1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Our recent episode on William Firthwells and Mildred 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:12,240 Speaker 1: Weeks Wells reminded me of our very long ago episode 3 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:16,800 Speaker 1: on the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Wars. This episode originally came 4 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: out August nineteenth, twenty thirteen, long enough ago that it 5 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:26,760 Speaker 1: is not in a number of podcast players anymore, including 6 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: the one that I used to try to go listen 7 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: to it to make sure we did not say anything 8 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 1: super incorrect. I also feel like I sound a lot 9 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:39,960 Speaker 1: different in it than I do now. Maybe At the 10 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:42,600 Speaker 1: end of the episode, we talk about efforts to restore 11 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: native oyster beds in the Chesapeake Bay area. The Chesapeake 12 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 1: Bay Watershed Agreement was signed in twenty fourteen, with a 13 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:53,479 Speaker 1: goal of restoring the oyster beds in ten Bay tributaries 14 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: by this year twenty twenty five. A press release from 15 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 1: the Chesapeake Bay Program in July describes this goal as 16 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: within reach, with reef construction and seating complete in nine 17 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:07,319 Speaker 1: of the ten tributaries and the tenth expected to be 18 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:11,399 Speaker 1: completed in the near future, so good news for Chesapeake Bay. 19 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 1: Enjoy the episode Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, 20 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:29,480 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio, Hello and Welcome to the podcast. 21 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. Holly, Yeah. 22 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:37,679 Speaker 1: Do you like oysters? I love oysters. Yeah. I won't 23 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:40,440 Speaker 1: do raw oysters. I mean I have, It's just not 24 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:44,640 Speaker 1: my thing, But almost any other iteration of oysters I 25 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: will eat that involves cooking. Yeah. Yeah. Oyster stew is 26 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 1: a big favorite. Fried oysters, oyster poe boys that you 27 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: used to be able to get at a restaurant here delicious. Yeah, 28 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 1: so nowadays we thanks to you know, their scarcity and 29 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:06,880 Speaker 1: also the pearl making, oysters are associated pretty well with luxury, 30 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,560 Speaker 1: or at least with being a sometimes food. Yeah, they're 31 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: not for most people something that you eat every day. 32 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 1: And that pearl association is a little loft because most 33 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:19,240 Speaker 1: pearls are cultured now. But still I'm having a flash 34 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: to the Japan Pavilion at Epcot. You know that big 35 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:25,679 Speaker 1: department store they have in the bottom, they have like 36 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:27,640 Speaker 1: a little oyster tank where you could pick your oyster 37 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: and pop it open and maybe there's a pearl and talk. Yeah, 38 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:32,360 Speaker 1: it's a big excitement when people find a pearl. They 39 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:37,919 Speaker 1: like clap and ring a bell. That is super fun. 40 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: So Like with many scarcities, this one is completely man made. 41 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:49,079 Speaker 1: Before the eighteen hundreds, oysters were plentiful in North America, 42 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:52,520 Speaker 1: but in the years after the Industrial Revolution and the 43 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: Civil War, the oyster supply became so scarce that people 44 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 1: actually turned to oyster piracy. The bloodshed peaked in the 45 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 1: late eighteen hundreds, but the strife that we're talking about 46 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: went on for almost one hundred years. So what we're 47 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: talking about today the Chesapeake Bay oyster War. And I 48 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: think a couple of listeners have requested this one, and 49 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:18,160 Speaker 1: I tried to go back looking through the spreadsheet to 50 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: find names, and I did not record the names, So 51 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:27,800 Speaker 1: I am sorry. The spreadsheet became unusable in its scope 52 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:35,240 Speaker 1: and length. It reached epic proportions not easily wrangled by man. Yes, 53 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: so people, as we know have been eating oysters pretty 54 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: much for all of human history. There's archaeological evidence of 55 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: oyster eating that goes all the way back to the Neanderthals, 56 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: and pretty much every place there were oysters, there were 57 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: people eating them. In colonial America, they really became a staple, 58 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: and they weren't used just for food. Their shells were 59 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 1: also important and used in everything from plaster to animal feed. 60 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: When European settlers arrived in North America, oysters were, as 61 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: