Captain America Drapes

News of Newport News

Once you enter Hampton Roads, the city begins to unfold. There is a long, muscular, and from the water, at least somewhat forbidding: a bowl of commercial fishing, a giant shipyard, a jetty for opencast coal, a reserve fleet of aging on the seashore. Somewhere-ahh, there are between gray behemoths, is a center of some office buildings, a park close and barely visible the beginning of a triumphal arch.

But do not be discouraged. Newport News has accessible marinas, some lovely spots to anchor, inviting beaches, a vibrant fishing industry, a center for performing arts stunning and one of the finest museums in the maritime world. And it's reachable by water, with a little extra effort-ok, maybe a lot.

Has history here, as deep as the water off the coast, and it begins with a name. It may well be, as some allege, that Newport News Point-to point of land that marks the end of Hampton Roads and early in the James River, got its name from the good news that Captain Christopher Newport, Jamestown expedition leader, returned to the sources. But I prefer a more likely theory, that a William Newco, an Irish knight, arrived soon after resolution 1607 and established a port which came to be known as New Port Newco.

It was only this time off the ground, two and a half centuries later, that ungainly two ironclad warships, the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (nee USS Merrimack) fought to a draw in a haze of morning in March 1862, marking the beginning of the end of wooden fighting ships. Every time I pass this way I think this battle, and how many ships of war, "ironclads" everything, now there are only built where near the coast, almost within the communication by radio remote, also not far from here, perhaps the distance of flight of a cannonball, are hoary remnants of the monitor itself, resting in a world-class museum.

I am traveling by boat, my Tartan 30, Ode to Joy, from my mooring in the Lafayette River in Norfolk, hoping to take a look at it Newport News convincing, especially by water. Newport News, a linear city that is at least 20 km in length, but only two four miles wide for most of that time, parades slowly as I get a gentle breeze from the north, putting Middle Ground Light defendant, after sliding Monitor-Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel and into the James. To my amazement, there is an ideal place for a cruising sailor to tie not in the small boat harbor that is home to a commercial fishing fleet (more on that later), not in the center, not along the beach, and certainly not along the waterfront industry. I feel like I'll have to go to Williamsburg or Jamestown. But I will not give up yet, is there a way to see this city. I keep moving.

In the coal dock, the ship Enterprise Energy of New Orleans, and a boat from Baltimore are positioned in a portico, and the black coal that is piled high in the mountains of the earth (regularly sprayed with water to keep the soot). Not very inviting here. dominant feature of the city, stretching for miles along the seafront, is the giant Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard. Founded by railroad baron Collis Huntington more than one hundred years ago to service the ships unloaded at its docks.

The Drydock and Newport News Shipbuilding Co., as was known then, began to turn military vessels to score during the war, becoming the largest individually owned shipyard in America, by Northrop Grumman bought not long ago. In one of the pillars, towering 20 stories above the water and looking as big as a reclining Empire State Building, litters newly commissioned aircraft carrier George HW Bush, through post-shakedown maintenance and repair.

Security is tight as a tick here. You do not even want to think or lose docking advance. Nice doggy. Do not worry. I'm just passing through. At 3:30, a siren wails. The shift change, I hope. Miles farther and there is no place to stop, but that's about to change. Just before the bridge over the James River I come to town property Leeward Municipal Marina. I like to Leeward. Was I found my first boat, a little sweet Spirit-23 swing keel, which I bought there and headed home. Tucked in next to the bridge, the harbor is surrounded by a wall of white cement. I had stopped the car here a few days before to see if I could go anywhere on foot. And to my delight, I could. Only from the marina a semaphore allowed me to walk safely across the approach to the James River Bridge. And there, on the west side of the bridge was an oasis of sand, Huntington Park. That day she was full of swimmers: families with blankets, umbrellas and coolers, lifeguards and swimmers. So in addition to a refreshment booth found a slope, where half a dozen boats were being persuaded off trailers for water. One can easily anchor off and dinghy tie or in small dock that accommodates users, ramps, even go for a swim at the beach.

There is a fishing pier in Huntington Park, which lies on the remains of an old James River Bridge, with the Crab Shack Seafood Restaurant-is good, I hear leaning on the water. Beyond The beach is a playground called Fort Fun and elaborate, then it is not a place so fun, I imagine, the Virginia War Museum. But what I was looking for and found was a footbridge crossing a small creek. Aha again! If I wanted to get to the Mariners' Museum Bicycle input waterfront of Newport News, following the call by the road side of the James River, I could. This city is opening a little at a time.

