Clarence and Eva

Narrative History

Note: This narrative was written by an automated research assist, based on source materials which are generally not available to web search and normal AI processes. These include documents and photos I've collected into my local archives, and results from digital catalogs of maritime museums and periodicals shown in the tables below. Send your questions and comments to editor@sailingworkboats.es.

The bugeye Clarence and Eva was built in 1889 by R. Spear at Cambridge, Maryland. Newspaper coverage of her 1962 loss independently repeats the Cambridge build place and gives the vessel as a 45-foot, 10-ton sailing vessel, while the project vessel table identifies her as a Dorchester-built bugeye. Her surviving record is not a continuous ownership ledger, but it is unusually vivid: cargo notices, customs enforcement, oyster dredging photographs, race-day encounters, and a well-reported final casualty all point to a long Chesapeake working life.¹

The earliest selected newspaper item places Clarence and Eva in the mixed freight world of the Bay. In June 1894, the Denton Journal reported the vessel bringing a small cargo of West Indian fruit to Denton. Five years later, a Baltimore waterfront notice placed her among vessels carrying watermelons, saying she brought the first melons from the Nanticoke while other schooners arrived with Carolina cargoes. These brief notices are modest, but they show the bugeye working outside a single-purpose oyster identity, carrying seasonal produce through Chesapeake ports and river landings.²

A 1906 Baltimore Sun customs notice shows Clarence and Eva in the administrative paper trail of working sail. The vessel was then described as of Baltimore, with Henry Stephens acting as captain instead of E. H. Herring, and was fined ten dollars. The notice appears among several vessel infractions concerning masters' names, painted names, and tonnage markings, a useful reminder that these craft were monitored as commercial vessels as well as remembered as picturesque Bay boats.³

The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum records give the strongest visual record of the vessel's oyster work. A. Aubrey Bodine photographs show Clarence and Eva under sail with dredging equipment and oysters aboard, and later docked at Cambridge beside the skipjack Stanley Norman on March 12, 1946. Another CBMM photograph places the bugeye dredging oysters under sail off Rock Hall in the fall of 1939. Taken together with the newspaper references, these images show a vessel still actively associated with oyster dredging well into the motor-age period of Chesapeake workboats.⁴

The vessel also appears in the public spectacle of working sail. An April 1928 Baltimore Sun photogravure page about oyster dredging on newly opened beds captions Clarence and Eva taking aboard a dredge while running before a breeze. In September 1930, a yacht-race article described the heavily laden bugeye crossing near the racing course with several thousand watermelons aboard; the load bore her down until her decks were nearly awash, and a patrol boat redirected her before she interfered with the race. The article says the skipper was bound north up the Bay for Baltimore and apparently unaware that an international yacht race was in progress. It is a small comic scene, but also a sharp working-vessel snapshot: cargo first, racing yachts second.⁵

The final selected newspaper cluster records the end of the vessel's working life at Deal Island. On February 1, 1962, Clarence and Eva exploded and sank at her dock while preparing to leave on an oystering trip. The Daily Times reported the blast was blamed on a gasoline stove; the explosion blew out the side of the cabin and damaged the hull, and the boat sank quickly with only her masts and bowsprit above the water. Three crewmen - Dennis Johnson, Thompson Wallace, and Homer Harris - were taken to Peninsula General Hospital with cuts and bruises, but their injuries were not thought serious. The same coverage identified owner Elbert Gladden of Deal Island, said he owned other oyster dredging boats, and described Clarence and Eva as the last bugeye in the harbor or at Deal Island.⁶

Read as a whole, the evidence makes Clarence and Eva a compact but valuable vessel history. She was a Cambridge-built bugeye whose record reaches from 1890s fruit and melon cargoes, through a 1906 customs notice, 1920s and 1930s oyster and race-day imagery, a 1946 Cambridge dockside photograph, and finally a 1962 Deal Island explosion and sinking. The record does not yet provide a complete chain of owners, but it preserves a clear working identity: produce carrier, regulated commercial vessel, oyster dredger, race-course obstruction by accident, and long-lived Chesapeake survivor.

Timeline

Timeline content is generated by the automated research assistant. It may be truncated, fragmentary, or incomplete, and may require further evaluation.

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, Curated Search Results

For more information about these items, contact the CBMM curator at collections@cbmm.org.

