Holding on to a heritage

Eastport watermen hope new retail shop is key to success

By PAMELA WOOD, Staff Writer

Published 06/23/09

The days start early and stretch well into the night for Patrick Mahoney Sr. and Patrick Mahoney Jr.

Pamela Wood - The Capital
Patrick Mahoney Sr. stacks crab pots aboard the Wild Country workboat. He and his son, Patrick Mahoney Jr., have opened Wild Country Seafood, a retail store in Eastport, to sell their catch. They believe they are the last full-time, working watermen in Eastport, a community with a rich maritime heritage.

VIDEO

Eastport watermen

Watermen Patrick Mahoney Sr. and Patrick Mahoney Jr. recently opened Wild Country Seafood, a retail store in Eastport. They're among the last full-time watermen in the neighborhood. See related story and slideshow.

SLIDESHOW

Last of the Eastport watermen

Watermen Patrick Mahoney Sr., and Patrick Mahoney Jr. believe they are the last full-time, working watermen in Eastport, a community with a rich maritime heritage. See related story and video.

The father and son are among the last watermen in the Annapolis area, and they're busting their tails from before dawn until nearly dusk trying to scrape out a living.

They start at 4 a.m. aboard their Wild Country workboat, the loud motor chugging as they head out onto the Chesapeake Bay to check their crab pots.

The two work almost wordlessly, pulling bright yellow pots, emptying angry crabs onto a culling table, rebaiting the pots and tossing them back overboard.

They've worked together so long that...

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Here's to the Mahoneys!! - 2009-06-24 14:07:22

I have lived in the Annapolis area all my life and find it disheartening to see what it is becoming. God Bless the Mahoneys for trying to keep a little peice of what this area once was alive!! I will be stopping in soon!

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Michelle B. - Edgewater, MD - Karma: Neutral

Jumbos - 2009-06-24 06:58:18

Jumbos are the number 2's of the late 80's early 90's. We went to a local Edgewater restaurant and ordered a couple dozen number 2's, wow, I was stunned how small they have become.

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Johnathan Locke - Edgewater, MD - Karma: Good

Size Matters - 2009-06-23 22:57:36

Okay, I will go too. But can we stop with the tourist crap of "jumbo" crabs? Who invented Jumbo? They have been "Number Ones" or plain old "Large" for years, and now all of the sudden they are Jumbo. Look to be the same size to me.

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T. - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Neutral