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Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay
The classic Pulitzer Prize-winning study of the Atlantic blue crab and the people of the Chesapeake Bay who have depended on it for generations.
For decades, William Warner's exploration of the Atlantic blue crab and the Chesapeake Bay has delighted thousands of readers and become a modern American classic. Nature enthusiasts and fans of fine literature alike will find Beautiful Swimmers a timeless and enchanting study in the tradition of Rachel Carson and Annie Dillard.
In these pages, we are immersed not only in the world of the Chesapeake's most intriguing crustaceans, but in the winds and tides of the Bay itself and the struggles of the watermen who make their living in pursuit of the succulent, pugnacious blue crab.
"This is a book of rare grace and meditation, one that ranges from adventure to zoology, with no small measure of mystery and history." -- Miami Herald
" Beautiful Swimmers is wonderful to read and a distinguished addition to our literature." --Larry McMurtry
For decades, William Warner's exploration of the Atlantic blue crab and the Chesapeake Bay has delighted thousands of readers and become a modern American classic. Nature enthusiasts and fans of fine literature alike will find Beautiful Swimmers a timeless and enchanting study in the tradition of Rachel Carson and Annie Dillard.
In these pages, we are immersed not only in the world of the Chesapeake's most intriguing crustaceans, but in the winds and tides of the Bay itself and the struggles of the watermen who make their living in pursuit of the succulent, pugnacious blue crab.
"This is a book of rare grace and meditation, one that ranges from adventure to zoology, with no small measure of mystery and history." -- Miami Herald
" Beautiful Swimmers is wonderful to read and a distinguished addition to our literature." --Larry McMurtry
304 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1976
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July 5, 2025
“Beautiful swimmer” is the way the Greek term Callinectes translates into English; and Callinectes sapidus is the scientific name for the Chesapeake blue crab, the amazing little animal that serves as a key object of study for William Warner in his book Beautiful Swimmers. Natives or residents of the Chesapeake region may take special pleasure in seeing how Warner traces the influence of this ill-tempered little marine crustacean that happens to taste astonishingly good. (Sapidus, in case you were wondering, is Latin for “savory.”)
Warner, who spent his career with the Smithsonian Institution, published Beautiful Swimmers in 1976, the year of the nation's bicentennial. This gentle, lyrical book pays eloquent tribute to Watermen, Crabs, and the Chesapeake Bay (the book’s subtitle). Warner captures well the odd and fragile beauty of the Atlantic blue crab that is -- or used to be -- found in such abundance throughout the Chesapeake.
The alert reader will already have noticed that crabs don’t get top billing, or pride of place, in the subtitle of Beautiful Swimmers; that honor goes to the watermen, who in their laconic and independent way have been seeking out the bay’s seafood bounty since the colonial era, using traditional methods in the midst of changing times. Warner tags along at one point with the crew of a crab dredger, the East Hampton, as its crew engages in wintertime crab dredging south of Hampton Roads’ Thimble Shoal Channel:
The first dredge brought up about three dozen crabs. From the pilothouse they looked rather inert. They tumbled out of the dredge and remained as they fell: on their feet, upside down, or jammed sideways between neighbors. There was none of the vicious jostling and sparring so characteristic of freshly caught crabs in summer. Some few waved their claws feebly in defense. They made no attempt to nip the crew members, however, who went about on hands and knees to pick them up. I asked Captain Ben [Williams] if this was the way of all winter crabs. “Too cold today and they don’t like it,” he said. “Yesterday they was very wiggly.” He giggled after each speech, as do most watermen from Virginia’s Lower and Middle Necks. (p. 50)
One learns from Warner a great deal about the culture of those who seek out the crabs, whether the person doing the crabbing is a dredge-boat captain like Captain Williams or a trotline crabber like Lester Lee of the Talbot County (Maryland) community of Dominion. Lee responds modestly to Warner’s mention that friends call Lee the best trotliner in Eastern Bay, but then adds, “Well, maybe I do as good as the next man….But they’s too many at it these days. Them no good chicken neckers come in here and lay their lines right over us.” Warner helpfully adds that the term “chicken neckers” – “a term I was to hear often in the next twenty-four hours” – refers to “outsiders and rank amateurs, since there is a widespread belief among dilettante crabbers that chicken necks are the best crab bait” (p. 149). Lester uses chunks of salted eel to do his crabbing; and if that information is useful for your own future crabbing adventures, then I’m glad to be of help.
Warner’s talent for descriptive writing applies not only to the watermen but also to the crabs that the watermen seek out. The famously pugnacious disposition of Callinectes sapidus comes through well in a passage where Warner, driving down “a doubtful road on the lonely peninsula in the Dorchester marshes known as Bishop’s Head”, finds a place where an unexpectedly strong tide has forced too many crabs to share too little creek water:
Between bumping into each other and threat postures that failed to convey their message…the crabs fought hard and frequently. Being generally excited, they also lunged at anything that moved in the water….For the most part they sought to avoid each other, backpedaling and sidestepping, claws at the ready, very much as good boxers bob and weave in the ring. But soon, or at least every ten seconds, little volcanos erupted as one or another crab got cornered and elected to fight. Most often, when the mud settled and the water cleared, one of the combatants had the limb of another in its claws. Within seconds came larger eruptions as every crab within sight zeroed in to steal the prize. (p. 99)
Another of the book’s strengths is its exploration of the Chesapeake seafood industry centered around Crisfield, Maryland, and Hampton, Virginia. In this section of the book, one learns, among other things, that “Officially the state of Maryland’s marketing authority has decreed that ‘Mediums’ shall measure three to three and a half inches across the body; ‘Hotels,’ three and a half to four; ‘Primes,’ four to four and a half; ‘Jumbos,’ four and a half to five; and ‘Whales’ or ‘Slabs,’ five inches or better” (p. 197). Pass the Whales and Slabs, please!
