Skipjack from 1800s has Deltaville ties; owner plans to fix; driver charged with DUI
Deltaville has long been noted for wooden boatbuilding and repair and in 1969 the oldest skipjack on the Chesapeake Bay, Rebecca T. Ruark, was completely rebuilt there. Then, in the late 1980s, the skipjack was back in town at the now closed Deagle and Son Marine Railway for major repairs. The second event was covered by the Southside Sentinel.
There are few noted historic wooden boats on Chesapeake Bay that do not have some association to Deltaville, noted for generations past as the wooden boatbuilding capital of Chesapeake Bay.
The Rebecca T. Ruark, a National Historic Landmark, made national maritime news on Dec. 27, 2022 when the driver of a 1997 Chevrolet pickup truck ran through a shoreline piling at Dogwood Harbor on Tilghman Island, Md., where the boat was moored, and landed on the starboard portion of the stern.
Wade Murphy III, whose father Wade Jr. owns the boat, says that the driver, Charles Riggs of Salisbury, Md., is lucky that he landed on the boat because if he had gone in the water he could have “drowned or froze to death.” Riggs was later charged by the Talbot County (Md.) Sheriff’s Office with driving under the influence.
Murphy says the crash tore off the starboard back corner of the boat, taking out railing, a portion of the stern, davits, and GPS. “We are not going to know for sure what else has happened until we get her hauled,” says Murphy. “She is not leaking any worse than she was before the accident, so that’s a good sign.”
Murphy says he is going to have several boat carpenters come and look at the damage and “we plan to fix her.”
Wade (Wady) Murphy Jr. is the oldest and considered one of the most knowledgeable skipjack captains in the Maryland oyster dredge fleet. The Rebecca T. Ruark, built in 1886 at Taylor’s Island, Md., as a sloop, is the oldest working vessel in Maryland’s sail dredge fishery, the last sail-powered commercial fishing fleet in North America. The Rebecca T. Ruark was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
Wade Murphy III represents four generations of Tilghman Island watermen to dredge oysters under sail. He is owner and captain of the skipjack Hilda M. Willing.
“Dad has gotten some age on him so the last few years in January myself and my crew go out with him on the Rebecca and work her with him,” he says. “We will have to stay with my boat this year.”