we've been suggesting, quite abundant. Oyster beds were really expansive, 62 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,520 Speaker 1: so much so that unsuspecting ships could easily run aground 63 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 1: on them. And you may also recall from our episode 64 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: on Jamestown's Starving Time that at one point John Smith 65 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 1: actually tried to reduce the fort's food demands by sending 66 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 1: people away to live on oysters because they were plentful, 67 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:29,760 Speaker 1: full of protein eaten everywhere. Yeah, pretty easily acquired too. 68 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 1: These oysters were also a whole lot bigger than they 69 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:36,560 Speaker 1: are today. A market size oyster today is at least 70 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:40,000 Speaker 1: three inches long, but foot long oysters were a common 71 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:43,719 Speaker 1: sight back then. Oysters are a lot like lobsters in 72 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:48,599 Speaker 1: this way. Early settlers told stories of giant and plentiful lobsters, 73 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: but once people started eating a lot of them, they 74 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: didn't have the chance to grow that big anymore. And 75 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 1: if you're interested in the lobster's side of this story, 76 00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: you can hear it in the Memory Palace episode The 77 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:03,919 Speaker 1: Lost Lobsters. And for a while after the arrival of 78 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: the European settlers, the oyster population in North America was 79 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:10,039 Speaker 1: just fine. It was easily keeping up with the demands 80 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: of consumption, and even with the influx of people, there 81 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 1: still weren't enough people here consuming oysters to put a 82 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: dent in what was at that time a very robust 83 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:23,760 Speaker 1: oyster population. Then came the Industrial Revolution, and sometimes I 84 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: think we should call this podcast thanks industrial Revolution. It 85 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:31,920 Speaker 1: was indeed quite impactful in a variety of ways. I'm 86 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,360 Speaker 1: good and some really not. Yeah. With advances in harvesting, 87 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:39,600 Speaker 1: food preservation, and transportation, all of that changed. Once people 88 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 1: could harvest giant masses of oysters and then canned big 89 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:47,360 Speaker 1: batches of them in factories and ship them everywhere by railroad, 90 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: over harvesting immediately became a problem. The dredge was introduced 91 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,279 Speaker 1: in the late seventeen hundreds of New England, and this 92 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 1: was actually a big two sy jaw that would scrape 93 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:03,479 Speaker 1: up huge numbers of oysters all at the same time, 94 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: so when one fell, swoop and on top of steeply 95 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: reducing how much time it took to harvest all those oysters. 96 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:12,920 Speaker 1: The dredges, unfortunately were scooping up so many that they 97 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:16,799 Speaker 1: didn't leave behind enough oysters to repopulate those beds. Yeah, 98 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: and they would throw back the ones that were too 99 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,760 Speaker 1: small for the most part, sometimes not when they were 100 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,760 Speaker 1: desperate for oysters. But even so, it wasn't enough to 101 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:30,200 Speaker 1: really restock the area, and the effect on the New 102 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:34,600 Speaker 1: England oyster population was almost immediate. By the eighteen hundreds, 103 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:37,640 Speaker 1: oyster populations in New York, Rhode Island, and Connecticut had 104 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: pretty much collapsed, but demand had not gotten any smaller, 105 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:45,800 Speaker 1: so people turned south to find more oysters, and in 106 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: Virginia and Maryland in the Chesapeake Bay its name actually 107 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: comes from an Algonquin word meaning great shellfish Bay, oysters 108 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: were still really abundant, but Virginia, which had claimed to 109 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: the southern half of the bay, and Maryland, which had 110 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 1: the northern part and the Potomac River leading off of it, 111 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:08,080 Speaker 1: were not super keen on the ak andresopers coming along 112 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:10,800 Speaker 1: to eat up all of their oysters, and so each 113 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:15,440 Speaker 1: of those municipalities passed laws allowing oyster harvesting only by 114 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:19,440 Speaker 1: state residents. This sounds like a good idea on paper. 