One of the book’s later chapters, “The Islands, Looking Ahead,” provides a strong statement of the importance of attending to the factors threatening Chesapeake Bay. Population growth, suburban development, farm runoff, industrial wastes, untreated sewage – it all pushes a great deal of nitrogen and phosphorus into the water. The nitrates and phosphates in turn encourage the unchecked growth of algae; and in 1976, not a few readers were shocked to read Warner’s description of the consequences:
The algae “blooms” or “explodes” in population by catastrophic quantum leaps….Then, enter oxygen deprivation. As the algae die and decompose, they take from the surrounding water nearly all of its oxygen. All forms of life around these blooms – fish, plants, mollusks, and crustaceans – smother and die. You may see the process, if you wish, on the Potomac. Summer after summer, a few miles below Mount Vernon, there is a strange sea. It is slimy and pea-green in color, a horrid soup of a sea that affronts all the senses. To go through it in a small boat is a shocking experience. (p. 259)
More than a quarter of a century has passed since the publication of Warner's book – a time during which algal blooms and fish kills and “dead zones” have become problems only too well-known to all those who love the Chesapeake – and therefore Warner’s expressions of concern for the future of the Chesapeake's delicate ecosystem, as set forth in Beautiful Swimmers, seem all the more prescient. At once poetic and tough-minded, this book is truly a classic of Chesapeake Bay literature.
Warner, who spent his career with the Smithsonian Institution, published Beautiful Swimmers in 1976, the year of the nation's bicentennial. This gentle, lyrical book pays eloquent tribute to Watermen, Crabs, and the Chesapeake Bay (the book’s subtitle). Warner captures well the odd and fragile beauty of the Atlantic blue crab that is -- or used to be -- found in such abundance throughout the Chesapeake.
The alert reader will already have noticed that crabs don’t get top billing, or pride of place, in the subtitle of Beautiful Swimmers; that honor goes to the watermen, who in their laconic and independent way have been seeking out the bay’s seafood bounty since the colonial era, using traditional methods in the midst of changing times. Warner tags along at one point with the crew of a crab dredger, the East Hampton, as its crew engages in wintertime crab dredging south of Hampton Roads’ Thimble Shoal Channel:
The first dredge brought up about three dozen crabs. From the pilothouse they looked rather inert. They tumbled out of the dredge and remained as they fell: on their feet, upside down, or jammed sideways between neighbors. There was none of the vicious jostling and sparring so characteristic of freshly caught crabs in summer. Some few waved their claws feebly in defense. They made no attempt to nip the crew members, however, who went about on hands and knees to pick them up. I asked Captain Ben [Williams] if this was the way of all winter crabs. “Too cold today and they don’t like it,” he said. “Yesterday they was very wiggly.” He giggled after each speech, as do most watermen from Virginia’s Lower and Middle Necks. (p. 50)
One learns from Warner a great deal about the culture of those who seek out the crabs, whether the person doing the crabbing is a dredge-boat captain like Captain Williams or a trotline crabber like Lester Lee of the Talbot County (Maryland) community of Dominion. Lee responds modestly to Warner’s mention that friends call Lee the best trotliner in Eastern Bay, but then adds, “Well, maybe I do as good as the next man….But they’s too many at it these days. Them no good chicken neckers come in here and lay their lines right over us.” Warner helpfully adds that the term “chicken neckers” – “a term I was to hear often in the next twenty-four hours” – refers to “outsiders and rank amateurs, since there is a widespread belief among dilettante crabbers that chicken necks are the best crab bait” (p. 149). Lester uses chunks of salted eel to do his crabbing; and if that information is useful for your own future crabbing adventures, then I’m glad to be of help.
Warner’s talent for descriptive writing applies not only to the watermen but also to the crabs that the watermen seek out. The famously pugnacious disposition of Callinectes sapidus comes through well in a passage where Warner, driving down “a doubtful road on the lonely peninsula in the Dorchester marshes known as Bishop’s Head”, finds a place where an unexpectedly strong tide has forced too many crabs to share too little creek water:
Between bumping into each other and threat postures that failed to convey their message…the crabs fought hard and frequently. Being generally excited, they also lunged at anything that moved in the water….For the most part they sought to avoid each other, backpedaling and sidestepping, claws at the ready, very much as good boxers bob and weave in the ring. But soon, or at least every ten seconds, little volcanos erupted as one or another crab got cornered and elected to fight. Most often, when the mud settled and the water cleared, one of the combatants had the limb of another in its claws. Within seconds came larger eruptions as every crab within sight zeroed in to steal the prize. (p. 99)
Another of the book’s strengths is its exploration of the Chesapeake seafood industry centered around Crisfield, Maryland, and Hampton, Virginia. In this section of the book, one learns, among other things, that “Officially the state of Maryland’s marketing authority has decreed that ‘Mediums’ shall measure three to three and a half inches across the body; ‘Hotels,’ three and a half to four; ‘Primes,’ four to four and a half; ‘Jumbos,’ four and a half to five; and ‘Whales’ or ‘Slabs,’ five inches or better” (p. 197). Pass the Whales and Slabs, please!
