Enjoy this 1921 piece by Seaside Park Yacht Club member, William Shewell Ellis, a known photographer and sailor who first had this published in the August 1921 issue of Yachting. It was later reproduced in full by the New Jersey Courier, Toms River's weekly newspaper.
There is a stretch of inland waterway on the New Jersey coast, starting from Bay Head and extending through the most varied and picturesque sailing waters over a distance of 100 miles to Cape May, that is but little known to the average cruising yachtsmen, unless he is lucky enough to have summered down those waters.
An indescribable charm pervades these waterways. While summer colonies are becoming more and more numerous, yet the larger part of this stretch of beach that separates the bay from the ocean is as wild and rugged as in the days of Captain Kidd. It is an ideal cruising ground for a boat, either power or sail, drawing not over four feet. The government has completed a well-marked channel of six feet depth and is dredging a canal through from Bay Head to Point Pleasant, which will give an outlet into the Manasquan River and open Manasquan Inlet for the use of pleasure and fishing boats. At the present time, boats can get into the bay from the ocean through Barnegat Inlet. In their delightful story called Cruises, Robert and George Barrie pay a just tribute to these waters: “If the Englishman had Barnegat,” they say, “he would have painted it, and written books about it, and gloated over it as he has the Norfolk Broads. But in our great wealth of cruising grounds, it is almost entirely overlooked.” As a small boy, I was initiated by my father into this greatest of “Fraternal Orders,” cruising, my first cruise being in a sneak-box which leaked so badly that I woke in the night soaked to the skin—but little did that matter out in that great bay with the sky full of stars, where I could dream dreams. I could almost see those ships of Captain Kidd coming over the bar at Barnegat and sailing up old Toms River. Even to this day, it is held that some of Kidd's loot is buried on Money Island. If one starts his crews at Bay Head, at the north end of Barnegat Bay, he will find good stores to supply his needs and excellent water to fill his tanks, while at the Bay Head Yacht Club every courtesy will be extended to him. This is the logical place to start from if coming from the northward. My cruising on the bay is done in the Savola, a 40-foot yawl with auxiliary engine, drawing four feet of water. This is the easiest type of one-man boat, on my crew usually consisting of “Snooks,” who is not only a good Frau but a splendid cook, and “Babs,” who has had her first year at college. With a small sailing dory which we tow when under way, we explore the narrow winding creeks and coves which make the shores of the bay so attractive. A pleasant day can be spent sailing up the Metedeconk River. As the river is quite shallow, it is necessary to navigate most of the way in the dory. Well-kept farms run down to the river banks. Milk and fresh vegetables are always available at most moderate prices. We were caught there without food one holiday when stores were closed. I found a farmer enjoying a siesta in a hammock, and when he heard our plight, he obligingly supplied us out of his truck garden and hen house. Following the coast channel down through the drawbridge at Mantoloking, the bay gradually widens into a fine expanse of sailing water. Summer colonies are spread along the narrow stretch of beach—Chadwicks, Lavallette, Ortley and Seaside Park. Before the War of 1812, Old Cranberry Inlet penetrated this beach somewhere between Seaside Park and Ortley. A great deal of shipping then came into the inlet and sailed up to the town of Toms River, using the northern course around Island Heights, which is now almost entirely dry. This inlet also made a good anchorage and afforded a safe harbor for American privateers on the lookout for British ships during the Revolution. In one of the old histories of the Jersey coast we find that when cranberry inlet closed, Michael Ortley attempted to cut a new inlet near the head of Barnegat Bay. This work had no sooner been completed than a storm came and closed it again. After leaving Mantoloking the channel lies toward the west shore. The green meadow land runs back to the pine woods; Kettle Creek and Mosquito Cove are quite wild. During the autumn and winter, this is