Explore the Unique Wildlife of the Chesapeake Bay: Swimming Watermen, Crabs and More

Madeline: If your are from Maryland or just love crabs, believe me this is a fascinating , lovely book. Nature never ceases to amaze.

United States on Nov 29, 2023

kristina e davies: This is a fantastic book from a gifted author.

United States on Nov 29, 2022

Customer: But it!

United States on Feb 11, 2022

Merry Mentor: This book is a delight. It is the story of the Maryland Blue Crab that lives in the Chesapeake Bay. Boring, you say? Not so, I say. The book has all the scientific information about Callinectes sapidus (beautiful swimmer), the official name of the Maryland Blue Crab, and the science is very interesting and well written. But, this is a love story about romantic crabs. Did you know that the jimmy (the male crab) carries the sook (the female) on his back all the way across the bay for mating? It could take two days for them to make it to the other side. This book also gives us insights into the hard lives of the watermen who catch these crabs for our consumption. They deserve our admiration, too.

United States on Oct 31, 2020

may: A well researched book now of historic value as over 40years old.

United Kingdom on Jun 03, 2019

Colin Mair: What a delightful book. But I am biased, as I have friends in Annapolis, and visit occasionally. I have sailed on the Chesapeake Bay, and so am fascinated to find out more about it. But I do think that it is intrinsically very appealing, well written and with interesting descriptions of the people as well as the history of crab and other fishing.

United Kingdom on Apr 16, 2015

Owl: The blue crab (Callinectus sapidus, the beautiful savory swimmer) is among the most truly named of species. Swimming together, locked in love's embrace, the graceful pairs of jimmies and sooks will swim across the Chesapeake Bay if needed be to find proper eel grass for her nuptial moulting. The lady's fingernails (big claw ends) turn red at this time. And cooked with crab-boil, mounded on brown butcher paper, steaming hot, melted butter at hand, nothing is finer, more savory eating.

"Beautiful Swimmers" is William Warner's magnificent story of the blue crab, the women and men who go down to the sea in low-gunn'ld boats well before dawn to work their crab pots, the way of life of their communities and forebears, the great Chesapeake Bay itself, and the impacts of urbanization on this way of life. Warner spent several years and many many hours with the watermen learning about the crabs, then a significant part of the Bay's economy and its ecology. His research shows in each chapter, yet nothing is academic, "quaint," or preachy.

Warner's writing is is a joy to read, aloud if possible, or silently. It is crystalline, free of hyperbole or hysteria while presenting the...

United States on Jun 22, 2013