The log buyboat F. D. Crockett will be among those visiting Urbanna Creek August 11 through 14 for the annual Chesapeake Bay Buyboat Homecoming. The F. D. Crockett recently was restored by the Deltaville Maritime Museum.

The fleet will arrive at the Urbanna Town Marina at Upton’s Point on Thursday, August 11. The boats will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, August 12, and Saturday, August 13.

Buyboats were used to haul seafood and cargo using the Chesapeake Bay waterways before many of the peninsulas were connected by bridges.  As the seafood harvest declined and highways became the mode of travel, buyboats faded from local waters.  There are, perhaps, not more than 30 of the oyster buyboats remaining on the Chesapeake Bay.

The homecoming caps the 2011 reunion tour, according to the association. The Down the Bay summer outreach cruise started August 2 at Tangier Island and continued to Cape Charles August 4 through 8 for the 2011 reunion at the Cape Charles Town Harbor. There, they also participated in the town’s 125th anniversary festival.

The tour continued to the Poquoson Yacht Club August 8 and to Delataville August 9-10. Chesapeake Marine Railway hosted the tour in Deltaville. John England coordinated activities in Deltaville.

While in Urbanna, Jeff Schroeder of Schroeder Yacht Systems invites captains, mates and crew to see work in progress on the buyboat Georgie E. Bill High is the coordinator for the Urbanna rendezvous.

Northern Fleet buyboats participating in one or more legs of the cruise include the Bessie L., East Hampton, Muriel Eileen, Nellie Crockett, P.E. Pruitt and Thomas J. Southern Fleet participants include Delvin K., Dudley, Ellen Marie, Emmett H., F.D. Crockett, PropWash and Samuel M. Bailey.

Portions of this outreach cruise have been funded by a Chesapeake Bay license plate grant.