Men whose economic survival depends upon the resources of inland waterways, bays,
and (in a broader definition of the term) oceans and seas. Watermen’s traditions include
the material culture of their trade—small boats, traps, nets, hunting calls, decoys, floats,
and the like—as well as stories and foodways, shad planking and seafood dishes. As with
many working groups, there is often a level of social importance recognized within the group that directly correlates to one’s expertise in making the tools
of the trade, such as nets or hunting calls. Watermen can often recognize one another’s
style of workmanship in the specific crafts, and an individual with a special talent may
earn a few extra dollars from his colleagues for his more expert product.
The craft that watermen use in coastal waters tends to be a small shallow-water boat,
like a skiffor a gunner boat. Sometimes small houseboats, called floating cabins, have
been employed to make liveble the land too wet for conventional housing and to place the
waterman as near to his source of income as possible. Seldom are these houseboats more
than just practical places to eat and sleep, and they are almost always occupied only
during the work season by working men.
Watermen, perhaps because of the time spent in self reliant, male-dominated work
communities, sometimes develop carefully guarded recipes for traditional coastal fare,
such as crab or turtle soups, fish specialties, and muskrat dishes. They also maintain
secret preparation techniques, like the seven cuts it takes to completely debone the
American shad—whose boniness earned it a Native American name that translates to
“porcupine inside-out fish”—and the precooking used to rid muskrat of some of its
gamey flavor. These techniques and recipes are almost never shared outside the
community and sometimes the with older watermen.
In its broadest use, the term “watermen” is applied to all workers of the water,
including those whose occupation is limited to the harvest of one specific product—for
example, fishermen, oystermen, lobstermen, and crabbers. But in some regions, such as
the East Coast of the United States, the term is reserved for men who spend their lives
adapting to the many varied resources of the water and wetlands. Their activities tend to differ from season to season. Depending on his geographic location and the climate, a
waterman may hunt waterfowl, fish, catch turdes, and trap small game, such as muskrats.
He may also serve as a guide to amateur groups of hunters or freshwater fishermen. His
survival is based on his ability to derive a living from whatever the wetlands and the
adjacent waters have to offer him, and the changing market often determines where he
places his greatest emphasis. Also, although a crabber or an oysterman may tolerate being
identified as a waterman, the terms are not strictly synonymous, and he is just as likely to
make the correction to a more specific descriptive term when identified this way.
The term is seldom, if ever, applied to women, although there are some rare cases of
women who would fit the above definition. It is common for women to be seen by the
watermen as an outsider group and to be treated with the same level of derogatory humor
as are the government fish, game, and wildlife officials who impose regulations on the
watermen. Watermen’s stories are typically based on aspects of the work environment
and, like the environment, the stories tend to be male specific. These stories also
emphasize the close bonds within the community and may reflect an “us against them”
mentality. Sometimes heroes are found in the watermens stories and tall tales whose
successes have to do with defeating nature, wildlife officials, or women.
Although many watermen are involved with conven-tional wildlife conservation
groups, it is not uncommon to find a feeling of entidement from the watermen when it
comes to water and wedand resources. Their opinion that it is the sport fishermen and
hunters, and industry, who do the most damage to natural resources adds to their sense of
a closed “us against them” community.
Lifelong residents of coastal towns whose professions are not water oriented, but who
enjoy water recreation, may also call themselves watermen, especially if their fathers or
grandfathers were professional watermen. Usually, one does not adopt the term if one is
not proficient in many of the same activities as the professional waterman.
William W.Warner, in his book Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs, and the
Chesapeake Bay (1987), charts the historical use of the term “watermen” back to Sir
Thomas Malory’s Morte D’Arthur, written in 1469–1470. According to Warner, the term
has since then lost all but its archaic connotations in England and has migrated to the
communities who work the waters on the East Coast of the United States. Warner offers
further defining qualities of the term, such as that it is used “to separate those who had
the resources to acquire land and those who didnt and went out on the water for
subsistence.” In the late-20th-century a waterman may or may not own land, and may or
may not have a land residence, but he always goes “out on the water for subsistence.”
Natalie Peters
References
Mullen, Patrick B. [1978] 1988. I Heardthe Old Fishermen Say: Folklore of the Texas Gulf Coast.
Logan: Utah State University Press.
Stutz, Bruce. 1992. Natural Lives, Modern Times. New York: Crown.