Tools of the Oystermen

Tools of the Oystermen. Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Chesapeake watermen used these tools to harvest oysters. Over time, oystering tools ranged from simple to complex, reflecting changes in technology, regulation, and oyster populations. A hundred years later, dredges, much more efficient, but requiring a larger boat to pull, arrived on the Bay from New England. But some oysters remained too deep for tonging and legally off-limits to dredges. With the invention of mechanical patent tongs in 1887, oystermen were able to harvest these deep-water oysters., To learn more about Chesapeake Bay oysters and the men who used these tools, visit the exhibition Oystering on the Chesapeake., [Captions:] , Hand tongs , A waterman stands on the narrow side deck of his boat, lifting tongs heavy with oysters. Tonging is cold, back-breaking work, but it requires the simplest, least expensive equipment, a boat, a strong fisherman, and a sturdy set of tongs. Robert de Gast, 1969, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum., Oyster dredge , A dredge is towed along the Bay's bottom of from a boat. At drags across an oyster bar, it scrapes up oysters and anything else in its way. The contents are then brought up on deck and sorted. Dredges are one of the most efficient tools to harvest oysters, but regulations restrict their use to certain open waters of the Bay. Robert de Gast, 1970, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum., Patent tongs , Patent tonging is cold and dangerous, but can reach oysters in very deep waters. Powerful winches lowered and lifted these massive tongs and their catch. Robert de Gast, 1970, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.