Chesapeake Bay had the better or best oysters that you could find in any place in the world
or right in this bay.
That and mannows, clams, it were great.
You want them to take a shovel, you go out and dig them, you want a clam, go dig some
clams if you want them.
You want it to moisten, you go down on a pier and take a pair of nippers and get all the
oysters you want.
But see, it's not like that anymore.
This was my first boat right there.
Uncle Herbie gave me that boat when I was 16 years old.
Now we're going to Hiresville Forest Farm.
Right down from there over to here was a mark that came across and we put logs so we could
come over from Boucher Avenue over here in Truckson.
And this was in the 30s, early 40s.
We've craved here every day.
Every day my father would get us up at 5.30 in the morning before he goes to work, he's
in a boy's okay, you're craved about it, keep that trouble.
You can see your toenails.
You can actually see your toes when you were walking down through here.
There wasn't no trouble crabbing, I mean you see the crabs a long time before you ever
got to it.
Dollar under the dollar doesn't steam.
I mean if you think about three, three and a half, four bush does the crab fill a bushel
basket then crabs are like this.
And now they keep about three and a half and four inches.
You had grass from probably three foot offshore would go out six to seven feet.
I mean it was sick and that cut the water clean.
A lot of times you just pick crabs off top of the grass.
Just make sure I don't have any leaves or anything.
There's so many boats you can't even have police time up, they've got an ankle melt.
Oh, nothing for beach, all around the first street.
That's what they help you with, they got it in the tank.
All right now they got it on top of each other.
I wish I could say I make it like it was back in 1930.
People would not believe it.
People would not believe how it was back in when we were kids.
Still back in the history, in 1902, they took 48 million bushels of worcesters out of the
test big bay.
In 1959 or 58, they took, I think it was 18 million bushels, 2004, 222,000 bushels, that's
all they took.
The bay is, it's got to be cleaned up, it's got to get the worcesters back, that's going
to clean the bay up quicker than anything, get some grass growing here in the bay.
A lot of people come out and enjoy this, but they took their mess home when they left the
war to take it with them, you wouldn't have as much trouble as you got today.
There's always hope.
Maybe not in my day, but the younger people like you will probably see it clear because
they're working towards it, they're working hard, but there's so many promises made and
promises not kept is the worst part.
Thank you.