a favorite feeding ground for black duck, and there is splendid crabbing in the summer. Passing through a jack-knife drawbridge one comes to the mouth of Toms River. With five to eight feet of water you can sail from shore to shore, avoiding Long Point, a narrow sandbar jutting out just before you come into view of Island Heights. This is an ideal harbor and is a delightful place to spend as much time as one can spare. The Island Heights Yacht Club always has a hearty welcome and there are good stores in the village. If you are fortunate enough to be there on race day, you will also see some good racing. Sailing on up through the drawbridge, there is plenty of water into what is called the “town dock” of Toms River, one of the most delightful old towns in this part of the country. In the days before the inlet at Berkeley was closed, large sailing craft came into this port with shipments of coal and other merchandise. This is what is known as the Jersey Health Belt, and many of the houses are occupied both winter and summer. Following the channel on the west shore, you pass through Barnegat drawbridge, keeping well to the main shore. If you want a quiet harbor for lunch or a swim, run into Cedar Creek. It is an easy sail from here to Barnegat Inlet, where a harbor for the night can be made in back of Sedge Island. One may anchor a few hundred yards from the sand dunes and old gnarled cedars, which separate the bay and the Atlantic Ocean, and can hear the break of the surf and see faithful old Barnegat Light flashing its rays many miles out to sea. Before it is too dark, go over on the sand flats in hip boots, or,better still, no boots at all, dig a pailful of soft clams, and steam them for supper with fried fish and bacon. The next day, take an early mornings swim, breakfast, and then go for a few hours fishing in the Inlet—weakfish, bluefish and bass are abundant here in season and you will usually get good sport. The Coast Guards here are always glad to see you, and a finer type of men it is hard to find. In one way they are different from most men one meets—for they are happy when you are in trouble, for then they can be of service to you. Just get caught in the Inlet in a heavy sea, and have your dory come aboard over your stern on a following wave and smash your jigger mast to bits, as happened to us last summer! Before we had dropped anchor in the inner harbor, the Guards were alongside in their big powerboat, ready to render aid. And if you want to read thrillers, don't buy fiction, but just get a copy of the Annual Report of the U.S. Coast Guard Service issued by the government. If you want an exciting sail, run out of Barnegat Inlet at flood tide. The black buoys mark the way over the bar. There is always a sea running on the bar and you are pretty nearly sure of picking up a bluefish or two on the way, if you troll with a squid. Sailing back again toward the mainland, the hotel at Waretown will soon be picked up. In the “good old days” before the 18th Amendment, this was the starting point for many a fishing party when fishing was not the sole object in view. But this is now but a memory, and, bidding farewell to this good old landmark, we steer a zig-zag course for Harvey Cedars. This is a good place to spend the night, especially if one is acquainted with any of the big political guns who have a most delightful clubhouse at this point. On leaving Harvey Cedars, follow a narrow, well-marked channel through what is known as “the Bonnet.” The channel passes through two drawbridges and soon enters Little Egg Harbor Bay. Beach Haven is a well-known summer resort, and the surrounding waters are well filled with fish and crabs. Clams or soft crabs are used for bait and can be bought from baitmen on the fishing grounds. A sail almost directly across the Bay will bring you to the mouth of the Tuckerton Creek. This is a very deep channel cut through the meadows and leads to the wharf of the old town at Tuckerton. This town is much like Gloucester and the fishing villages of Cape Cod. Enjoyed this article? Please consider making a one-time or recurring donation today!
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78 East Water Street, Toms River, NJ 08753 Guided Tours By Request - New Members Always Welcome (732) 349-9209 - [email protected] The following was penned by the unsigned town writer of Barnegat for the New Jersey Courier in Spring 1922.