One of the book’s later chapters, “The Islands, Looking Ahead,” provides a strong statement of the importance of attending to the factors threatening Chesapeake Bay. Population growth, suburban development, farm runoff, industrial wastes, untreated sewage – it all pushes a great deal of nitrogen and phosphorus into the water. The nitrates and phosphates in turn encourage the unchecked growth of algae; and in 1976, not a few readers were shocked to read Warner’s description of the consequences:
The algae “blooms” or “explodes” in population by catastrophic quantum leaps….Then, enter oxygen deprivation. As the algae die and decompose, they take from the surrounding water nearly all of its oxygen. All forms of life around these blooms – fish, plants, mollusks, and crustaceans – smother and die. You may see the process, if you wish, on the Potomac. Summer after summer, a few miles below Mount Vernon, there is a strange sea. It is slimy and pea-green in color, a horrid soup of a sea that affronts all the senses. To go through it in a small boat is a shocking experience. (p. 259)
More than a quarter of a century has passed since the publication of Warner's book – a time during which algal blooms and fish kills and “dead zones” have become problems only too well-known to all those who love the Chesapeake – and therefore Warner’s expressions of concern for the future of the Chesapeake's delicate ecosystem, as set forth in Beautiful Swimmers, seem all the more prescient. At once poetic and tough-minded, this book is truly a classic of Chesapeake Bay literature.
August 14, 2008
I had long taken the Chesapeake Bay for granted until my grandparents began talking in earnest about selling their boat. On a trip down there this summer, they recommended this book as a way of coming closer to the bay. As the title indicates, Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay sets forth a rich and nuanced view of the Chesapeake crabbing trade, from the little beasties themselves to the government policies (as of 1976) that affect the trade.
If you'll pardon the cliche, Warner provides a rare window into a world most apparent to outsiders as bobbing buoys, supermarket crab (canned, lump, and fresh), and the occasional crab-cracking summer feast. This window is remarkably clear thanks to Warner's ability to discuss the crabbing world in a voice equally comfortable with conservation policy, the intricate details of various crabbing crafts, the thick dialect of the watermen, and the occasional laugh-out-loud line regarding, for instance, crab mating habits.
Because this versatility necessarily involves several specialized vocabularies, don't be afraid to break out the dictionary--but definitely read Beautiful Swimmers if you have the slightest interest in (1) the Chesapeake, (2) crabs, (3) food policy, or (4) a fun read.
If you'll pardon the cliche, Warner provides a rare window into a world most apparent to outsiders as bobbing buoys, supermarket crab (canned, lump, and fresh), and the occasional crab-cracking summer feast. This window is remarkably clear thanks to Warner's ability to discuss the crabbing world in a voice equally comfortable with conservation policy, the intricate details of various crabbing crafts, the thick dialect of the watermen, and the occasional laugh-out-loud line regarding, for instance, crab mating habits.
Because this versatility necessarily involves several specialized vocabularies, don't be afraid to break out the dictionary--but definitely read Beautiful Swimmers if you have the slightest interest in (1) the Chesapeake, (2) crabs, (3) food policy, or (4) a fun read.
December 30, 2008
This book of non-Fiction is written with such care of the subject, and the grace of the language and discriptions of everything from the beautiful swimmers (chesapeake blue crabs) themselves, to the history of the Chesapeake bay, the crab-pot watermen to the pickers and packers. Warner truly takes the reader into the world of watermen, and branches out to the world around them with a style that kept me reading, not wanting to put the book down. Every chapter completed, I thought I had learned all there was to know about the subject. That was, until I started the next chapter. Truly a voyeuristic view into the lives of so many, beautifully crafted to not only imbue knowledge of the life of the Blue Crab but also to entertain, and cause the reader to pause and appreciate the delicate balance of nature that we voraciously take for granted.
March 11, 2018
Beautiful book on an unlikely subject
As a kid in Marblehead, Mass. I liked to catch crabs off the rocks. When I grew up a bit, I learned to eat them too---a very succulent food that I still love. But, I must confess that I never thought of reading books about them until one day I ran across William Warner's BEAUTIFUL SWIMMERS in a college bookshop. This wonderful work contains all you ever wanted to know about the life cycle of one particular kind of crab that lives in Chesapeake Bay (the kind you probably smashed with mallets if you ever went to that area). Surprisingly, for most of its life, the Atlantic blue crab has nothing to do with beer. Taking it for a focus, Warner draws connections with the sea, the rivers, the crab-friendly environment that produced such a wealth of the creatures, and then the people who live from that wealth, the islanders who lived isolated for centuries, but are now firmly within the web of modern life. Warner tells of the marketing of crabs, the catching of other Chesapeake products like oysters, and even of festivals like a Miss Crustacean contest ! You can learn about esoterica like crab pots, the Waterman's Union, the religious heritage of crabbers, and lots more. My edition came with a number of excellent pencil drawings of crabs, crabbers, and maritime scenes from the area. I was disappointed by only one thing----reaching the end of this great book.
