The Wreck of the Annie Lee

T’was just another day of toil, to find the bay’s sweet treasure

The Annie Lee dredged through the soil, beneath cold winter waters

All morning through the heavy fog, unwitting of the danger

They licked across the Choptank, wound and hauled their meager wager

The catch was slim, the glass was down, time to set for home men

The sky grew dark and an eerie sound, whistled through the gloamin’

A sudden chilling gale set free, like smoke upon the water

Engulfed and took the Annie Lee, and all but one survivor

Let’s raise a glass to the watermen who’ve gone to meet their maker

Whose love and labor ‘ere have been our bay’s and river’s treasures

Not just the haul but a life of rugged union with God’s nature

Which gives us life, and joy, and in time takes our last full measure

In February, 1939, a sudden waterspout took three skipjacks and many of their crew to a watery grave, the final insult of a decade of hard times for the local watermen. The Annie Lee’s captain was Theodore Woodland, age 35. George Whitely, 18 years of age of Bishops Head, was the sole survivor.