A Memorable Morning for Easy Bell

You know the feeling: you see an old woody or nicely rehabbed workboat chugging along in the creek on a summer’s day. You crane your neck to get a better look. You yearn to hear the stories the old boat has to tell. Pat Teeling of Annapolis remembers seeing the Palmer 22 Easy Bell back when he was a SeaTow captain. Built in 1960, the boat was owned by an Annapolis family who crabbed on her. “This was when Ego Alley was filled with workboats,” he says. In 1999, he bought the boat. “I had some clues about how the boat was built,” Teeling says. The bottom planking ran fore to aft rather than athwartships as most Bay workboats were constructed. “There was only one place where they built boats like that: the lower Potomac.” Teeling’s wife Amy got into a conversation about the couple’s workboat at a cocktail party, where someone said, “That sounds like my neighbor’s boat.” This discovery led Easy Bell’s current owner to Creighton Palmer, a boat builder and the owner of Palmer’s Marine Railway. Teeling drove from Annapolis to St. Patrick’s Creek near Abell, MD, to meet him. He showed Palmer a photo of the boat, and “ever so slowly, a smile crept over his face.” Teeling left the builder with a folder of photos and later got in touch with the original owner’s family. On a spectacular mid-August morning, Teeling planned a special reunion. He invited Palmer, the original owner’s son Dick Hutson, his son Mike, and grandson Jared out for a spin out of South Annapolis Yacht Centre (formerly Sarles) on Spa Creek. Teeling, who found the boat builder to be a mild-mannered, humble man, guessed that Palmer did not leave his quiet Southern Maryland creek often (his niece confirmed that later). “He was awestruck at all the big boats,” said Teeling, who was thrilled to have had the chance to take Easy Bell and her living history for a boat ride on a pretty day. ~M.W.