When I think back on all the books of Life, this is one of the best. At least 6 stars.
As a kid in Marblehead, Mass. I liked to catch crabs off the rocks. When I grew up a bit, I learned to eat them too---a very succulent food that I still love. But, I must confess that I never thought of reading books about them until one day I ran across William Warner's BEAUTIFUL SWIMMERS in a college bookshop. This wonderful work contains all you ever wanted to know about the life cycle of one particular kind of crab that lives in Chesapeake Bay (the kind you probably smashed with mallets if you ever went to that area). Surprisingly, for most of its life, the Atlantic blue crab has nothing to do with beer. Taking it for a focus, Warner draws connections with the sea, the rivers, the crab-friendly environment that produced such a wealth of the creatures, and then the people who live from that wealth, the islanders who lived isolated for centuries, but are now firmly within the web of modern life. Warner tells of the marketing of crabs, the catching of other Chesapeake products like oysters, and even of festivals like a Miss Crustacean contest ! You can learn about esoterica like crab pots, the Waterman's Union, the religious heritage of crabbers, and lots more. My edition came with a number of excellent pencil drawings of crabs, crabbers, and maritime scenes from the area. I was disappointed by only one thing----reaching the end of this great book.
When I think back on all the books of Life, this is one of the best. At least 6 stars.
February 9, 2022
Beautiful Swimmers first drew my attention during eighth grade Language Arts, in our "Maryland Studies" unit. My memory is that we were to select one of three books: Homecoming (my choice), The Lord's Oysters (I read this one, too, just because), or Misty of Chincoteague (my girl friends all chose this, because horses I guess?). At some point during these weeks, only half paying attention, I overheard our teacher say the phrase Beautiful Swimmers... so charming and vivid and, once I realized it referred to the delicious and fierce blue crab, memorable.
Not charming and vivid enough for me to hunt down a copy, though. ;) Experience had taught me that science books are boring.
The source & timing led me to expect juvenile nonfic, so I finally bought a copy when our son was born. It was quite a surprise when this several hundred page tome arrived on my doorstep.
While reading, I was again appalled by the generic, repetitive education I received growing up. That "Maryland Studies" is the entirety of my local education -- eight years, countless repetitions of the basic outline of Founding Fathers and Abe Lincoln, hundreds of hours regurgitating scattershot data from dry science textbooks, and no insight into or information about the place we lived.
Those years in Kent Island and Centreville were not happy ones, and fond memories are few. My first day of school, sixth grade, a fellow pre-adolescent called me "chicken-necker" and I thought it was about my own neck, not my [unwilling] participation in an invasion of outsiders. The first of many confusing & distressing moments which, in reality, I wouldn't change while also not wishing them on anyone.
Reading Beautiful Swimmers during that time may not have increased my empathy for rude, frightened rednecks -- I needed many more years as an outsider first -- but it would've improved my appreciation for and understanding of how interconnected we all were, and maybe even planted seeds of personal responsibility to the broader community... seeds that didn't show up in my life until much, much later.
Maybe.
Anyway! After thirty-plus years of mild curiosity due to an unforgettable title, this book somehow exceeded my expectations. Some regional history, some economics, some engineering, some subculture, and lots of Natural History.
I missed The Bay while I was reading. Not the crab feast, crab cakes, crab soup, crab dip, stuffed rockfish -- I crave those at least once a month, and have for decades. I missed The Bay. I could smell that estuary air, see the white caps, hear the muck sucking at my shoes, feel the tension in my arms driving over the Bay Bridge, the intimacy of the old Kent Narrows and the old Severn River bridges, see the rundown sturdy Federal era homes and the obviously short-lived shiny new construction, the long long long drives through farmland to get anywhere at all. My Bay wasn't anything like Warner's Bay, on the surface, and yet it was.
A niche title, maybe, but if you're in the niche then it's pretty wonderful.
Not charming and vivid enough for me to hunt down a copy, though. ;) Experience had taught me that science books are boring.
The source & timing led me to expect juvenile nonfic, so I finally bought a copy when our son was born. It was quite a surprise when this several hundred page tome arrived on my doorstep.
While reading, I was again appalled by the generic, repetitive education I received growing up. That "Maryland Studies" is the entirety of my local education -- eight years, countless repetitions of the basic outline of Founding Fathers and Abe Lincoln, hundreds of hours regurgitating scattershot data from dry science textbooks, and no insight into or information about the place we lived.
Those years in Kent Island and Centreville were not happy ones, and fond memories are few. My first day of school, sixth grade, a fellow pre-adolescent called me "chicken-necker" and I thought it was about my own neck, not my [unwilling] participation in an invasion of outsiders. The first of many confusing & distressing moments which, in reality, I wouldn't change while also not wishing them on anyone.
