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Mary E Homecoming
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The Mary E returned to Deale Aug. 8, with the help of
students from Radcliffe Creek School. Capt. Jimmy Reynolds and his
students of the Radcliffe Creek School in Chestertown refurbished the
Mary E, a Hooper’s Island Draketail built in 1933, as part of their
ongoing efforts to save old wooden boats. Reynolds usually sells the
school’s project boats at auction, but in this case decided to return
the Mary E to its birthplace as a gift to Capt. Tom Marshall. Marshall
joined Reynolds at the dock in Chestertown Aug. 7, for the journey on
course for Deale. The Mary E made it about nine miles down the Chester
River before the engine gave out. She spent the night at Kent Narrows.
On Aug. 9, Reynolds brought her back to Deale under tow. She was temporarily docked at Ida Williams’ Marina, just north of the Rockhold Creek
Bridge.
Draketail Boats
According to newspaper articles from the 1930s, a draketail boat was named for her rounded
sweeping stern that resembles the hind end of a duck.
The "Hooper's Island Draketail" was named after the small island located in the lower half of the Chesapeake Bay on Maryland's Eastern shore. In the early 1900's, when the internal combustion engine first appeared, watermen were trading the sailing rigs for the engines and the local boat builders were looking for new ways to build better and more efficient workboats. One such builder noticed the torpedo boat destroyers pass by his home, and he thought that the hull design would be good for a workboat. He copied the hull design and built a boat with a V-bottom. The boat was fast, good looking and because of the narrow beam and sleek lines, it was relatively inexpensive to build.
The design caught on and the boats sprang up everywhere. A few years later, a new box stern type became popular, and the draketail became old fashioned. Eventually, the full name was shortened and now most people only know them by the name "ducktail." Today, not many of these beautiful boats exist. But through the passage of time, the boat has become a classic.
The Mary E was built in Deale in 1933 by Bernard "Dukie" Marshall for his wife, Mary Edna Ford Marshall, as a
picnic boat. It seems that Mrs. Marshall was not impressed (to her it was just another boat) and the vessel was sold to Capt. William Edward "Toby" Welch for
$575 the same year it was built, in November 1933. The Mary E is believed to be the only draketail ever built in Deale.
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Part of the hull needed repair. |
Mary E undergoing repairs in Chestertown. |
Back in the water at Chestertown. Picture taken the day before
setting out for Deale. |
Jimmy Reynolds with Dick Johnson. |
Jimmy Reynolds poses with the Mary E. |
After his students at Radcliffe Creek School refurbished the Mary E,
Jimmy Reynolds, right, sent the boat home to its birthplace in Deale as
a gift to Tom Marshall, left. |
Ida Williams with Tommy Marshall at Ida's marina. |
Workers from Herrington North Marina prepare to take the Mary E down stream to be hauled. |
Getting ready to go. |
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Underway |
Pulling into Herrington North. |
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Tommy Marshall poses with Mary E. |
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Jimmy Reynolds' student beging laying out plans for Babygirl, a half scale replica of the Mary E. |
Checking the plan. |
More details. |
Construction begins. |
Just a hint of what is to come. |
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