During the busy season when we see the many railroad trains bearing thousands of pleasure-seekers from distant parts of the country to our beaches, the highways thronged with automobiles, all seeking rest or recreation at the many resorts scattered along the New Jersey coast, our thoughts revert to the time when this coast was but a barren waste of sand dunes, with occasionally a fisherman's shanty or some old settler who enjoyed the peace and quiet afforded by a home on the beach, where he could get the greater part of his living from the ocean and bay. In those days their wants were few, as they were not bothered by autos nor movies. On Manasquan Beach, about five miles above Cranberry Inlet was Chadwick's, commonly called Shadick's, an old-fashioned building, where many fishermen and gunners found every convenience suitable to their wants in that line. At the inlet was the old Ashley House, kept by John Brown, Charles Martin and Warner Kinsley. This also was a noted resort for lovers of aquatic sports. Here gathered people from New York, Philadelphia, and many other places to seek pleasure, come for a rest from the busy cities, and to gather around the old bar-room stove fed with wreck wood, and renew old acquaintances and swap stories of previous visits to these resorts. At this time Dad Parker was the only person living there except the lighthouse keeper, and now not a vestige remains to mark the spots where the old Ashley House and Dad's house stood. The people are all gone and this generation know of these old places only as they hear the stories related by some of the older people. The next place was what we today know as the “Club House,” opposite Barnegat. Years ago it was known as “Double Jimmie's,” James James being the man who kept this old resort for the same purpose as the other old boarding houses, as they were called at that day, hotels being hardly known along the shore. When Long Branch was in its infancy it was known to seafaring men as “The Tavern House.” Capt. Charles Cox succeeded James, then Joseph K. Ridgway, George Vannote, after which for several years it stood alone and deserted until last year J.B. Kinsey bought and moved it to High Point. When these houses were flourishing beach parties were very fashionable during the summer months. There were not so many classes as there are today, and 25 or 30 young people would make up a party, go to Sammy Perrine's, at Harvey Cedars, take a fiddler along with them (they were not called musicians at that time), stay several days, have a good time, pay the bill and come home, and nothing thought of it. That wouldn't do today. As we ride along the shore roads today we see numerous signs, telling us that certain hotels are noted for shore dinners, composed of roast beef, chicken and perhaps occasionally a fish. These old beach resorts didn't advertise such dinners but they delivered the goods; one thing, especially, you don't often see at our shore palace hotels, baked or boiled sheepshead. We will state for the benefit of the many readers, that sheepshead is a fish that inhabited our bay several years ago, but today is a thing unheard of. Old-fashioned dinners, table groaning with the best that could be had, cooked by old-fashioned people who knew just how to make everything appetizing. They didn't have one of Mrs. Rorer's cook books nor the pure food laws that govern them. The sea nymph of that time did not appear with a one-piece bathing suit. They couldn't drive over in a car, take a dip and be home in a few minutes, neither could they slip across the bay in a power boat, very few yachts were in vogue, but a class of old-fashioned craft called “sail boats,” built on the skiff order. Further down the bay was Sammy Perrine's, at Harvey Cedars; this was afterwards kept by Joel Horner, Warner Kinsey, Charles Martin, Charles Bennett, James Hazelton, Isaac Jennings and Dave White, after which it was rebuilt by Billy Thompson, known as “Duke of Gloucester,” but since being rebuilt proved a failure. Here in olden times was the headquarters for the beach parties as there was a large building just to the south of the old hotel, known as the dance house, with an elevated platform in the south end for the fiddler (now orchestra). The original hotel burned down several years ago, but was rebuilt and the present one is built around the newer one. This was one of the best resorts for gunning parties along the shore. It was here the first life saving station was built, the crew being volunteers, under the captaincy of Sammy Perrine, there being no paid crews until about 1871. The next place, further down, was the old “Mansion of Health,” a well-known resort for sportsmen and pleasure-seekers. The came from the cities and West Jersey towns in wagons to Manahawkin, some of them stopping at the “Old Ferry House.” The Old Mansion, as it was commonly called, stood at the south end of Great Swamp, now Surf City. At that time there was quite a big swamp there where ship timber was cut and there were also fields of grain. Today hardly a sign of the swamp remains except a few stumps along the sand hills that have made up the past half century. There were a few families living there years ago whose chief occupation was whaling. We have one of the old harpoons used at that time by Aaron Inman, one of the old residents of that time. The Old Mansion was abandoned nearly fifty years ago and a few years afterward burned down. Further down, opposite West Creek, was another old-time resort, not so well known as some of the others, but more of a private party place. This was Pehala, an old-fashioned building, like many on the main years ago, with one part two-story and a kitchen and low bed room over that. This has been torn down since the railroad was put on the beach, and another larger and more up-to-date building erected near the old site. Some years ago an old house stood near what is now known as Ship Bottom. This was owned by Wesley Truex, an old captain of that life saving station. Then down toward what is now Beach Haven was Tommy Jones'. Many years ago people from this side would take cattle over to the beach in the spring and let them run on the wild during the summer. Beach Haven, one of our modern, up-to-date fashionable resorts, was started about 1874, and was reached by the steamer Barclay Haines, from Edge Cove, Tuckerton, where it connected with the trains. Bonds was another old-time place. Atlantic City, the last word in resorts, truly the world's greatest summer resort, the show place of America. This was started about 1853, on a barren beach, but today the roar of the sea is outdone by the roar of the busy throngs that inhabit the greatest thorofare in the world, “The Boardwalk.” What you can't see down to “Atlantic” you needn't go elsewhere to look for. Years ago mariners seldom saw a light on the Jersey coast except the friendly lighthouse that guided them past the dangerous shoals, but now from Sandy Hook to Cape May there is hardly a dark spot, just one glitter of electric lights marking the entire coast line. We have mentioned a few of the old-time resorts, but no use saying anything about the present state of our coast as to its pleasure resorts. Jersey is noted for skeeters, justice, barren pine lands, bootleggers, etc., but when you mention summer resorts we've got 'em skinned a mile.
