The oyster boom of the late 19th century created an atmosphere on the Chesapeake not unlike a frontier town of the old west. Lawlessness came in the form of clashes between shallow water hand-tongers and deep water dredgers when the latter began to trespass into shallow waters. Clashes also occurred between oystermen from Virginia and Maryland as each accused the other of trespassing across State lines. Confrontations were violent and sometimes resulted in death. In addition, there was a serious problem with the shanghaiing of crews to man the dredges on oyster vessels, a problem which was not completely eradicated until manual dredges were supplanted by powered equipment in the early 20th century.
These and other events led to the creation of the State Oyster Police Force in 1867. The Baltimore-built Leila, a decrepit iron-hulled steamboat, was the first flagship for the Police in 1869. Two sloops were subsequently acquired, but these were inadequate for policing more than 2,500 oyster boats. Leila was replaced in 1884 by two new iron-hulled tugs from the Philadelphia firm Neafie and Levy, one of which was the Governor Robert M. McLane. The Governor McLane was 113.8 feet long, 21.2 feet wide and had a depth or draft of 9.2 feet. Its gross tonnage was 161 with 110 net and a top speed of 13 knots. The McLane became the new flagship and served the State until 1948.
During the Oyster Wars, the McLane distinguished itself several times. The most famous was the incident known as the Corsica affair. On December 10, 1888, a group of men illegally dredging oysters fired on what they believed to be a police vessel in foggy weather off the Chester River – this being something of general sport to these men. The vessel in question, however, was actually a passenger steamer, the Corsica, en route to Baltimore, and the government was forced into swift response.
The McLane, with a 12-pound howitzer mounted on the bow, quietly captured two of the offenders before a general alarm was raised. The remaining vessels rafted together 12 dredge boats with metal hatches fortifying the exposed decks and began firing on the McLane. Unable to depress the deck gun enough to be effective at such close range, Captain Thomas Howard used his other strength and steamed the iron hull into the raft. After ramming and sinking two of the dredgers, the rest scattered.
The McLane’s reputation as a force to be reckoned with was established.
In 1948, the McLane was retired and sold into private hands. Although the new owner, George Curlett, retained the name he converted the McLane to diesel power and it worked as a tow vessel until its registration was surrendered January 26, 1954 and recorded as “sold and abandoned” in Baltimore. At this point it disappeared from history until the Baltimore Museum of Industry (BMI) determined to