Back to the present, I'm under the James River Bridge and go through this beautiful beach, then several miles of beachfront mansions, and the park surrounding the Mariners' Museum. An hour later, after detecting markers of entry Deep Creek, I drop my sails and motor in the side of the door is Menchville, where various deadrise workboats are docked. Ahead is Deep Warwick Creek Landing Marina and Yacht Club, both full of yachts. To starboard is James River Marina, my destiny today, and a place I'm looking forward to revisiting.

Owner Marty Moliken, whom he met eight years ago, when writing about James, is there to help with my lines. Over the past 60 years, had tied workboats up at a pier of the old city next to the marina. Finally, this year the old pier was removed as the city has improved bulkheads and dockage across the creek. Now began Moliken the ball rolling for 40 new slips and a raw bar at the end of the old pier. If the gods building permit, his smile, he says, could all be in operation until next summer.

At this point, Barb arrives in the land yacht and began unloading our bikes. We thought of bringing them by boat. It can save them on deck, but they are not the kinds of bending and frankly, we did not want the job of loading and unloading them. What I was trying to test my theory that we could fairly? Easily reach the Mariners' Museum James River Marina, because you can not visit without going to the Newport News yolk a museum. Let's test my theory about cycling there in the morning. Now let's test the food.

James River Marina has what has been a popular local restaurant. Originally called Herman's Harbor House, is now called just up the creek. We get a table on the balcony overlooking the creek, and as a fan whirs and the sun sets, we indulge in some very good shrimp and crabcakes. And we could not resist bread pudding, some amazing caramel. The western sky is dominated by the sail-shaped clouds with sun in their bellies.

With the bread pudding in our bellies, Barb and I bed down on board Ode to Joy, falling asleep to murmurs of conversation and the occasional laugh of the night owls in the vicinity of landslides. We woke up early, dawdle on cereals and fruit, then pedal toward the museum.

It's a nice ride, and about three miles of a half through a cozy suburban neighborhood. We chose the longer route this time, because it takes you to the waterfront and the Museum Drive, which takes you through the densely forested Mariners' Museum Park. Archer Huntington, stepson of the site founder Collis Huntington, turned his collection of maritime paintings and ship models for the museum, surrounding it with miles of parks and trails, so it's fun come this way.

We are fortunate to be visiting the museum, while it showed a major exhibition, "Building Better Ships," which explores (Up November 15) in the museum's intimate connection to the shipbuilding company. Archer Huntington was the fascination with the maritime art that led to the creation the museum in 1930. At the same time, he hired well-known artist Thomas C. Skinner and provided him with a studio on site. Skinner turned out dozens of screens, almost life-size shipwrights of plying their trade, the patterns of cavernous lofts, drilling holes for rivets, pouring red-hot steel molds, which line the windows pay the end of the week.

The yard also filmed the merchants, as an aid for training new workers, and movies in black and white, recently restored, are now shown alongside the paintings. The painting of workers who sets the standards, for example, is echoed by similar images shot. Scenes of workers pouring molten lead into a mold, folding strips of white-hot steel in the shape of the bow, or turn a propeller shaft are also juxtaposed brilliantly. This can be, as museum curator Anna Holloway later told me, "how best to interpret works of art history, seeing the paintings and then seeing a shot of these things really occurring. "

Collis Huntington virtually created the modern city of Newport News, running his railroad there, then the creation of the yard. A small town grew up nearby and was formed in 1896, the same year, the shipyard open. plant yard "It was my original intention to start one? in the best location the world, "says a quote from Huntington on a display wall," and well I succeeded in my purpose. It is just off the sea. " This passage has become a major embarkation point during the world wars and hundreds of thousands of soldiers shipped off to Europe. They were welcomed home seaside town for an arc Triumph, built in the style of Paris Arc de Triomphe.

The museum more appealing feature for me (not surprising, since I wrote a book on the subject) is? Monitor Center, dedicated to this historic confrontation of experimental ironclads, the Monitor and Virginia. This sprawling $ 30000000 permanent exhibition presiding not only a scale model of the outer display, but also shares his real, plucked from the bottom of the Atlantic in early 1987 and is now being preserved and displayed here. Indeed, one of the best parts of the Central Monitor besides watching enactments of battles in Hampton Roads and the wreck later that year the Monitor off Cape Hatteras, is being able to climb out of windows that look into the conservation area Monitor. There are over a thousand artifacts here, but the star of the show is undoubtedly part of the monitor that even a casual fan of Civil War can identify with the massive iron turret gun, now soaked in a bath of 140 years of salt incursion is slowly driven out of metal. On days when the water is clear, or when you're just being sprayed with a fine mist, you can see the teeth caused by shot cannon enemy.

