizing Lyons’ metal fabrication expertise, the new rollers have been fabricated for the rig and are currently back at the museum, where they will be fitted to Old Point later this summer.
Old Point was one of a fleet of crab dredging boats that operated out of Hampton, Va., at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay from the 1910s through the 1960s. From December through March, captains and crews lived on their boats so they could leave early every morning and dredge for crabs all day. In the summer and fall, Old Point carried fish and oysters to packing houses or to market.
Old Point’s hull was built the old-fashioned way, hewn from seven pine logs. At that time big logs were hard to get, but watermen still preferred a solid log boat if they could get one. Old Point was donated to CBMM in 1984, a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. duPont. For more information, visit www.cbmm.org or call 410-745-2916.
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