115 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 1: On paper, yeah, it led to some problems. By the 116 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 1: mid eighteen hundreds, people had figured out how to steam 117 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:29,400 Speaker 1: can oysters and railroads were also starting to connect coastal 118 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 1: towns to bigger cities, making it so much easier and 119 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:36,200 Speaker 1: faster to transport the oysters once they were canned. And 120 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:39,560 Speaker 1: all of these factors combined with the influx of labor 121 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 1: and investment after the Civil War to make the Chesapeake 122 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: Bay a prime opportunity for a new industry. It was 123 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: basically a giant oyster rush. People were just swooping right 124 00:07:50,640 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 1: in there to get in on the oysterrection. Crisfield, Maryland, 125 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,080 Speaker 1: on the eastern shore of the Bay, became a nexus 126 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:08,960 Speaker 1: of oyster activity. Railroads led out of town was actually 127 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: named for John Crisfield, who was the president of the 128 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: Eastern Shore Railroad, and it had easy access to some 129 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 1: of Maryland's richest oyster beds. These were in the Tangier 130 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:22,440 Speaker 1: Sound and could only be reached by dredge. By eighteen 131 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:26,520 Speaker 1: seventy two, about six hundred oyster vessels were sailing out 132 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 1: of Crisfield. And meanwhile, Baltimore, Maryland, became the capital of 133 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:35,840 Speaker 1: oyster canning, with more than one hundred processing houses, and 134 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:39,199 Speaker 1: these canneries were largely the work of New England investors. 135 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:41,880 Speaker 1: The city was at a prime location because it was 136 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:45,840 Speaker 1: connected to Crisfield by the Eastern Shore Railroad, and it 137 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 1: was connected to the rest of the world by the 138 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,840 Speaker 1: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, so it was really like the 139 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:57,480 Speaker 1: perfect geographical location. Oyster harvesting was also really lucrative work. 140 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,280 Speaker 1: In the eighteen sixties, the captain of an oil stern 141 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: dredging ship might make two thousand dollars a year, which 142 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:06,720 Speaker 1: does not sound like much, but the average Maryland income 143 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:09,920 Speaker 1: was only five hundred dollars a year. And of course 144 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:12,839 Speaker 1: there's a reason it was so lucrative, and that's because 145 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:17,960 Speaker 1: it was also extremely dangerous. The legal oyster season, you know, 146 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,959 Speaker 1: the months with an r was during cold, wet weather. 147 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,560 Speaker 1: An oysterman had to be strong and really hardy, so 148 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:28,760 Speaker 1: being constantly exposed to the elements would bring on all 149 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 1: kinds of ailments, so you really did have to be 150 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:34,719 Speaker 1: in great health and really strong of body. Watermen were 151 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: prone to a frostbite, they could get broken bones and 152 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 1: what's called oyster hand, which is an infection that you 153 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:44,360 Speaker 1: get if you are cut by an oyster shell. And 154 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 1: it was especially hazardous for inexperienced workers, as you can 155 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:50,640 Speaker 1: imagine being swept off to sea by the water or 156 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:52,559 Speaker 1: knocked off the deck by a swinging boom on a 157 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 1: dredging ship. Happened pretty commonly, and as a consequence, they 158 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:04,280 Speaker 1: also would sometimes accidentally fish up the bodies of men 159 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: who had fallen in previously, so also kind of a 160 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: gruesome activity and a job not for people faint of 161 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:16,560 Speaker 1: heart or weak of stomach. Now, towns along the waterfront 162 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:19,439 Speaker 1: became a lot like gold Rush towns in the Old West, 163 00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:23,560 Speaker 1: except on water and for oysters. They were full of 164 00:10:23,679 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: brawling saloons, brothels, and a generally seedy element, much to 165 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:33,320 Speaker 1: the chagrin of the also thriving Methodist community there. The 166 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 1: situation was bad enough in Chrisfield that it actually went 167 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:40,680 Speaker 1: dry in eighteen seventy five, but speakeasies continued to thrive 168 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:43,400 Speaker 1: and they had to arrest so many illegally drunk people 169 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:46,960 Speaker 1: that they needed to build an extra jail, and there 170 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:49,720 Speaker 1: continued to be a huge demand for oysters, so much 171 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:53,319 Speaker 1: so that there were not always enough qualified laborers to 172 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:57,079 Speaker 1: man the boats, so captains would actually sometimes kidnap men 173 00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 1: from these gold Rush style towns and actually for them 174 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 1: to work on the boats. Immigrants who didn't speak English 175 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 1: were particularly high risk for being abducted, and they were 176 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:12,480 Speaker 1: effectively imprisoned on these dredging ships. There are horrible stories 177 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:16,319 Speaker 1: of beatings, torture, and killings, and those stories became pretty 178 