Countless vessels have been lost along our shores for hundreds of years, each one a fingerprint: similar in concept, original in design.
Today's tragedy involves the fishing smack Red Dragon, sailing out of Atlantic City and lost in a nor'easter off Long Beach Island, as recounted by Toms River weekly newspaper, the New Jersey Courier. Times and tides may be renewed daily, but the dangers faced by shore fishermen remain ever the same. 5 FISHERMEN LOST AT SEA
OFF BEACH HAVEN IN BIG GALE
Sept. 24th, 1903
Five lives were lost off Long Beach on Wednesday of last week by the terrible gale. The fishing smack Red Dragon of Atlantic City, went down with all on board.
Thursday, the hull of the smack was swept ashore at Harvey Cedars. Lashed fast was the body of her captain, DeWitt Clark. Frank DuCasse, mate, and Danial Murdock, sailor, came ashore not far distant. Two other seamen, John Elms and Louis Swanson, were also drowned. The Red Dragon was owned by Captain John Young and John Tallman. She was about sixty feet keel, schooner rigged and a well equipped fishing smack. She left Atlantic City Tuesday for the fishing grounds off Beach Haven. She was weighted down with tons of ice, used for keeping the fish fresh. It is supposed that the schooner was anchored to ride out the gale; but the storm was much fiercer than her crew had expected. They cut away the mast and rigging, but still she was submerged by the seas. All except the captain seem to have washed overboard, and he came ashore with the wreck when the cable parted. On the other hand, the surfmen on Long Beach, as reported by David S. White of Harvey Cedars, have a theory that the schooner was headed for Delaware Breakwater or else for Little Egg Harbor Inlet, when struck by the fiercest of the northeast blow. They say the mast was broken off at the partners, and not chopped away, and that the sails had been first three-reefed, and then tied down. The clock in the cabin and a watch on one of the bodies both stopped at 24 minutes past seven. They hold that the smack put for harbor, and was scudding under bare poles when her mast went by the board and overturned her. After that the shift of wind brought her up the coast and beached her and the crew at Long Beach. Three of the drowned men, Clark, Ducasse and Swanson, left widows and families, Clark having five children surviving him. Murdock's body was taken to North Long Branch and buried from the home of his adopted parents, John S. West and wife. Saturday, surfman Abe Dothaday of Love Ladies Island station, found another body in the surf. It was that of John Elms of 318 Beech street, Philadelphia. Coroner J. Clarence Cranmer of West Creek, took charge of all the bodies found and gave a burial permit.
In the same edition of the New Jersey Courier was a report on the storm itself and its effect along Ocean County's shore communities, highlighting boats damaged and lost, built and owned by names familiar to our maritime history.
RAVAGES OF LAST WEEK'S FIERCE GALE
Reports of the damage wrought by last Wednesday's gale are still coming in, and mark it as the most destructive gale along this coast in a half century.