Catalog #	Object Name	Title	Artist/Maker	Date Made	Place Made	Description	Full Image	CBMM Cat. Page
2018.0001.0010.00	drawings	Drawing of bugeye Clarence and Eva by Owen Davis	Davis, S. Owen __Artist			Pencil drawing of bugeye Clarence and Eva by Owen Davis.		CBMM catalog page
0000.1289.0282.00	photographic prints	Bugeye Clarence and Eva under sail	Bodine, A. Aubrey __Photographer			Bugeye Clarence and Eva under sail from starboard quarter. Dredging equipment and oysters on board. She is sailing down wind in a good breeze. No date. For source see 1289.0114.		CBMM catalog page
0000.1289.0283.00	photographic prints	Skipjack Stanley Norman and bugeye Clarence & Eva	Bodine, A. Aubrey __Photographer	Exact 03/12/1946 - 03/12/1946		Skipjack Stanley Norman, left, and bugeye Clarence and Eva docked in Cambridge; sails furled. Good reflections. Skipjack with sails up in the background., For source, see 1289.0114.		CBMM catalog page
0000.0923.0032.00	photographs	BUGEYE CLARENCE AND EVA DREDGING OYSTERS UNDER SAI		Range, Cir 09/01/1939 - 12/01/1939	__ __Rock Hall __ __ __ __MARYLAND	BUGEYE CLARENCE AND EVA DREDGING OYSTERS UNDER SAIL; From old Remarks field: GOOD PICTURE; SHOWS HER OFF ROCK HALL, MD Old Subject Fields: DREDGING, OYSTER; BROGAN OR BUGEYE, SAIL VESSELS		CBMM catalog page

Mariners' Museum

Mariners' Museum, Curated Search Results

Newspapers

Newspapers, Curated Search Results

Selected full-page PDFs are linked where available. Keyword thumbnails provide limited context for the newspaper item.