Reading Beautiful Swimmers during that time may not have increased my empathy for rude, frightened rednecks -- I needed many more years as an outsider first -- but it would've improved my appreciation for and understanding of how interconnected we all were, and maybe even planted seeds of personal responsibility to the broader community... seeds that didn't show up in my life until much, much later.
Maybe.
Anyway! After thirty-plus years of mild curiosity due to an unforgettable title, this book somehow exceeded my expectations. Some regional history, some economics, some engineering, some subculture, and lots of Natural History.
I missed The Bay while I was reading. Not the crab feast, crab cakes, crab soup, crab dip, stuffed rockfish -- I crave those at least once a month, and have for decades. I missed The Bay. I could smell that estuary air, see the white caps, hear the muck sucking at my shoes, feel the tension in my arms driving over the Bay Bridge, the intimacy of the old Kent Narrows and the old Severn River bridges, see the rundown sturdy Federal era homes and the obviously short-lived shiny new construction, the long long long drives through farmland to get anywhere at all. My Bay wasn't anything like Warner's Bay, on the surface, and yet it was.
A niche title, maybe, but if you're in the niche then it's pretty wonderful.
July 17, 2024
Whenever, as a child, I had the audacity to tell my parents I was bored, as if it were their job to entertain me, my dad would respond, "Only boring people get bored."
Those words have burrowed deep. I've had to challenge my reflexive contempt towards others' boredom, and I almost immediately feel shame as soon as I feel bored.
So I spent most of this book mired in a deep sense of shame that I couldn't muster more curiosity.
But there it is. I couldn't.
I picked Beautiful Swimmers up because I thought it would be fun to try to read old Pulitzer-winning nonfiction. So far it has not been fun. No fun at all.
Warner's prose is impeccable, and he's an engaging narrator. It's not his fault, really. It's not you, William, it's me.
I'm just not up to caring this much about crabs or watermen or the Chesapeake Bay.
Sometimes you have to admit your limits.
Those words have burrowed deep. I've had to challenge my reflexive contempt towards others' boredom, and I almost immediately feel shame as soon as I feel bored.
So I spent most of this book mired in a deep sense of shame that I couldn't muster more curiosity.
But there it is. I couldn't.
I picked Beautiful Swimmers up because I thought it would be fun to try to read old Pulitzer-winning nonfiction. So far it has not been fun. No fun at all.
Warner's prose is impeccable, and he's an engaging narrator. It's not his fault, really. It's not you, William, it's me.
I'm just not up to caring this much about crabs or watermen or the Chesapeake Bay.
Sometimes you have to admit your limits.
October 18, 2021
An excellent book that enthralls the reader with a tapestry of tales of crabbing, shore work, oystering mixed with a rich cultural history and science behind the Chesapeake’s most important industry. I was engrossed in the stories and just didn’t want to put down this book. The book has aged surprisingly well and still holds many truths that serve as cautionary calls to the reader. This book really left me wanted more and a deeper dive into the waters of the Chesapeake.
March 11, 2020
A lovely book -- maybe even a love letter to a vanishing way of life -- about the blue crab, its Chesapeake Bay home and the folks who separate the two. Highly readable and absorbing, the only thing that would improve it would be recipes.
2020: Loved this when it came out in 1976. But, this is outdated and, sorry to say, strikes me as sexist in 2020. Warner's writing is frequently lyrical, but with rising water levels and bay pollution, this book seems quaint. Earl Swift's Chesapeake Requiem is a better choice. Three and a half stars on the re-read. I did enjoy reading this while also reading The Prince of Tides, though.
2020: Loved this when it came out in 1976. But, this is outdated and, sorry to say, strikes me as sexist in 2020. Warner's writing is frequently lyrical, but with rising water levels and bay pollution, this book seems quaint. Earl Swift's Chesapeake Requiem is a better choice. Three and a half stars on the re-read. I did enjoy reading this while also reading The Prince of Tides, though.
January 1, 2021
Beautiful Swimmers: Waterman, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay by William Warner –although dated - proved to be timeless, not unlike the Bay itself. The people he meets and learns from are still present although perhaps in fewer numbers. I especially enjoyed Warner’s humility, he is clearly there to learn from these grizzled veterans of the crabbing and oyster industry. In 1976 the explosive algae blooms that now populate the Baltimore Sun news stories every summer were still on the horizon although they were correctly predicted by Warner. In fact, this book ought to have been subtitled “Weren’t You Listening?” as Warner’s professional knowledge allowed him to accurately predict many of the failings that the Bay has been subjected to (dwindling stocks/over fishing; economic breakdown of the local industry; uncontrolled development and disastrous agriculture runoff). He would probably tell us that it isn't too late and we can fix what we have broken because the Bay is tough, it just needs some TLC.
This was a welcome birthday present. An engaging and instructive history.
June 7, 2020
Wow- I finished it! Byron got me this book in like 2015 bc it is very good (Pulitzer!) and involves an estuary (my favorite ecosystem!). I get weird with other ppl telling me how to live my book life and I’m even weirder about nonfiction so it’s taken me until now to actually read it. I’m glad I did. Excellent history of a lifestyle surrounding the blue crabs of the Chesapeake. I learned a lot about the bay, the people, and the blue crabs!