You can imagine what the Monitorgunners, working feverishly inside the tower, unable to see the enemy, must have experienced. A sailor "Fell over like a dead man" when the ball hit a few inches from his head. Another was hurled in both arms of the coup.

The latest discovery is such a simple thing, a can of oil that the years of sedimentation and metal caused the marriage to be cemented motor capacitor. But he remembers that there men in the same quarter of the engine in the New Year's Eve 1862, fighting to keep the steam engines running as the water rose to the grids of fire. The monitor was down to 240 meters depth off Cape Hatteras, with the loss of 16 crew. Even sadder are the remains of coating an officer who was found covered by one of two trucks. "This what is probably one of the crew took off to avoid being dragged down when he entered the water, "Marcie Renner, chief curator of the museum, told me during another visit. Pretty exciting stuff, slowly materialize after 147 years of history submerged.

On the bike ride back to the marina, take a faster route, westward toward Deep Creek, but this time past, the modern and growing Christopher Newport University and the stunning IM Pei designed Ferguson Center for the Arts, one of the most respected performing arts spaces in the region. Good to know that you can stop at Deep Creek or Leeward and go by bike or taxi, a world-class museum and scenic area.

One of the least known but most intriguing parts of the pier in Newport News is the city Small Boat Harbor. It can be envisioned for about a nanosecond while driving on Monitor-Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel, at the exit to the east. What you can see, especially, is the top Platforms fishing trawler, so you can be right in assuming that it is a commercial fishing port. And not just for small boats. Pretty big stuff, really. Crabbers, clammers, scallop boats, pilot boats, the Coast Guard ships and everything else. And throughout Newport News Creek, which creates the port, are packing plants of seafood.

We have to drive to get there is the other end of this sprawling city, but fortunately we have the car. Harbormaster Doreen Kopacz, who grew up in Willoughby section of Norfolk, greets me. We took a drive from one side of the creek and down the other. "This is one of the thefew left that allows people to come in business, "she says. We loop under the bridge and a park where the Spirit of Judy, a 40-foot platform clammer double, is coming within Charles Stanley Mason and his son, Charles Jr., back from work the engine has done in his boat. Mason, who is in the dock alongside his boat, has been clamming off the small port for boats 22 years, "and we are getting the best that has already begun for them. "

What's so great about clamming? I ask the old Charles. He shrugs. "I I like doing what I enjoy doing. You know what I mean? "It is not easy, nor in this era of tight regulation, but that observation is just another shrug. "Nothing looks like it used to be."

Charles Jr., a thin beard tracing the ridge of his jaw enthusiastically shows me platforms shellfish, all powered by a four-speed V-6 engine tractor trailer. "It's the hardest job I ever had," he says, explaining how fast the flies down shellfish harvesting. "You have to watch or you'll hurt yourself." Now he does not look too promising for him to follow the footsteps of his father, he explains, with the state and regulate the clam beds. "If they leave the grounds outside open," he says, "I continue doing until I was as old as my father. "

Harbormaster Kopacz not care to take me around some more, to continue the tour in brief stop to see another boat, Miss Leslie of Poquoson, Va., to enter about 30 bushels of blue crabs. Diggs and his son Ken, you guessed it, Ken Diggs Jr., influenza, As all fishermen do about the regulations, but would not do anything else to live. "It's all I ever did, it's crazy," says the young Diggs. "It like I was the last cowboy. "

There are a number of cowboys past here, the call Small Boat Harbor, one of the largest concentrations of businesses fish of its kind in the whole bay. Dozens of boats to enter and unload while we watch. One of the fish packing plants have a point of sale, and a beautiful lady "What can I get for you, dear?" sell me some very good shrimp. Perfect for our dinner on board.

Barb and I spent one night on board this time, anchored in a quiet spot in Deep Creek, and leave shortly after first light. The autumn breeze north-like catch our sails as parade and then, as the wind picks up, coastal race past the city miles long and with a fringe story. It was a pleasure to meet Newport News, New Port News, that mighty good and mighty city along the James.

