Oyster pirate
Encyclopedia
Oyster pirate is a name given to persons who engage in the poaching
of oyster
s. It was a term that became popular on both the west and east coasts of the United States
in the nineteenth century.
The term "oyster pirate" appeared in several literary works by Jack London
. London would often use the term without any further explanation ("he was a jailbird, sailor, seal-hunter, oyster pirate, novelist, laundry worker, yachtsman, and coal shoveler"), as if everyone knew the meaning of the term.
In the context of Jack London's life, it refers to a specific set of conditions peculiar to the oyster industry in San Francisco Bay
in the 1880s. Native West coast oysters were greatly inferior to those from the East coast. When the transcontinental railroad
was completed, the Southern Pacific Railroad
leased land to entrepreneurs, who created artificial mud flats and grew oysters from transplanted Eastern stock.
Monopoly
conditions led to exorbitant prices, creating an opportunity for the oyster pirates. The pirates raided the oyster beds at night and sold their take in the Oakland
markets in the morning. The public disliked the Southern Pacific and the oyster growers, and liked cheap oysters. As a result, the oyster pirates had considerable public sympathy and police were reluctant to take action against them.
Jack London described oyster piracy in his autobiographical "alcoholic memoirs", John Barleycorn
, in the form of romanticized juvenile fiction in The Cruise of the Dazzler, and from the opposing point of view of the California Fish Patrol in "A Raid on the Oyster Pirates," from Tales of the Fish Patrol. Oyster pirating was also listed as one of London's first occupations after leaving a cannery at the age of fifteen by Abraham Rothberg in an Introduction to The Great Adventure Stories of Jack London (1967) and by Eric Hanson in A Book of Ages (2008).
Oyster pirates also operated in the Chesapeake Bay
on the east coast of the United States, especially from the second half of the nineteenth century into the twentieth century during the Oyster Wars
.
Poaching
Poaching is the illegal taking of wild plants or animals contrary to local and international conservation and wildlife management laws. Violations of hunting laws and regulations are normally punishable by law and, collectively, such violations are known as poaching.It may be illegal and in...
of oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
s. It was a term that became popular on both the west and east coasts of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the nineteenth century.
The term "oyster pirate" appeared in several literary works by Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
. London would often use the term without any further explanation ("he was a jailbird, sailor, seal-hunter, oyster pirate, novelist, laundry worker, yachtsman, and coal shoveler"), as if everyone knew the meaning of the term.
In the context of Jack London's life, it refers to a specific set of conditions peculiar to the oyster industry in San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
in the 1880s. Native West coast oysters were greatly inferior to those from the East coast. When the transcontinental railroad
Transcontinental railroad
A transcontinental railroad is a contiguous network of railroad trackage that crosses a continental land mass with terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single railroad, or over those owned or controlled by multiple railway companies...
was completed, the Southern Pacific Railroad
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
leased land to entrepreneurs, who created artificial mud flats and grew oysters from transplanted Eastern stock.
Monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
conditions led to exorbitant prices, creating an opportunity for the oyster pirates. The pirates raided the oyster beds at night and sold their take in the Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
markets in the morning. The public disliked the Southern Pacific and the oyster growers, and liked cheap oysters. As a result, the oyster pirates had considerable public sympathy and police were reluctant to take action against them.
Jack London described oyster piracy in his autobiographical "alcoholic memoirs", John Barleycorn
John Barleycorn (novel)
John Barleycorn is an autobiographical novel by Jack London dealing with his enjoyment of and struggles with alcoholism. It was published in 1913. The title is taken from the British folksong "John Barleycorn".- Themes :...
, in the form of romanticized juvenile fiction in The Cruise of the Dazzler, and from the opposing point of view of the California Fish Patrol in "A Raid on the Oyster Pirates," from Tales of the Fish Patrol. Oyster pirating was also listed as one of London's first occupations after leaving a cannery at the age of fifteen by Abraham Rothberg in an Introduction to The Great Adventure Stories of Jack London (1967) and by Eric Hanson in A Book of Ages (2008).
Oyster pirates also operated in the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
on the east coast of the United States, especially from the second half of the nineteenth century into the twentieth century during the Oyster Wars
Oyster Wars
The Oyster Wars were a series of sometimes violent disputes between oyster pirates and authorities and legal watermen from Maryland and Virginia in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River from 1865 until about 1959.-Background:...
.