December 21, 2012
William Warner’s Beautiful Swimmers is a classic piece of narrative non-fiction, and a fine introduction to the blue crabs of Chesapeake Bay and the working lives of the “watermen” who pursue them. It bears comparison to Rachel Carson’s The Edge of the Sea (for its attention to natural history, and its deft integration of the latest scientific data), to Henry Beston’s The Outermost House (for its portrait of a beautiful, isolated coastline), and to Michael Ruhlman’s Wooden Boats (for its sympathetic portraits of people whose work keeps alive a slowly dying art), but its greatest strength is the way it combines those elements. The design of Chesapeake Bay workboats, changing state and federal fisheries regulations, the economics of the seafood business, and the changing demographics of the bayside communities come into the story, too. Warner’s goal is to craft a fully rounded, fully integrated portrait of the watermen’s world, and he succeeds – brilliantly.
Published in 1976 and based on visits made over several years, Beautiful Swimmers describes the Cheasapeake, and the watermen, as they existed forty years ago. It is, in other words, a time capsule: A window on a world that no longer exists. The middle-aged watermen that Warner put to sea with are retired or dead, now, and the younger ones now grown to gray-haired patriarchs for whom the early seventies are a distant memory. Development, tourism, pollution, and overfishing have – if four decades of changes to my coastal New England home are a guide – erased some of the uniqueness, and some of the insularity, of the world that Warner wrote about.
If Warner could, as he wrote, see such changes coming, he kept his thoughts about them to himself. Beautiful Swimmers isn’t a prescription for what the Bay should become or a cautionary tale of what it might become. It’s a beautifully crafted declarative sentence of book that quietly says: “At this place, in this time, this is how it was.”
Published in 1976 and based on visits made over several years, Beautiful Swimmers describes the Cheasapeake, and the watermen, as they existed forty years ago. It is, in other words, a time capsule: A window on a world that no longer exists. The middle-aged watermen that Warner put to sea with are retired or dead, now, and the younger ones now grown to gray-haired patriarchs for whom the early seventies are a distant memory. Development, tourism, pollution, and overfishing have – if four decades of changes to my coastal New England home are a guide – erased some of the uniqueness, and some of the insularity, of the world that Warner wrote about.
If Warner could, as he wrote, see such changes coming, he kept his thoughts about them to himself. Beautiful Swimmers isn’t a prescription for what the Bay should become or a cautionary tale of what it might become. It’s a beautifully crafted declarative sentence of book that quietly says: “At this place, in this time, this is how it was.”
April 21, 2019
I was asked to read Beautiful Swimmers for our book club. I really enjoyed reading this book about the history of the watermen on the Chesapeake Bay, the blue crab and its life cycles, and the islands on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia. It was interesting to read about the declining trade and the erosion due to the increase in population. The book is wonderfully descriptive, I enjoyed learning about the various subtleties in color between the male and female crabs. I learned a lot about the blue crabs that I have enjoyed my entire life, growing up in Maryland. The sheer physicality of the watermen, and the time on the water to prep and collect their trade was very interesting.
I liked the illustrations in this version, and the afterword, updating the effects of erosion on the community and the seafood trade. Quite an interesting way of life.
#BeautifulSwimmers #WilliamWWarner
I liked the illustrations in this version, and the afterword, updating the effects of erosion on the community and the seafood trade. Quite an interesting way of life.
#BeautifulSwimmers #WilliamWWarner
November 11, 2021
the sections about crabs and ecology are incredibly done and I felt so much pride for the Chesapeake Bay reading this (even though he really skimmed over VA’s section of the Bay which disappointed me), but I do think it would’ve been more enjoyable for me if more pictures of the boats/contraptions/mechanical things were included - I had a hard time imagining a lot of it since I’m not too familiar with the industry and it made the book a lot slower. I loved learning about the different towns and people and it was so interesting to see how much has changed since the 70s, but because this is largely about the economy at the time I had no clue what I was supposed to be thinking about the prices and wages. Was that low for the time? High? Fair? Never had a clue
March 28, 2021
Incredibly encompassing account of the ecology and lives of the waterman of the Chesapeake Bay. Very thorough, but relatable. Knowledgeable, but familiar. I appreciate the fact that a naturalist was able to take in their whole subject and include the human interactions.
Written in the 1970s, it may seem tedious by today's standards, but I feel that the completeness and timing of the writing is essential for understanding humanity's relationship with nature.
Written in the 1970s, it may seem tedious by today's standards, but I feel that the completeness and timing of the writing is essential for understanding humanity's relationship with nature.
April 14, 2022
This was extremely detailed, if a little outdated at times. If you want to know everything there is to know about crabbing in Maryland, this is the book for you.
August 10, 2025
This a very interesting look at the crab industry in the Chesapeake Bay. Lots of local culture. Very well read.
December 21, 2023
I went in with no expectations and was warmly surprised by Warner's avuncular writing style, which painted an elegant and enduring image of the Chesapeake Bay crabbing industry of the 1970s. And, I learned a lot about crabs.
July 13, 2025
This was a fun read. I discovered it on a used book shelf at my kids’ school and grabbed it thinking it would be interesting to read while traveling along the mid-Atlantic region. I found it both fascinating with respect to the lives of the marine life and watermen, and highly educational on the geography and history of a region I have called home for many years. A perfect book to read on my summer vacation.
