The anchor thudded against the deck as lines ran through the blocks. The ship creaked and groaned as its sails unfurled. Below deck slept hunters from Philadelphia, New York or Washington -- perhaps even President Grover Cleveland, who frequented the Susquehanna Flats from 1885 to 1897.

After a 3 a.m. stop at the starting line between the Havre de Grace Lighthouse and Carpenters Point’s light, all of the ships slid out onto the Flats by 3:15 a.m., carrying heavy sinkboxes and hundreds of decoys.

Chesapeake Bay was discovered by the first explorers of the new world, and this, America’s largest estuary, held all manner of fish, succulent blue crabs, oysters and abundant waterfowl. By the time President Cleveland hunted the Susquehanna Flats, the canvasback was king, and had become the signature duck of Chesapeake Bay. Plump and delicious to eat, enormous rafts of canvasbacks wintered near the head of The Bay, providing gunning for the privileged and locals alike.

Hunting the Flats was a combination of ceremony, sport and plain hard work. The sinkbox that was indigenous to hunting the Flats until they were outlawed in the 1920s, was ferried to the hunting grounds aboard a much larger sailing ship. Once at a prime location, the box went overboard to be anchored with the wind at the hunters’ backs.

With the sinkbox in place, up to 300 canvasback decoys were set around it. Lying off half a mile or more, small tender boats rowed the hunters to and from the box and retrieved downed ducks. Every box carried a red flag that was waved to summon the tender when the hunters were either frozen to the bone or the box was taking on water and threatening to sink. The harvest of ducks was intense on good days, and like now, slim when the birds didn’t fly.

Rise of the Waterman
The abundance of waterfowl, fish, oysters and blue crabs The Bay routinely gave up made it a land of plenty. The era gave rise to the Waterman -- tough men who made their livings and provided for their families from the bounty of The Bay. Like their counterparts elsewhere, they believed God laid these riches at their feet for their use, even though their use was frequently in conflict with the law. Fishing, crabbing, oystering and waterfowl were their living. Many on the Upper Bay guided hunters, but the majority hunted for the market.

An old shipping list shows the wholesale value for a prime pair of canvasbacks was $5 to $7, regular cans $2.50 to $5. Redheads brought $2.50 a pair, while a pair of geese only brought $2. A dozen king rails brought the Waterman 70 cents to a dollar, and blackbirds fetched 25 to 75 cents a dozen. Trains regularly stopped at Havre de Grace, and iced ducks and yes, even blackbirds, would be delivered to markets in the Northeast within hours. The burgeoning immigrant populations along the east coast needed protein, and many families fed on blackbird pie. Ducks went to the more affluent.