Beautiful Swimmers, William Warner

Beautiful Swimmers:  Watermen, crabs, and the Chesapeake Bay by William W. Warner is a book recommended to me by my father.

Started: 8/12/2020

Completed: 8/15/2020

Recommendation: Mild Recommendation

Recommended By: My Father

Review:

I am quite sure that this book is out of date.  It was updated in 1993.  As an environmentalist, it is worth hearing how people make a living in the Bay.  As a vegetarian, it is not as appetizing as it is to a carnivore.

My parents had a house on Tillman Island for a while and got to know some of the people who did this kind of living--I was only an occasional visitor.  It sounds like a brutal and difficult life to live.  There is frequent talk of the "freedom" of fishing, but I don't see it.  Like watching "The Most Dangerous Catch," it is interesting to get a sense of this occupation.  Also like watching that show, it is amazing how difficult a life it is and how hard it is for me to imagine myself in their stead.  Like any job that requires hard labor, one wonders how retirement is possible and how living on the knife edge of a single mistake must be trying.

The book does not discuss health care for the watermen, but I imagine that there is little or none.  Here are people who risk life and limb on a regular basis for a small return and have no safety net.  This book, which I think was intended to be uplifting, made me sad to think of the people on the Bay who are just scraping by with real risks all around them.  It is good that most enjoy their work.