September 26, 2017
So, there you are, in 2017, reading a 1994 reprint edition of a 1977 Pulitzer Prize winning book in non-fiction. You've already lost the interest of millions of potential readers who believe the only good book is a fictional one, or at least a non-fictional one structured to feel just like a fictional one, with a clear plot, central characters, and the rest. To be sure, this is not one of those books written -- how should I say it? -- with lots of creative flair. Then, to add to its problems, it is full of very dated comments about the economy of its day, when prices and wages were dramatically different from today. However, for me, that is all almost besides the point. The author is presenting the intricate interactions of creatures and people in the vast, complex ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay. First, it has going for it that this reader lives and has spent much time on the water in the fairly comparable Puget Sound and Salish Sea area. There is lots to draw upon for interest. Secondly, being someone who still vividly remembers stopping on a simple but typical two-lane highway and paying only 25 cents a gallon for gasoline during especially contentious price wars, this reader can adjust more quickly than many others much younger to the seemingly bizarre monetary figures thrown about in this book. (Only a couple bucks for a pound of crab, indeed!) And yet, most importantly, the author is so patiently thorough in his investigation of his subject, that his writing eventually wins the reader over. He has just enough background in the subject to know what he doesn't know and how to go about learning the most he can about what he needs to know. In this case, this is a book concentrating on "watermen" making a living on seafood harvesting. Imagine yourself, perhaps, as a person whose mother was a good cook and allowed you to participate fully, as a child, in preparing a variety of foods for family meals. What foods? What kind to buy? What was a good price? What equipment used to prepare them, to cook them? In the author's case, he was brought up on the waters of the Bay, and he almost instinctively knew how to approach and spend time with these watermen. (There is one chapter on his time with a particular crabber that is worth the price of admission all on its own, and there are others nearly as good.) In essence, he was offered a chance to spend a lot of time with his own equivalent of "top chefs" and has passed along what he learned to us. The journey into the ecology, the economy, the personalities, the localities, is ultimately very satisfying.
January 16, 2012
William Warner's Beautiful Swimmers is justly regarded as a classic of Chesapeake Bay literature. Writing in the year of the nation's bicentennial, Warner paid tribute to the odd and fragile beauty of the Atlantic blue crab that is -- or used to be -- found in such abundance throughout the Chesapeake. Indeed, Warner draws the title of his book from the scientific name of the crab, Callinectes sapidus; Callinectes translates from the Greek as "beautiful swimmer." (Sapidus translates as "savory," another descriptor that applies well to the blue crabs of the Chesapeake.) Warner supplements his tribute to the blue crab with a comparably admiring account of the work of the Chesapeake's watermen, the laconic and individualistic men who seek out the bay's seafood bounty, using time-honored methods in the midst of changing times. Another of the book's strengths is its exploration of the Chesapeake seafood industry centered around Crisfield, Maryland, and Hampton, Virginia. The book is well-illustrated, with lovely pencil drawings by Consuelo Hanks. More than a quarter of a century has passed since the publication of Warner's book, but his expressions of concern for the future of the Chesapeake's delicate ecosystem, as set forth in Beautiful Swimmers, seem downright prescient.
June 4, 2013
I came across this book as I was reading Chesapeake. Although it was written in the 1970s, it is still a great companion piece to that book. The descriptions of semi-modern life on the Bay for both the watermen and the crabs and oysters were very vivid - a wonderful homage to a unique way of life. I haven't been to Smith Island since the 80s. It made me want to go back and see how things have changed, as I am sure they have. Well worth reading for those who are familiar with the area or interested in it at all.
December 28, 2014
I can't remember how I came across this but am so glad I did. It's very well written and tells many great, personal stories of the history and lives of crab fisherman on the Chesapeake. Anyone who likes great stories and lives near the Bay will appreciate this.
August 15, 2012
Non fiction about the Chesapeake Bay and the crabbing industry by a Pulitzer winner, 1976. For Marylanders who live and love "The Bay" it is worthwhile.
August 28, 2018
A book worthy of its Pulitzer prize in 1977.
December 14, 2021
Beautiful Swimmers is a classic study of the Atlantic Blue crab and it explores the people of the Chesapeake Bay. The blue crab (Callinectus sapidus) is the beautiful savory swimmer. The jimmies (males) and the sooks (females) swim together gracefully in the Chesapeake Bay to find proper eel grass. Warner’s story of the blue crab is descriptive, informative and magnificent. He explores the watermen who go to the sea before dawn to work their crab pots. He describes their life, the Chesapeake Bay, the impacts of urbanization, and the crabs and other wildlife in amazing detail.
Warner spent several years and hours with the watermen learning about crabs, a significant part of the Bay’s economy. His writing is a joy to read. He presents the Bay and the crabs with a true appreciation of them and brings attention the complex lives of the people and their skills, and pays attention to the wind, water and environment surrounding them.
Though written in the 1970’s, it gives a picture of that time and attention to preserving the waters, eel grasses, communities and the beautiful savory blue crabs. It is a highly enjoyable read and a book to love with it’s maps and line drawings and pictures. It is worthy of the Pulitzer Prize it received.
