Watermen

by Randall S. Peffer

For three hundred years, generations of Tilghman Islanders have lived by harvesting the waters of Maryland's Chesapeake Bay. They are watermen, an old English term for commercial fishermen, and their lives today retain much of the spirit and simplicity that characterized their land's first Anglo-Saxon settlers. Watermen is the story of their lives told by Randy Peffer, a young writer who came to Tilghman Island to search for his ancestral roots and left a year later with the makings of this book. Watermen is a singular work, a book that will touch anyone who has ever glimpsed the peope of the Chesapeake, whether in literature or in life.

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1979

Reviews

[Aimee Peeling · Rating 4 out of 5]

A piece of 1970's life in the Chesapeake Bay. I enjoyed it more because I know of the different places mentioned and because I have been reading a book on Maryland folklore. I had just learned some of the vocabulary/ slang and I had heard the story about the Captain knowing where the ship is by tasting a bit off the bottom! Proof it really is folklore in that area.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

really good and easy read. it is a romantic look at life on the chesapeake bay by someone that infiltrated the livelihood...documentary style. it actually made me want to quit everything and become a oyster/crab fella. then i realized...that is a tough life. although the author never states that the life is an easy one, he sheds a poetic light on the lifestyle with his documentation and will make you appreciate the beauty of the bay, and the people that live off of it.