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Oystering Under Sail -- photo 4

This was a working sail day. That means we dredged under sail power alone. The skipjacks have yawl or push boats, dinghy's that are completely filled by engine, that they use to get in and out of harbor. In recent years, they're allowed to use these engines to push the boat while dredging on a couple days of the week. But not today. We'd "take a lick" over the oyster rock and then Wade would rev the donkey engine, an old six-cylinder gas engine mounted in a box on deck. The crew would activate the clutches that drove the dredge winches, hauling the dredges up to the gunwhales. There, two men would grab the dredge and heave it up, dumping the shell on the deck.


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