The Mobjack, a large Chesapeake Bay buyboat built in the 1940s, returned to Perrin Creek on Dec. 30 after spending two months at Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore for repairs.

Owner Richard Green of Guinea uses the nearly 80-foot boat to move seed oysters and shells. It is a piece of local history that has been working the waters of the bay for more than seven decades.

Green remembers a time when boats like the Mobjack would fill the bay and its tributaries, but few were like the Mobjack. He said the Mobjack was built in 1946, two years before its sister ship, The Ocean View, was constructed. He said both ships were built by the J.H. Miles Company in Deltaville. They were built with the purpose of moving seed oysters and shells.

Green owns both vessels, but only one is in working condition. The Ocean View was laid up for a long time, he said, and fell into a state of disrepair. He said it would take a great deal of time and money to get it back in working shape.

Green said...