Chesapeake Bay Skipjack Is Converted into a Unique 49-Passenger River Cruiser

by Mike Harrison, Boatscape.com (used with permission)

When renowned Piney Point, Maryland boat builder Francis Goddard completed the skipjack Connie Francis in 1984, he thought it would be used to dredge for Chesapeake Bay oysters well into the next century.

As part of the last American commercial fishing fleet to work under sail power, "drudge" boats, as they were called in the region, were heavily built, shallow-draft, wooden workboats that pulled two dredges with a jib-headed mainsail and a large jib. As the refitted and renamed Connie Francis pulled away from Goddard's boatyard in June 2000, though, Goddard was staring at the stern davits of the M.V. Oyster Catcher, a 49-passenger river cruiser with three, private, air-conditioned passenger staterooms, a dining salon and twin John Deere 130-hp diesel engines for power.

The odyssey that turned a no-nonsense fishing boat into a charter vessel with luxurious accommodations started in 1992. Myron Hokin, owner and founder of the Bitter End Yacht Club in the British Virgin Islands and a Civil War buff, wanted to find a wooden hull that could be converted into a river cruiser specializing in Civil War history charters. He teamed with marine engineer Robert Garvey in his quest. "Over a two-year period, I must have looked at dozens of boats and actually surveyed six of them," Garvey said. "I searched from Maine to Miami, but the few boats that had the characteristics we were interested in had rotten bottoms. By the fall of 1994, Myron and I had pretty much given up on the idea."

It was a 1994 Christmas present from Garvey's wife, Dana Hokin, that turned the tide. "Dana had given me the book Maryland's Vanishing Lives, by Chesapeake Bay nautical writer John Sherwood. One of the chapters profiled wooden boat builder Francis Goddard with a reference to the fact that two of his workboats were for sale. I called him the next day and went to see the Poppa Francis, an oyster buyboat, and Connie Francis, a skipjack, a day or two later. Initially, it looked like the buyboat would fit our needs, but there was a title issue that didn't seem to be going away soon, so Francis told us to look at his son Wayne's skipjack."

It might seem strange that Hokin and Garvey would be looking for a wooden hull in this era of fiberglass, but there were very specific reasons for their choice. "We had spent a lot of time on the Chesapeake Bay," Garvey noted, "and the wooden workboats of the area were perfect for our needs. They're wide, with a shallow draft and a tremendous amount of deck space. That's an ideal combination for cruising the intracoastal waterway, tributaries and small rivers."

The hull of the Connie Francis had all those features and the construction characteristics that would allow them to add a critical element to their river cruiser. "We knew we wanted to add a double level cabin," Garvey remarked, "to provide a panoramic view above the shoreline for our passengers. It takes a heavy bottom to handle that, but the 16-inch diameter, 45-foot Douglas Fir keel and 2 1/2-inch thick yellow pine planking of this boat gave us the strength we needed. And it was in wonderful condition."

Not only had Garvey and Hokin discovered the hull they were looking for, they also found the perfect builders for the conversion. Goddard built his first skiff when he was 11 years old and hasn't stopped since. He prepares to build his boats by thinking about them at night, before going to sleep. "I know I got it when I can see the boat in my dreams," Goddard said. "That's when I know it's time to start building." After discussing the river cruiser idea with Garvey, Goddard added, "That's a good idea. I can do that." Within weeks, he and his son Wayne had produced working sketches and the project was finally underway in early 1995.

Once the Goddard's had completed the basic construction, the M.V. Oyster Catcher was moved to Stump Point, Virginia, where Clinton Midgett finished the interior details. "Clinton had some remarkable ideas for the interior of the boat," Garvey noted, "and he came up with the plan that provides wheelchair accessibility which was very important to us. It was quite a task, but he came through with full access to the dining salon, head and after stateroom. The interior details are beautiful and I couldn't be more pleased with the way it turned out."

The relationship the owners built with Midgett also led to the hiring of Captain Chuck White and his wife Suzanne. "Clinton and I were friends and I'd visit him regularly," White said. "I saw the Oyster Catcher, a boat that I thought had a lot of character, and after looking her over I just blurted out that I wanted to be the captain. Clinton mentioned it to the Robert and Dana, and that's how it all started."

White's credentials as a captain are impressive. He holds a 100-ton Master's License with sailing and towing endorsements and is the former captain of Little Jenny, an 85-foot Bug Eye Ketch, built in Solomon's Island in the late 1890s. He and his wife Suzanne, who is also a licensed captain, lived aboard their sailboat, Ronin, for eight years, cruising the East Coast, ICW and Caribbean. White has also made numerous boat deliveries, from Nova Scotia to the Caribbean, and enjoyed his fair share of ocean racing.

It wasn't only the couple's experience as licensed captains that made them such a good fit with the M.V. Oyster Catcher project, though. Chuck White, a graduate of the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, had developed a deep interest in the Civil War during his stint as a cadet. "I became fascinated with the Civil War," White said, "and over the next 30 years I tried to visit most of the major battlefields from Gettysburg to Charleston. When I found out that the owners wished to take the M.V. Oyster Catcher to these areas it was a dream come true. I could not have imagined a more perfect job." On the other hand, his wife Suzanne, a former sailmaker and restaurateur, is a great chef specializing in regional and vegetarian cuisine.

The owners of the M.V. Oyster Catcher are still working out the details of their day and extended charters, but tentative plans call for the converted skipjack to make the Chesapeake Bay her home for the summer months, then move to New York for fall foliage tours in September and early October. In late fall and through the winter, charters will be conducted in Charleston and Savannah, with perhaps a swing into Florida. They've already mapped out cruises up the Rappahanock, Potomac and James Rivers.

"While we are offering other types of cruises," noted Captain White, "we'll find our own niche with the Civil War charters. That war brings out passions unlike any other event in American history. We'll feed that passion, bringing in noted Civil War historians and authors, to provide a unique and insightful perspective for our passengers."

The M.V Oyster Catcher project was the vision of Myron Hokin, Dana's grandfather. He was the guiding force behind the concepts of creating a river cruiser from a Chesapeake Bay workboat and using it as a unique vantage point for Civil War historical charters. Unfortunately, he passed away before its completion. "Myron and I would sit for hours discussing the project-everything from the kind of hull we were originally looking for to the details of the cabin design-and it brought him a lot of pleasure," said Garvey. "He attended to every detail, from the dinner bell that would hang outside the Dutch door to the height in the engine room. After he passed away, we debated whether to finish the boat. It wasn't really a hard decision, because I knew he'd come back and kick me if we didn't."

Posted: 11-9-2000