Once you enter Hampton Roads, the city begins to unfold. There is a long, muscular, and from the water, at least somewhat forbidding: a Bowl commercial fishing, a giant shipyard, a jetty for opencast coal, a reserve fleet of aging on the seashore. Somewhere-ahh, there are between giants gray, are some downtown office buildings, a park close and barely visible the beginning of a triumphal arch. But do not be discouraged. Newport News has marinas accessible some lovely spots to anchor, inviting beaches, a vibrant fishing industry, a performing arts center and a stunning museum's finest maritime world. And it's reachable by water, with a little extra effort-okay, maybe a lot. He has a history here, as deep as the water off the coast, and she starts with a name. It may well be, as some allege, that Newport News-Point, the point of land that marks the end of Hampton Roads and the beginning of the James River, got its name from the good news that Captain Christopher Newport, Jamestown expedition leader, had returned with supplies. But I prefer a more likely theory, that a William Newco, an Irish knight, arrived soon after resolution 1607 and established a port which came to be known as New Port Newco. It was only this time off the ground, two and a half centuries later, that two ironclad warships inelegant, the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (nee USS Merrimack) fought to a draw in a foggy morning of March 1862, marking the beginning of the end of wooden fighting ships. Every time I pass this way I think of that battle, and how many ships of war, "ironclads" whole, are now built right there on that beach close, almost within hailing distance, also not far from here, maybe the distance of flight of a cannonball, are the remains of hoary Monitor itself, resting on a world-class museum. I am traveling by boat, my Tartan 30, Ode to Joy, my mooring in the Lafayette River in Norfolk, hoping to take a closer look at what makes Newport News appealing, especially for water. Newport News, a linear city that is at least 20 km in length, but only two to four miles wide for most of that time, scrolls slowly by as I get a gentle breeze from the north through Light aft end, after sliding Monitor-Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel and into the James. To my amazement, there is an ideal place for a cruise sailor not to tie the small boat harbor that is home to a fleet of commercial fishing (more on that later), and not in the center, not along the beach, and certainly not along the industrial seaside. I feel like I'll have to go to Williamsburg or Jamestown. But I will not give up yet, is there a way to see this city. I keep moving. In the coal wharf, the Starship Enterprise Energy in New Orleans, Baltimore and a barge are prepared under a portico, and the black coal that is piled high in the mountains land (regularly sprayed with water to keep the soot). Not very inviting here. dominant feature of the city, which stretches for miles along the waterfront, is the giant Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard. It was founded by railroad baron Collis Huntington over a hundred years in the service of ships unloaded in your dock. The Drydock and Newport News Shipbuilding Co., as it was known then, began to turn military vessels to score during the war, becoming the largest garden individual property in the United States by Northrop Grumman bought not long ago. In one of the pillars, towering 20 stories above the water and looking so great as a recumbent Empire State Building, litters newly commissioned aircraft carrier George HW Bush, undergoing post-shakedown maintenance and repair. Security is tight as a tick here. You do not even want to think the loss of anchorage or forward. Nice doggy. Do not worry. I'm just passing through. At 3:30, a siren laments. The shift change, I hope. Miles further and there is no place to stop, but that's about to change. Just before the bridge over the James River I come to town Property Leeward Municipal Marina. I like to Leeward. It was where I met my first boat, a little sweet swing keel-Spirit 23, which I bought there and went home. Nested on the side of the bridge, the marina is surrounded by a wall of white cement. I had stopped the car here a few days before to see if I could go anywhere on foot. And to my joy, I could. Only one traffic light from the port allowed me to walk safely across the approach to the James River Bridge. And there, on the west side of the bridge was an oasis Sandy, Huntington Park. That day she was full of bathers: families with blankets, umbrellas and coolers, lifeguards and swimmers. So in addition to a refreshment I found a stand ramp, where half a dozen boats off trailers were being coaxed into the water. One can easily anchor off and dinghy tie or in small dock that accommodates users, ramps, even go for a swim at the beach. There is a fishing pier in Huntington Park, which lies on the remains of an old James River Bridge, with the Crab Shack Seafood Restaurant which is good, I hear that overlook the water. Beyond the beach is an elaborate playground called Fort Fun, then, is not a place so fun I imagine, the Virginia War Museum. But what I was looking for and found was a bridge crossing a small stream. Aha again! If I wanted to get to the Mariners' Museum Bicycle from the entrance