Background

Lady H was a small skipjack that never sailed. She was built in 1988 on Tilghman Island in shipwright Maynard Lowery's shop along Knapps Narrows, by Maynard's nephew Elmer Lowery and Maynard's son Doug.

While she was built as an actual skipjack, she was built specifically as a display object for Buddy Harrison's Pier 5 Restaurant in Baltimore. Lady H was only put in the water long enough for her wood to swell. She went to Baltimore aboard a buyboat and was lifted into the restaurant before its roof was installed.

When Harrison stopped operating the restaurant in 1991, he took her out through the double front doors and brought her back to Maryland's Eastern Shore by truck, setting her up on display outside his restaurant on Tilghman Island. A plaque described her as the "last skipjack constructed on Tilghman Island."

When we found her in 2009, she was falling apart, but we were told that Doug Lowery was soon to patch her up. Later visits showed little evidence of any work, however, and we were subsequently told she had been broken up, date unknown.