At Bay Head, pieces of the board walk were picked up bodily and hurled against the nearby cottages, in some instances as high as the roof. The Verplanck, Hawley, Barker and Cameron cottages were injured in this way. Nearly every cottage there bears some mark of the gale. Only three yachts were left at their moorings in the protected basin, but only a few were badly injured, including Hazard's launch Curlew, J.M. Chadwick's Minerva, and Mr. Wells' Rex. Verandas were blown off at the Bluffs and the Ocean View hotels, windows were blown in and chimneys torn down. At Point Pleasant, the beach board walk was blown about the beach, trees were torn up, electric wires went down, and chimneys were blown over. The frames for the new Episcopal rectory and for VanNote's new barn went down. At Mantoloking, in addition to other damage, the yacht Whisper, owned by Louis deF. Downer, went into the bridge and was damaged. All along the beach, board walks, houses and outbuildings, as well as boats at anchor, suffered much. The sloop in the draw at Barnegat Pier, that blocked the P.R.R. Trains on Wednesday, was the Arthur L. Fling, built a few years ago at Atlantic City for Eugene Longstreet. She was sailed this summer by a Norfolk, Va., man, and had just reached the Pier a day or two before. The most of the fleet broke loose while the gale was still northeast, and landed on the meadows, but the Fling held till the wind shifted and then went back into the draw. The power yacht Mattie, one of the larger craft at Sea Side Park, owned by Mr. Schibe, the Philadelphia base ball man, went onto the bridge and is a total loss. Others of the Sea Side Park fleet are being straightened up, having been brought back from different points along the upper bay where they stranded or sunk. Few were badly hurt. At Island Heights, the hull of Guy Luburg's launch is a total loss, only the engine being saved. The Maraquita, built by W.L. Force of Keyport, for W.A. Burnett, now owned by Messrs. Merrihew and Scott, has her sides and deck smashed, cabin gone, and looks a wreck. Webster's auxiliary yacht Myra, the Schoettle brothers' Hobo and Scat, W.K. Smith's Ruby, are among the worst damaged. Nearly every craft in the fleet was dismasted, and the total damage is estimated now at $15,000 [$446, 033 in 2021 dollars]. The sneakbox racers and other small craft did not escape, Carpenter's box Rose being a total loss, and others damaged. At Tuckerton, thirty big trees went down, the telephone service was crippled, boat houses and barns collapsed, and a new house being built for Nicholas Shepherd, is racked and twisted. The yacht Merry Thought, owned by John P. Crozer at Beach Haven, was blown five miles across the bay, going ashore at Jesse's Point, near Parkertown. The large schooner yacht Mattie W. porter also went ashore below Tuckerton. The sloop Vigilant of Tuckerton, was blown ashore near edge cove.
Two weeks later, the October 8th edition of the New Jersey Courier, reported a sad epilogue to the Red Dragon tragedy.
One of the men drowned in the wreck of the Atlantic City fishing smack Red Dragon off Long Beach on September 16th, was Louis Swanson, a Swede, and his body was the only one not recovered. Last week his sister, who had left her home in Sweden to join him in Atlantic City, reached this country and was greeted with the sad news of his death.
One month later, the Courier reported that his widow received $1,000 compensation in life insurance [about $40,000 in 2024 dollars] for his death.
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Though its origin is a bit lost to the mists of time, as WoodenBoat Magazine admitted in its Sept/Oct 2004 feature, the Melonseed Skiff was “developed to suit the needs of market gunners in the vicinity of Barnegat Bay... at a time when hunting was still more of a profession than a sport. They were designed to carry a single man, his gun, and decoys out onto the open water in pursuit of waterfowl.” Often built in Little Egg Harbor and Parkertown – the latter resulting in the Melonseed sometimes being referred to as a “Parkertown Skiff” - they range in size from 12' to 15'6” and are considered a “cousin” to the better known and more widely used sneakbox. It is unknown which predated the other, but the Melonseed is more of an open-water craft boasting v-shaped forward sections, a true stem and more refined entry while the sneakbox is used for marshes and has a more shallow entry. Melonseeds, WoodenBoat Magazine continues, “were given a strongly raked transom, which would tend to soften the blow from a following sea, lifting the boat over it. Amidships the builders put a harder turn to the bilges, thereby stiffening the boat. (The midsection of the sneakbox is a shallow arc.) This allowed it to carry sail with greater authority in rough weather and added a small amount of freeboard (the sneakbox had almost none)." Unfortunately, the Melonseed Skiff's more complex construction nearly doubled its price when compared to that of the sneakbox, and as the gunning market declined from an everyday economic-driven profession into a weekender's sport, their viability was all but eliminated. By 1951, the boat was considered “extinct,” while sneakboxes continued in production and use. For more on the Melonseed Skiff, including greater detail in its development and the history of its saving from total extinction by groups of interested backyard builders and maritime organizations, visit the Barnegat Bay Maritime Museum during open hours of Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 10 am to 2 pm. Or, click the link here to purchase the digital edition of WoodenBoat Magazine #180 online.
Photos of the Melonseed Skiff in this post are from Windfall Woodworks of Huntington, VT. Melonseed lines courtesy the Smithsonian Institution. |
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