to the Riverside to Newport News, following the call River Road, next to James, I could. This city is opening a little time. Back to the present, I'm under the James River Bridge and pass by this beautiful beach, then several miles of beachfront mansions, and the park that surrounds the Mariners Museum. An hour later, after detecting the markers of entry Deep Creek, I drop my sails and motor in the side of the door is Menchville, where various deadrise workboats are docked. Ahead is Deep Creek Landing Marina Yacht Club and Warwick, both full of yachts. To starboard is James River Marina, my destiny today, and a place I'm looking forward to revisiting. Owner Marty Moliken, whom he met eight years ago, when writing about James, is there to help with my lines. Over the past 60 years, had tied workboats an ancient city dock near the marina. Finally, this year the old pier was removed as the city has improved bulkheads and dockage across the creek. Now Moliken started the ball rolling for 40 new slips and a raw bar at the end of the old pier. If the gods building permit, his smile, he says, could all be in operation until the next summer. At this point, Barb arrives in the land yacht and began unloading our bikes. We thought of bringing them by boat. You can save them on deck but they are not the kinds of bending and frankly, we do not want the job of loading and unloading them. What I was trying to test my theory that we could fairly? easily reach the Mariners' Museum James River Marina, because you can not visit without going to the Newport News gem of a museum. Let's test my theory about cycling there in the morning. Now let's test the food. James River Marina has what has long been a popular local restaurant. Originally called Herman's Harbor House, is now called just up the creek. We get a table on the balcony overlooking the creek, and as a fan whirs and the sun sets, let's go into some very good shrimp and crabcakes. And, we could not resist some amazing caramel bread pudding. The western sky is dominated by cloud-shaped candle with the sun in their bellies. With the bread pudding in our bellies, Barb and I bed down the board Ode to Joy, falling asleep to the murmurs of conversation and the occasional peal of laughter from the night owls near landslides. We woke up early, dawdle on cereals and fruit, then pedal toward the museum. It is a pleasant drive of about three miles and half through a suburban neighborhood atmosphere. We chose the longer route this time, because it leads you to the waterfront and the Museum Drive, which Museum takes you through the densely forested Mariners' Park. Archer Huntington, stepson of the site founder Collis Huntington, turned his collection of maritime paintings and ship models to the museum, which surround you with miles of parks and trails, so it's fun to come this way. We are fortunate to be visiting the museum, while showing her a major exhibition, "Building Better Ships, which operates (until November 15) in close connection to the museum's construction company ship. Archer Huntington was the fascination with the maritime art that led to the creation of the museum in 1930. At the same time, he hired well-known artist Thomas C. Skinner and provided him with a studio on site. Skinner turned out dozens of almost life-size screens shipwrights to exercise their craft, which sets standards in cavernous lofts, punching holes for rivets, pouring red-hot steel molds, which line the windows payable at the end of the week. The yard also filmed the merchants, as an aid for training new workers, and movies in black and white, recently restored, are now displayed alongside the paintings. The painting of workers that the patterns, for example, is echoed by similar Images shot. Scenes of workers pouring molten lead into a mold, folding steel strips white-hot bow-shaped, or turn a brilliant propeller shaft are also juxtaposed. This can be, as museum curator Anna Holloway later told me, "how best to interpret works of art history, seeing the paintings and then see footage of these things actually happening. "Collis Huntington virtually created the modern city of Newport News, running his railroad there, then the creation of the yard. A small village sprang up nearby and was incorporated in 1896, the same year, the shipyard open. plant yard "It was my original intention to start one? in the best location the world, "says a quote from Huntington on a display wall," and well I succeeded in my purpose. It is just off the sea. " This passage has become a major embarkation point during the world wars and hundreds of thousands of troops embarked for Europe. They were welcomed home seaside town with an arch of triumph, Built in the style of Paris Arc de Triomphe. use the museum more attractive to me (hardly surprising since I wrote a book about it) is? Monitor Center, dedicated this historic confrontation of experimental ironclads, the Monitor and Virginia. This vast $ 30 million permanent exhibition presides not only a scale model of abroad the monitor, but also shares his real, plucked from the bottom of the Atlantic in early 1987 and is now being preserved and displayed here. Indeed, one of the best parts Center-Monitor besides watching reenactments of battles and the Hampton Roads wreck later that year the Monitor off Cape Hatteras is being able to climb the