State	Newspaper	Date	Location	Full-page PDF	Thumbnail	Article Summary
Maryland	The Baltimore Sun • Page 36	Friday, February 2, 1962	Baltimore, Maryland	Open PDF		Friday, February 2, 1962 The Baltimore Sun • Page 36: aboard the 72•year-old Clarence / and Eva. owned by Elbert Glad. / den, of Deal Island. / Treated at Peninsula General / Hospital in Salisbury for cuts and / other minor injuries were Dennis / Johnson. Thompson Wallace and / Homer Harris. They were later / released from the hospital. / The Clarence and Eva, a 45- / foot, 10-ton sailing ' vessel, was / built in 1889. It is the last Bugeye / at Deal Island. Mr. Gladden ouns / four more of them.
Maryland	The Baltimore Sun • Page 20	Sunday, September 28, 1930	Baltimore, Maryland	Open PDF		Sunday, September 28, 1930 The Baltimore Sun • Page 20: thousand watermelons came near to / being precipitated upon the scene. The / watermelons were aboard the bugeye / Clarence and Eva, of Cambridge, and / bore her down so that her decks prac- / tically were awash. / Course Jany Over nonte / The skipper of the Clarence and / Eva was bound north up the bay for / Baltimore, apparently in ignorance / such n thing as an international yacht / race was in progress, and was laying / a course directly across the bows of / the racing yachts when a patrol boat
Maryland	The Evening Sun • Page 44	Thursday, February 1, 1962	Baltimore, Maryland	Open PDF		Thursday, February 1, 1962 The Evening Sun • Page 44: aboard the Clarence / and Eva, owned by Elbert Glade / den, of Deal Island. / Debris was blown higher than / the masts. The boat sank quickly / with only the two masts and bow• / sprit remaining above the water. / Treated at Peninsula General / Hospital in Salisbury for cuts and / other minor injuries were Dennis / Johnson, Thompson Wallace and / Homer Harris. ney were to be / released from the hospital during / the day.
Maryland	The Daily Times • Page 1	Thursday, February 1, 1962	Salisbury, Maryland	Open PDF		Thursday, February 1, 1962 The Daily Times • Page 1: Cambridge in 1889, was owned by / Elbert Gladden, who owns five / other oyster dredging boats here. / The Clarence and Eva was the / last bugeye (a two • masted ves. / sel) in the harbor. / Witnesses around the dock said / that a gasoiine stove apparently / exploded. The blast blew out the / side of the cabin and damaged / the hull. / Flying debris, some of which / went as high as the vessel's / masts, struck the crewmen who
Maryland	The Baltimore Sun • Page 120	Wednesday, November 18, 1998	Baltimore, Maryland	Open PDF		Wednesday, November 18, 1998 The Baltimore Sun • Page 120: and Eva from the dock in Crisfield, / As they dredged for oysters, the / Sky turned black A northeaster / blew in. / The water rose. / The dredge boat ruled With / water and Sank, White said. refer- / ring to the small motorTd boat at, / tached to the rear of the skipjack / to push it through the water. / A thick log dropped. / The Wind was too high und the / water too rough for the men to / navigate.
Maryland	The Baltimore Sun • Page 65	Wednesday, November 18, 1998	Baltimore, Maryland			No full-page OCR text available for this row.
Maryland	The Baltimore Sun • Page 11	Wednesday, November 18, 1998	Baltimore, Maryland			No full-page OCR text available for this row.
Maryland	The Baltimore Sun • Page 10	Wednesday, November 18, 1998	Baltimore, Maryland			No full-page OCR text available for this row.
Maryland	The Baltimore Sun • Page 10	Wednesday, November 18, 1998	Baltimore, Maryland			No full-page OCR text available for this row.
Maryland	The Baltimore Sun • Page 93	Sunday, April 8, 1928	Baltimore, Maryland	Open PDF		Sunday, April 8, 1928 The Baltimore Sun • Page 93: The Bugeye / Clarence And / Eva Takes / Aboard A / Dredge White / Runnin Before / A Breeze / BY THE BUSHEL / Oysters Being Removed / From A Dredging Boat To / One Of The Larger Vessels / To Be Taken To Private / AS THE SUN GOES DOWN / Drop For The
Maryland	The Baltimore Sun • Page 10	Thursday, August 23, 1906	Baltimore, Maryland	Open PDF		Thursday, August 23, 1906 The Baltimore Sun • Page 10: Schooner Brothers, of Crisfield, not hav- / ing name painted ; fine $20. / Schooner Clarence and Eva, of Baltimore, / Henry Stephens, acting captain, Instead of / E. H. Herring; fined $10. / Schooner A. Kirwan, of Crisfield. / Thomas James, acting captain, instead of / George 'N. Francis ; tonnage not cut, name / not on one side of the bow ; fined $50. / All of the fines are to be paid today. A / sirict watch will be kept by the customs / authorities for other violators and a full / compliance with the law will be enforced.
Maryland	The Baltimore Sun • Page 10	Wednesday, July 26, 1899	Baltimore, Maryland	Open PDF		Wednesday, July 26, 1899 The Baltimore Sun • Page 10: watermelons from the Carollnas. The / schooner Ann G. Goodsell came In from / the Wicomico and the Clarence and Eva / brought the first melons from the Nanti- / coke, both from Maryland. The first water- / melons to arrive waterborne were con- / signed to George W. Cripps, J. J. McAllis- / tor, E. W. Albaugh & Sons and J. C. Ar- / Cobb Gems Tere the variety brought / both from North Carolina and the East- / ern Shore. They were held at $15 a hun- / dred for selects, $10 for primes and $5 for / culls. There was not a great demand for / the melons yesterday, but It Is expected
Maryland	The Daily Times • Page 8	Friday, February 2, 1962	Salisbury, Maryland	Open PDF		Friday, February 2, 1962 The Daily Times • Page 8: the explosion the bugeye / Clarence and Eva were release / ed after being treated for rela• / tivcly minor burns and bruises. / a spokesman at the hospital said / Dennis Johnson, 50, of Chance, / and Thomas Wallace, 40, and ilo• / mer Harris, 49, of Deal Ise / land, Negroes, were all crew• / members of the ancient oyster / dredgeboat that sank at its dock / after the blast about 7 a.m. yes• / terday.
Maryland	The Cumberland News • Page 3	Friday, February 2, 1962	Cumberland, Maryland			No full-page OCR text available for this row.
Maryland	The News • Page 4	Friday, February 2, 1962	Frederick, Maryland			No full-page OCR text available for this row.
Maryland	Denton Journal • Page 4	Saturday, June 23, 1894	Denton, Maryland	Open PDF		Saturday, June 23, 1894 Denton Journal • Page 4: Tho pungy, "Clarence ldv;l, / In•ougllt n snuall cargolof line West / India fruit to Denton 'Ituesday.