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:20,439 Speaker 1: common during this time. In the middle of all this lawlessness, 179 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:23,840 Speaker 1: by the mid eighteen eighties, people were hauling millions of 180 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:28,240 Speaker 1: bushels of oysters out of the Chesapeake Bay annually, fifteen 181 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:32,440 Speaker 1: million bushels in eighteen eighty four alone, the Chesapeake Bay 182 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:36,640 Speaker 1: was supplying about half of the world's oysters. But of course, 183 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: just as claim jumping plagued the West during the gold Rush, 184 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:43,720 Speaker 1: tensions ran high among multiple factions during this oyster boom, 185 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: And since we've already described it as kind of a 186 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 1: lawless and wild space, you can imagine what starts to happen. Yes, 187 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:55,520 Speaker 1: there were two main methods of harvesting oysters. In shallow water, 188 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:57,840 Speaker 1: people would lean over the side of the boat and 189 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 1: collect oysters from the bed using these long tongs, so 190 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:04,280 Speaker 1: they scraped up small loads of oysters at a time. 191 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:07,480 Speaker 1: And then in deep water, ships would use the dredges 192 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:11,319 Speaker 1: that we talk about earlier. So obviously the tongers couldn't 193 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: go into deeper water, but the dredging ships could work 194 00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:18,439 Speaker 1: their way into the shallows, so the Tongers were constantly 195 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:22,280 Speaker 1: trying to fight off the dredgers. The Tongers petitioned the 196 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:24,559 Speaker 1: government for protection, but they really didn't get a lot 197 00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:29,559 Speaker 1: of response. As continues to be the case, some people 198 00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: felt like it was the people with the most money 199 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:33,840 Speaker 1: and the biggest ships that were getting the most attention. 200 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:38,000 Speaker 1: So the Tongers armed themselves, and it wasn't just the 201 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:40,720 Speaker 1: people who were out on the water. Coastal towns had 202 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:44,679 Speaker 1: to arm themselves too. By eighteen seventy one, Tongers were 203 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:48,720 Speaker 1: regularly firing on dredgers that worked into their territory. And 204 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:52,000 Speaker 1: on top of that, Virginia and Maryland could not agree 205 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:55,599 Speaker 1: where the state line was, nor could they patrol it adequately, 206 00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:58,640 Speaker 1: so when it came to the areas closest to the 207 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:02,720 Speaker 1: state line, the Maryland and Virginia oystermen were also fighting. 208 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:05,720 Speaker 1: They were at each other's throats, and sometimes there were 209 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 1: even disputes between oyster harvesters from neighboring counties. So it 210 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:12,760 Speaker 1: was kind of a free for all of people with 211 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:17,840 Speaker 1: various issues all going at it in the Chesapeake Bay. Yeah, 212 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: with all the fights between the tongers and the dredgers 213 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:25,520 Speaker 1: and between Maryland and Virginia harvesters. Things got bloody fast. 214 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:28,480 Speaker 1: People who were in one way or another on the 215 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:31,440 Speaker 1: wrong side of oyster low became known and the news 216 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:34,600 Speaker 1: and to the rest of the population as oyster pirates. 217 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 1: Apart from all of this violence, all this aggressive harvesting 218 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:42,040 Speaker 1: was really damaging the oyster population. So by the mid 219 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:46,640 Speaker 1: eighteen sixties, just about every jurisdiction had put some laws 220 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 1: into place to try to protect the oysters from being 221 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:54,360 Speaker 1: harvested to extinction. So regulations like what sizes of oysters 222 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:57,440 Speaker 1: could be harvested and when, and there were also taxes 223 00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:01,160 Speaker 1: imposed on the oyster harvests, but the enforcement was not 224 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:06,200 Speaker 1: really there. It was pretty lax. Nobody was really willing 225 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:10,079 Speaker 1: to take up the political risk of dampening the oyster trade, 226 00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:13,640 Speaker 1: which was so lucrative, and with such a vast network 227 00:14:13,679 --> 00:14:17,120 Speaker 1: of waterways to monitor, there really wasn't anybody with resources 228 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:20,880 Speaker 1: to do it anyway. So they passed laws, but they 229 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:23,160 Speaker 1: were really just on the books and not so much 230 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:26,640 Speaker 1: in practice. Yeah, Maryland formed an oyster Police Force in 231 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:29,880 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty eight. It was commanded by a man named 232 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: Hunter Davidson, and he patrolled in a steamboat named Layla, 233 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:37,040 Speaker 1: which was a decrepit tug from the Civil War, but 234 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: he only stayed with it for a handful of years. 