windows that look into the conservation area Monitor. There are over a thousand artifacts here, but the star of the show is undoubtedly part of the monitor that even a casual fan of Civil War can identify with the massive iron turret gun, now soaked in a bath of 140 years of salt incursion is slowly driven out of metal. On days when the water is clear, or when you're just being sprayed with a fine mist, you can see the teeth caused by enemy cannon shot. You can imagine what the Monitorgunners, working feverishly inside the tower, not to see the enemy, must have experienced. A sailor "fell over like a dead man," when the ball hit a few inches from his head. Another was thrown on both arms of the coup. The latest discovery is a simple thing, a can of oil that the years of sedimentation and metal caused the marriage to be cemented to the condenser motor. But he notes that there are men on the same engine on the fourth Year's Eve New for 1862, struggling to keep the steam engines working as water rose to the grids of fire. The Monitor went down in 240 feet of water off Cape Hatteras, with the loss of 16 crew. Even sadder are the remains of coating an officer who was found covered by one of two trucks. "This is probably one of the crew took off to avoid being dragged down as he entered the water, "Marcie Renner, chief conservator of the museum, told me during another visit. pretty exciting stuff, materializing slowly after 147 years of history submerged. On the bike ride back to the marina, take a faster route, heading west toward Deep Creek, but this time the modern and growing past Christopher Newport University and the stunning IM Pei designed Ferguson Center for the Arts, one of the most prestigious art spaces scenic region. Good to know that you can stop at Deep Creek or Leeward and go by bike or taxi to a museum or a world-class scenic area. One of the least known but most intriguing parts of the pier in Newport News is the city Small Boat Harbor. It can be envisioned for about a nanosecond while driving on the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel, at the exit to the east. What you can see, especially, is the top of the platforms fishing trawler, so you can be sure in supposing that it is a commercial fishing port. And not just for small boats. Pretty big stuff, really. Crabbers, clammers, scallop boats, pilot boats, the Coast Guard ships and everything else. And throughout Newport News Creek, which creates the port, are factories for packaging seafood. We have to drive to get there is at the other end of this sprawling city, but fortunately we have the car. Harbormaster Doreen Kopacz, who grew up in Willoughby section of Norfolk, greets me. We take a drive from one side of the creek and down the other. "This is one of the thefew left that allows people to come in business," she says. We loop under the bridge and a park where the Spirit of Judy, a 40-foot platform clammer double, is coming within Charles Stanley Mason and his son, Charles Jr., back from have done engine work on his boat. Mason, who is in the dock alongside his boat, he was clamming off the small boat harbor for 22 years, and we are getting the best we have began for them. "What's so great about clamming? I ask the old Charles." He shrugs. "I like doing what I enjoy doing. You know what I mean? "It is not easy, even in this era of tight regulation, but that observation is just another shrug." Nothing it used to be. "Charles Jr., a thin beard tracing the ridge of his jaw enthusiastically shows me the platforms of shellfish, all powered by a four- V-6 engine speeds tractor trailer. "It's the hardest job I ever had," he says, explaining how fast the flies down shellfish harvesting. "You have to pay attention or you'll hurt yourself. "Now he does not look too promising for him to follow the footsteps of his father, he explains, with the state strongly regular the clam beds. "If they leave the grounds outside open," he says, "I keep doing this until I was as old as my father." Harbormaster Kopacz not care to take me around some more, to continue the tour at short stop to see another boat, Miss Leslie of Poquoson, Va., get about 30 bushels of blue crabs. Diggs and his son Ken, you guessed it, Ken Diggs Jr., flu, like all fishermen make about the regulations, but not do anything else to live. "It's all I ever did, it's crazy," says the young Diggs. "It's like I'm the last cowboy." There are a number of cowboys past here, called the Small Boat Harbor, one of the largest concentrations of fish companies of its kind in the whole bay. Dozens of boats to enter and unload as we watch. One of refrigerated fish has a point of sale, and a dear good lady, "What can I get you?" sell me some shrimp very good. Perfect for our dinner on board. Barb and I spent one night on board, this time, anchored in a quiet spot in Deep Creek, and leave shortly after first light. The autumn breeze North-like catch our sails as a stop and then as the wind picks up, running with the last coastal city miles long and with a fringe story. It was nice meeting Newport News, New Port News, the strong and mighty nice city along the James. About the Author

By Paul Clancy, contributing writer for Chesapeake Bay Magazine. For more great articles and photos on boating, sailing, fishing, and cruising, visit http://www.ChesapeakeBoating.net