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NewswireToday - /newswire/ -
Manassas, VA, United States, 01/05/2008 - Highcamera Aerial Photography has announced that the company will step up flights along the Delmarva peninsula in order to better serve customers that need aerial imagery.
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Patrick J. Hendrickson of Highcamera explained that "it has been a pleasure to introduce my aerial photography services to the Eastern shore of Maryland and Virginia. My company Highcamera is devoted to producing images which are catered to the personal needs of the client. I work with each individual to help show which angles work best (illuminated by the sun) at the most favorable time of day.
Highcamera’s aerial photography fits well with the relaxed atmosphere of Delmarva. "Unlike the Washington D.C. airspace where TSA waivers are required to fly most missions, the Eastern shore has few restrictions and most controlling agencies are more than willing to accommodate the flight plan." explained Hendrickson.
Highcamera provides aerial images by helicopter using a wide range of formats including 35mm, medium format and digital video. The company can photograph practically any site or event and offers fixed wing or rotary shooting platforms for images.
Among Highcamera projects on the eastern shore of Virginia was a trip to photograph a historical boat, the Harvery Drewer. The owner of the boat, Harvey Vernon Drewer, Jr. hopes to eventually restore the vessel.
Carlton W. Marshall, the last captain of the Harvey A. Drewer described the duties of the boat in these early years "up the James River to pick up seed oysters hand-tonged and delivered to the boat by watermen in smaller dead rise boats".
These seed oysters, called rough cull, would be piled high on top of the deck. First mate Mark Milex recalls taking the seed oysters out to the various oyster grounds and hand shoveling 700 or so 80 pound bushels. He adds, "You had to shovel and twist your wrists in one motion to evenly distribute the cull on the beds and we was paid a 15 dollar wage for a days-work".
The Drewer's operated a fleet of 5 or more oyster buy boats out of Saxis, Virginia which would range a good portion of the bay to the North for favorable oyster beds. The oysters were allowed about two years to mature on the beds which could be several acres in area.
At harvest, the oyster buy boats were rigged with port and starboard dredges that resemble a large rake and collecting basket which were dragged across the oyster beds and scooped up on deck in alternate passes. It took considerable skill for the captain of the boat to efficiently maneuver the boat over the large oyster bed in a pattern that would ensure a complete harvest.
Captain and crew would work as a team dumping port dredge on deck then starboard and piling the oysters to the stern in front of the pilot house.
By law, the oysters beds could be worked from sun up to sun down. And when the boat was filled to it's 1,000-bushel capacity (approximately 50 ton) it would return to Saxis, Virginia to be hand unloaded to the shucking house. the Drewers' employed 159 workers at the height of the oystering business and delivered shucked oysters in colorful one gallon, pint and half pint cans packed on ice and moved via railroad to brokers and contract customers on the mainland.
Like the stock market fall of 1929, the oyster business rapidly declined as a result of the MSX virus which began to kill off increasing amounts of oysters beginning in 1963. In the ensuring years, many oyster businesses could not continue to operate on the scale they had prior to the MSX virus infection and had to reduce their workforce and seek other sources of livelihood from the bay.
The family retained a few of their boats and used the Harvey A. Drewer for various purposes until 1980. She laid dockside until Harvey Vernon Drewer, Jr. decided to restore her as his son Andy is taking the company into the aquaculture and business and the future.
Restoration began with the pilothouse being lifted by crane from the hull and placed on a concrete slab. The hull was lifted from the water in a steel cradle and places on blocks in an area near the Marina.
Restoration will involve replacement of the various wooden components of the boat along with overhaul of the 671 Detroit diesel engine. Boatwrights, like these old wooden craft are becoming rare and difficult to consult and employ. It will be long and educational process but surely one which will reward future generations with an actual working oyster buy boat.
More information on the Harvey A. Drewer and other aerial photography projects are available on the Highcamera website.
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info[.]highcamera.com 