235 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: The Oyster pirates outnumbered him and had much better, nibbler, 236 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 1: faster ships. He would actually use a howitzer to try 237 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:52,160 Speaker 1: to sink illegal vessels and that did sometimes work, and 238 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:54,400 Speaker 1: he set armed blockades at the mouths of some of 239 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:58,520 Speaker 1: the most highly contested waterways. Neither of these was a 240 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 1: popular move, to the surprise of no one. At least once, 241 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:07,160 Speaker 1: somebody tried to assassinate him. Oyster pirates boarded the Layla 242 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 1: in the middle of the night on January twenty eighth, 243 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:13,160 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy one, where he was asleep in a locked cabin. 244 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:16,320 Speaker 1: When the pirates started struggling with the door, It woke 245 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:18,280 Speaker 1: him up and gave him time to grab a revolver 246 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:22,400 Speaker 1: and defend himself, so the assassination attempt was not successful, 247 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:24,800 Speaker 1: but he did not stay on the job too much 248 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:37,200 Speaker 1: longer after that. The Maryland government added more ships and 249 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:41,080 Speaker 1: staff in eighteen seventy following a number of rather unflattering 250 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:44,040 Speaker 1: articles about how many bodies had been washing up on 251 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:47,000 Speaker 1: the shore, so it actually did become a slightly more 252 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:51,440 Speaker 1: effective force. In eighteen seventy one, the drudgers actually began 253 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: to claim that law enforcement was targeting them unfairly for 254 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:59,520 Speaker 1: minor or even non existent infractions, and Virginia kind of 255 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 1: lagged behind this enforcement effort. A financially strapped state government 256 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:07,680 Speaker 1: had sold the three vessels that used for maritime police 257 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:10,640 Speaker 1: work in eighteen seventy five, which left it no real 258 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 1: way to enforce any of the laws for several years. 259 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:18,680 Speaker 1: By the late eighteen seventies, things were really becoming dire. 260 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy eight, Francis Winslow, who was a former 261 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:26,600 Speaker 1: Navy officer, actually conducted a survey of the bay's oysters 262 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:30,800 Speaker 1: and documented that harvesting was vastly outpacing the oyster's ability 263 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: to reproduce. And at this point both states started to 264 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,200 Speaker 1: get much more serious about trying to conserve and to 265 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:40,480 Speaker 1: stop the piracy. Like once they realized this business was 266 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:44,200 Speaker 1: going to completely dry up if they didn't get on it, Yeah, 267 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 1: suddenly everybody was a little more motivated. Between eighteen eighty 268 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:51,360 Speaker 1: two and eighteen eighty five, William Evelyn Cameron, who was 269 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: the actual governor of Virginia personally led a series of 270 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: anti pirate attacks up the Chesapeake through Maryland to the 271 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 1: mouth of the Rappahannock River. He had a military background 272 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:04,199 Speaker 1: and had been a captain in the Confederate militia, and 273 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:06,520 Speaker 1: he had taken a serious wound at the Battle of 274 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:10,000 Speaker 1: Second Manassas also known as Second Bull Run. He led 275 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:13,160 Speaker 1: a small flotilla of heavily arm ships under the cover 276 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:16,080 Speaker 1: of night in an attempt to stop the piracy. In 277 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:18,919 Speaker 1: his first rate in eighteen eighty two, he had his 278 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 1: fleet sail in a formation so that it would look 279 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:24,560 Speaker 1: like a tug was pulling a disabled freighter, So they 280 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 1: kind of arranged themselves in a disguise, which is really 281 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:32,000 Speaker 1: fun to think about. He managed to capture several illicit 282 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:35,479 Speaker 1: dredgers this way, and their captains and crew stood trial 283 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:39,000 Speaker 1: and had their boats and gear confiscated. The governor did, however, 284 00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:42,280 Speaker 1: eventually pardon them. This is really a best of both 285 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:46,960 Speaker 1: worlds situation for Governor Cameron. He had showed himself to 286 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:50,160 Speaker 1: be brave and daring and getting something done, but then 287 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:54,320 Speaker 1: he didn't actually punish them too harshly. They had the 288 00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:56,919 Speaker 1: sympathy of a lot of voters, so he kind of 289 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:01,840 Speaker 1: satisfied all of the people. Point Yeta, he got a 290 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:04,399 Speaker 1: boost in popularity off of it. Had his cake and 291 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 1: ate it too. I did. That's pretty smart. It only 292 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:11,480 Speaker 1: happened once. You can't keep pulling those, you know, we'll 293 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:15,120 Speaker 1: start calling you wishy washy. The boost of his popularity, 294 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:18,040 Speaker 1: of course, quickly faded, and the Dredgers went right back 295 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,480 Speaker 1: to dredging. The raids he led after that point weren't 296 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:24,840 Speaker 1: nearly as successful, and they actually became the target of ridicule. 