Warner spent several years and hours with the watermen learning about crabs, a significant part of the Bay’s economy. His writing is a joy to read. He presents the Bay and the crabs with a true appreciation of them and brings attention the complex lives of the people and their skills, and pays attention to the wind, water and environment surrounding them.
Though written in the 1970’s, it gives a picture of that time and attention to preserving the waters, eel grasses, communities and the beautiful savory blue crabs. It is a highly enjoyable read and a book to love with it’s maps and line drawings and pictures. It is worthy of the Pulitzer Prize it received.
June 5, 2018
A thoroughly wonderful book about the Chesapeake Bay, delving deeply into the world of the watermen. With great detail the book also covers the lives of the crabs and oysters, and the Bay itself, and all that entails. It also covers the history of the Bay and it's possible future (so endangered!) It follows the daily lives of the men who work the crab and oyster boats; a fascinating group of people with very physical jobs, working long hours in hot sun and cold wind. Having watermen in my husband's lineage, men who worked the Eastern and Western shores at varying times in their lives, who built deadrise boats and farmed there, I wanted to know more about their life on one of the most amazing estuaries on earth. The history of the Bay since Captain John Smith explored it and called it one of the most beautiful places on earth a man could live, brings any Virginian and Marylander great pride. Watermen are a unique group of people, and getting to know them better was a joy. Getting to understand the crabs and oysters they follow, bringing these delicacies to our tables, was also a joy. A very richly detailed, well-researched book for all who care about Bay life!
April 19, 2022
I don't really know how to describe this book. it had a narrative, but only in terms of each season being a section of the book, and then it turned into a free-form discussion of anything that might happen in that period. Natural history, social history, economics, biography, ecology, environmental science, politics, anything you can think of about the Chesapeake Bay and the people who live there. It was slow, but never boring: more contemplative, gently meandering through his subjects. He seems to have infinite patience with his subjects, the fisherman who welcome him into their homes and onto their boats. There's a gentle humour but its also a little sad, a little melancholic about how the way of life may be dying out, the crab yields aren't what they were, the ecology of the bay is changing. It's a strange book, not one single thing, an amalgam of stories and situations and bizarre crab mating practices that sort of quietly seduces you into wanting to read more. No wonder it won the Pulitzer!
February 21, 2025
This is about as accessible (non-academic) a book as you are likely to get about this subject, so it is definitely deserving of its accolades. However, it is fifty years old at this point so I imagine the circumstances of the watermen, and the health of the Chesapeake Bay, have changed in that time. Most of this book is now out of date, other than the scientific parts such as the lifecycle of the blue crab and--for the most part--the sections that were already history when this book was written. (i.e. of course Capt. John Smith did not discover the Chesapeake Bay. This itched me every time Warner stated it, even though I know in the 1970s commonly accepted American history didn't take into account that native peoples had been living on the Bay for thousands of years.) Mostly this book makes me wish for an updated version--tracking the health of the Bay as it pertains to blue crab populations since serious environmental campaigns have had time to take hold and show results, looking at demographic changes as the white waterman population has continued to shrink and low-income labor-intensive work such as crab picking is now mostly done by non-white migrant workers, a discussion of rising sea levels (which were nowhere near the concern in the 70s as they are today), and maybe some research on how native Powhatans crabbed if there are any records of that to be found.
May 14, 2021
When a member of my bookclub selected this for one of our monthly reads I was a little (ok quite a bit skeptical) as to whether I would enjoy it or not. I have to say it's was quite a fun and at times a beautiful book to read about the crabbing industry, the hard working men (yes it was all men) who went out to do the crabbing in the Chesapeake Bay.
I lived in Northern VA and Washington DC for a few years and enjoyed many a crab feed with friends...and they were the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs...which were delicious. I never gave any thought as to how they were caught, or how hard the life of those who do the crabbing to feed those of us who sat and enjoyed so many of the crabs on a Friday or Saturday night.
I know that this book isn't on everyone's bucket list but I would highly recommend it just to see how what some people choose to do for their livelihood in life. You won't be disappointed.
I lived in Northern VA and Washington DC for a few years and enjoyed many a crab feed with friends...and they were the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs...which were delicious. I never gave any thought as to how they were caught, or how hard the life of those who do the crabbing to feed those of us who sat and enjoyed so many of the crabs on a Friday or Saturday night.
I know that this book isn't on everyone's bucket list but I would highly recommend it just to see how what some people choose to do for their livelihood in life. You won't be disappointed.
April 26, 2020
Who knew there was that much to write about CRABS!! Interesting read and reminding me of my summers as a kid on the Oregon Coast. My family spend the summers up and down the Oregon Coast and as I grew up I got more interesting in crabbing. We rented crab nets and crabbed on the piers. We didn't catch much but it was so much fun. Later, my parents got me my own crab net and necessary accessories for Christmas one year. It was truly the best Christmas present ever. I spent that summer on the piers rather than the beaches. It was the best summer of my life. I enjoyed reading his personal experiences on all the different expeditions he took. I would have never thought that eel would be a good option to catch crab. Chicken Neckers cracked me up! I also have a new vacation place to try soon.
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