The F.D. Crockett

The F.D. Crockett. . , A Restored Chesapeake Buy Boat , A Chesapeake Bay buy boat, often called a deck boat because of its large decks, is a type of motor-powered workboat once used for transporting freight throughout the Chesapeake region. It has an aft pilot house and a mast and boom for hauling about seafood and cargo. Before hand-sawing planks was efficient, some early buy boats were converted from log sailing vessels or, like the F.D. Crockett, were built from logs that were shaped and pinned together. The F.D. Crockett, one of the last and largest built, is the last remaining log-hulled buy boat in Virginia.

Working the Water , Built in 1924, the F.D. Crockett was first used to carry freight from farms to port towns and cities. For nearly 100 years the boat was economically profitable, used to haul goods, produce and livestock, to buy and sell oysters, and to dredge in the winter for crabs or oysters. Eventually her usefulness was replaced by trucks as bridges and highways reached the area. In 2005 the F.D. Crockett was donated as a derelict to the Deltaville Maritime Museum. After 7 years and 10,000 hours of volunteer labor she was restored. Today, the F.D. Crockett serves as an outreach program for the museum. The boat was listed as a Virginia Historic Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

Specifications , Type of vessel: Poquoson-style log "canoe" built for internal combustion engine , Built: in 1924 by Alex Gaines and John Franklin Smith in Dare, York County, Virginia , Length: 62' 8" , Width: 5' 8" , Draft: 4'9" , Weight: 16 tons , Log Hull: Built with 9 logs (pine); sides originally chunk-built , Keel (longest) log: 55 feet , Original power: 24 hp Lathrop gasoline engine , Current power: (since world war two) Gray Marine 6-71 diesel with twin disc transmission , Cruising speed: 7½ knots

, [Captions:] , After 81 years of use as a tractor-trailer of the bay, a disintegrating F.D. Crockett was towed to Deltaville for restoration. She was rebuilt from her historic log bottom up.

Circa 1939, the F.D. Crockett is docked next to her sister log boat Catherine, also built by Alex Gaines, at a Hampton Creek oyster packing house during the winter oyster dredging season. The P.E. Pruitt and the Iva W., other Middlesex boats still in existence today, are rafted alongside. . This historical marker was erected by The Deltaville Maritime Museum. It is in Deltaville in Middlesex County Virginia