297 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:27,960 Speaker 1: There was even a comic opera at the Norfolk Academy 298 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:31,000 Speaker 1: of Music that was performed about the whole thing on 299 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:34,119 Speaker 1: April third of eighteen eighty three, called Driven from the 300 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:39,480 Speaker 1: Seas or Pirate Dredger's Doom. Although Governor Cameron's administration became 301 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:42,560 Speaker 1: kind of a shambles, in March of eighteen eighty four, 302 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:46,199 Speaker 1: Virginia enacted a bill that established a Board on the 303 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:50,120 Speaker 1: Chesapeake and its Tributaries, which created and funded an actual 304 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:55,200 Speaker 1: naval force to protect Virginia's oyster interests. Virginia had steamers 305 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:58,159 Speaker 1: patrolling the bay by December of that year, and in 306 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:01,000 Speaker 1: its first year of service. The Aquatic Police force created 307 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 1: by the Board had actually apprehended sixty one illicit oyster vessels, 308 00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:09,080 Speaker 1: and with that enforcement in place, the state's tax revenue 309 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:14,520 Speaker 1: from oysters magically started to climb again. Law enforcement also 310 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:18,680 Speaker 1: became a much bigger focus following the murder of Otto Meyer. 311 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:21,800 Speaker 1: He was a German immigrant, and he was killed in 312 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty four. He had been beaten daily and tortured 313 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:29,720 Speaker 1: aboard the dredging ship EVA. Two of his German shipmates 314 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:32,879 Speaker 1: reported what had happened to the German consulate in Baltimore 315 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: once they returned to shore, and at this point, since 316 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,800 Speaker 1: it was basically an international incident, the effort to get 317 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: things under control really started in earnest but unfortunately those 318 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: efforts were hampered by the ongoing tensions between Virginia and Maryland, 319 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:51,000 Speaker 1: and by the spring of eighteen ninety four, the two 320 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:54,640 Speaker 1: states governments had completely stopped trying to negotiate with each other. 321 00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:57,919 Speaker 1: They just gave up. On top of that, in spite 322 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:02,080 Speaker 1: of the fledgling conservation efforts, the oyster population really started 323 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:05,000 Speaker 1: to bottom out. By the eighteen nineties, there were so 324 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:08,000 Speaker 1: many oystermen on the water that they couldn't break even 325 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 1: on the halls they were bringing in, so they started 326 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:12,800 Speaker 1: taking oysters that were under three inches long, and those 327 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 1: are the ones that normally would have been thrown back 328 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:19,480 Speaker 1: to repopulate. Oyster packing houses also started to fail, since 329 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:23,159 Speaker 1: oysters are of course filter feeders. Water quality in the 330 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:27,200 Speaker 1: bay plummeted as well, and this was a downward spiral 331 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:30,159 Speaker 1: since the dirty water was also harder for oysters to 332 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: live in. A lot of things changed after the turn 333 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:37,480 Speaker 1: of the century. In nineteen oh six, the introduction of 334 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:41,719 Speaker 1: gasoline powered dredging equipment made dredging possible with less manpower, 335 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:45,399 Speaker 1: so that cut out the need to force people into labor, 336 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,639 Speaker 1: while also of course putting some people who chose to 337 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:52,119 Speaker 1: do work out of work. By the nineteen twenties, the 338 00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 1: annual oyster yield had dropped from that impressive number of 339 00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: fifteen million bushels from the eighteen eighties to a mere 340 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:04,920 Speaker 1: three million annually, So that's a very significant drop off. 341 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:08,400 Speaker 1: And in spite of there being so much less oyster, 342 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:14,239 Speaker 1: you know, boon to haul in. Over tensions continued on 343 00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:18,159 Speaker 1: and off for the next thirty years. In nineteen forty two, 344 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:21,159 Speaker 1: a new oyster bed was discovered on Swan Point up 345 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 1: the Potomac River from the Bay in Maryland, and law 346 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:27,440 Speaker 1: enforcement had real trouble keeping poachers away from that area 347 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:29,880 Speaker 1: because a lot of Maryland's boats