The skipjack Nathan of Dorchester made a trip across the Chesapeake Bay with a load of watermelons last weekend for a dockside sale at the Annapolis Maritime Museum’s Market Day celebration. The melons were donated by local grower Daniel Bowen of Penny Pincher Farm. Proceeds from the melon sales benefited the Dorchester Skipjack Committee, the Nathan’s nonprofit parent organization.

Six Nathan volunteers sailed the boat from Cambridge to Eastport and sold the melons from the boat, whole or by the slice. The trip recreates the days when many oyster dredge boats used their summer off-season to haul fresh produce from the Eastern Shore to markets on the other side of the Bay. Bowen also was on hand with a booth selling a variety of other fresh fruits and vegetables from his farm.

The event included additional food, entertainment and lighthouse cruises to Thomas Point Light, all in support of the Annapolis Maritime Museum.

This is the fifth year that the boat has participated in Market Day. The Nathan serves as Cambridge’s ambassador skipjack at a number of events throughout the Bay during the course of her sailing season, helping to keep alive Maryland’sEastern Shore maritime heritage.

For more information, to charter the boat or to volunteer, contact the Dorchester Skipjack Committee at 410-228-7141 or visit its website, www.skipjack-nathan.org.