Herbie Sadler
Eastport Waterman

Herbie Sadler was born on Compromise Street in Annapolis in 1902. At the age of twelve, he went to work cleaning fish for Albert Stewart, a local seafood merchant. Herbie became hooked, so to speak, and for the rest of his life he worked on the water. This work became his passion and a love, that in later years, he passed on to others.

In 1928 Herbie married Gladys Davidson and they moved to Eastport to start a crabbing business Herbie's Crab Shack—at the foot of Second Street on Spa Creek. Their business grew and by the end of World War II, they moved the business to the foot of Third Street and Spa Creek.

Herbie's reputation as a purveyor of good seafood—crabs, oysters and fish —brought about a new name for his shop: Sadler's Seafood. He had sluffing tanks for holding crabs, called "peelers." Kids from the neighborhood were invited to experience the crabs'shedding cycle when a crab sluffed its hard shell. Even small children, without fear of being snipped by a crab's claw, reached into the tanks to feel the emerging soft bodies. It was just one of the many ways Herbie mentored the youth of Eastport.

By the mid-1960s, the business expanded and an addition was built to meet the ever growing demand of Herbie's customers. It was not uncommon, during the summer months, to see people lined up, waiting their turn, to take home a dozen or more crabs from Sadler's Seafood. It became an Eastport landmark.

	Cap'n Sadler removes Chesapeake blue crabs from his large steamer, recently acquired for the Museum's collection of watermens'equipment.
Little Hess was one of Herbie's workboats. Paul Leffler donated her to the Annapolis Maritime Museum. The boat is being exhibited in a shed by volunteer workman from Realistic Builders, an Eastport business.

Herbie Sadler died in 1975. Gladys Sadler recently characterized her husband's legacy: "Herbie loved his family and his work. He was born to be on the water. There were many children in Eastport, now adults, who learned much from Herbie."

In 1988, the city of Annapolis dedicated the Barge House Museum property in Herbie's honor by naming the site: The Cap'n Herbie Sadler Waterman's Park.

July 10, 2001, was declared Cap'n Herbie Sadler Appreciation Day. His friends and family turned out for an afternoon of recalling his contribution to Eastport.