at that point were 348 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:33,959 Speaker 1: engaged in World War Two. Poachers from Virginia that were 349 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:36,960 Speaker 1: known as the Mosquito Fleet would cross the state line 350 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:39,719 Speaker 1: to plunder oysters and then run from the police in 351 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:43,919 Speaker 1: high speed boats. The last bloodshed in the oyster Wars 352 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:47,480 Speaker 1: was in nineteen fifty nine, when a Virginia man named 353 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:51,280 Speaker 1: Berkeley Mewse was shot by police after harvesting oysters from 354 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:54,959 Speaker 1: the Potomac in Maryland. He died from his injuries, and 355 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:57,199 Speaker 1: at that point there was there were a lot of 356 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,600 Speaker 1: people who just called this out as absurd. The the 357 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:04,240 Speaker 1: refrain was kind of, it is nineteen fifty nine, we 358 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:08,080 Speaker 1: should not be killing people over oysters. Yeah, Virginia and 359 00:22:08,119 --> 00:22:11,439 Speaker 1: Maryland were at this point already trying to work out 360 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:15,400 Speaker 1: their oyster differences, and so Mus's death, as Tracy said, 361 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 1: kind of put that into high gear. They started negotiating 362 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:22,120 Speaker 1: in earnest again and eventually a six member bi State 363 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,119 Speaker 1: Commission actually worked out an agreement which is called the 364 00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:28,480 Speaker 1: Potomac River Fisheries Bill, and that agreement made it to 365 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:31,080 Speaker 1: the ballot. It passed the popular vote, and it was 366 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:35,919 Speaker 1: eventually sent to Washington for congressional ratification. John F. Kennedy 367 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:39,600 Speaker 1: signed it into law on December fifth, nineteen sixty two, 368 00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:43,920 Speaker 1: at which point then Governor's Tows of Maryland and Harrison 369 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:47,359 Speaker 1: of Virginia met and had a seafood launch with oysters 370 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:51,960 Speaker 1: to celebrate. But unfortunately, the oyster population in the Bay 371 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:56,560 Speaker 1: has continued to fall, especially following new diseases appearing there 372 00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 1: in the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties, and it really 373 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: bottomed out in the nineteen eighties. Today's harvests of native 374 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:06,240 Speaker 1: oysters are less than one percent of what they were 375 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 1: at their eighteen eighties peak. However, the twenty twelve Fall 376 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: Oyster Survey reported a ninety three percent survival rate among 377 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:18,359 Speaker 1: the state's oyster population, the highest it has been since 378 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:22,120 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three. So things are maybe starting to look 379 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:25,160 Speaker 1: up a little for native oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. 380 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:28,840 Speaker 1: And also no one is killing people over them anymore. 381 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: It kind of makes me want to naughtat oysters for 382 00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:37,480 Speaker 1: a little while, Like I'm doing my part. Well, oysters, 383 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,600 Speaker 1: so many, so many seafoods that I love to eat 384 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:45,000 Speaker 1: so much are are in some way or other a 385 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:48,840 Speaker 1: conservation problem. I think it's the Monterey Bay Aquarium has 386 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:52,119 Speaker 1: that Seafood Watch program where you can look up and 387 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:55,159 Speaker 1: see whether the seafood that you were eating is sustainably 388 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:58,560 Speaker 1: harvested or not, which is yeah cool. I think they're 389 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,240 Speaker 1: actually working in conjunction and with other aquariums. Yeah, a 390 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:04,080 Speaker 1: lot of aquariums have banded together to kind of fund 391 00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:06,720 Speaker 1: that initiative and promote it. Yeah. I think they're sort 392 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:10,399 Speaker 1: of just the spearhead of a much bigger effort. So yes, 393 00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:17,320 Speaker 1: oysters are delicious, not worth killing people over. Yeah, although 394 00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:21,119 Speaker 1: I'm you know, if it were your only livelihood, you 395 00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:23,440 Speaker 1: can understand how it could escalate. I still don't think 396 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:27,520 Speaker 1: you should be doing that then, obviously, But you see, 397 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:33,880 Speaker 1: you know how all these things happened very quickly. Money Yep, 398 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:41,160 Speaker 1: kind of all comes down to it. Thanks so much 399 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:43,960 Speaker 1: for joining us on this Saturday. If you'd like to 400 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,240 Speaker 1: send us a note, our email addresses History Podcasts at 401 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:51,000 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio dot com, and you can subscribe to the show 402 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:54,440 Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen 403 00:24:54,480 --> 00:25:01,600 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.