Sea Duster will now be permanent part of Orange Beach’s nautical heritage

Sea Duster will now be permanent part of Orange Beach’s nautical heritage
By Fran Thompson
It took just eight hours for Earl Callaway to pilot the Sea Duster from Nolte Creek to a dock behind family property on a canal that feeds into Cotton Bayou.
Nautically, its maybe 14 miles from the Magnolia River to Weeks Bay to Oyster Bay, through the Intracoastal Waterway, around Bear Point and back up to Perdido Pass.
But for Callaway, the journey to return the boat to its Orange Beach roots and into the hands of what he thinks are the rightful owners took 15 years and was full of detours.
Callaway says The Sea Duster is an important part of Alabama Gulf Coast history, and it should be in the hands of the city where his family has lived for over 140 years.
Callaway approached then Orange Beach Mayor Steve Russo more than 15 years ago in an attempt to make the Sea Duster, named after a popular lure, a permanent part of the city’s culture.
“I tried to give it to the city for free when Steve Russo was mayor, but he didn’t want it,’’ Callaway said. “He wouldn’t even consider it. Wouldn’t even see me. Wanted nothing to do with it. I never did understand that.’’
The city’s current mayor, Tony Kennon, with full support from the City Council, had a different reaction when Callaway approached with an offer to sell the Sea Duster this past summer.
Orange Beach City Council voted to pay Callaway $6,500 for the classic cyprus wood boat, commissioned in 1935 for Rufus Walker, who also helped build the boat, and completed a year later.
“I was praying the city would buy it and fix it up,’’  Callaway said. “They could do a million things with it. If I had more money, I’d have given it to them for free. I still sold it for less than I put into it, but now I can afford to get a mattress or a new vacuum cleaner. Stuff like that.
“It’s made out of black cyprus,’’ Callaway added. “There is no telling how old that wood is. But it’s great wood. It doesn’t rot.’’
The Sea Duster was one of two boats with a distinctive rounded hull built in a shipyard owned by Callaway’s great uncle, Daniel Callaway, on land near where Orange Beach Baptist Church parishioners now worship.
The construction effort was led by head boat builder Joe Pierce of Bon Secour.
“Rufus had it for 26 years and never had a tow rope on it in all of those 26 years. He was proud of that,’’ Callaway said.
Tragically, Rufus Walker died on the Sea Duster when he slipped and broke his neck while trying to surf a wave through Perdido Pass. Callaway was just a teen at the time, but he remembers well the danger in trying to maneuver anything that floated through Perdido Pass before dredging efforts and seawalls.
“You had better be dead straight when you hit that wave or you were in trouble,’’ Callaway said. “If it was real rough, you had to go around to Pensacola Pass. That happened more damn often than you would think – every two weeks or so. After Billy’s (Walker) daddy (Rufus, Sr.) broke his neck, people started putting pressure on legislators to make improvements.’’
Callaway said Billy Walker inherited the boat from his father and was the last person to use The Sea Duster for commercial and charter fishing.
The boat was in drydock at the Walker Marina before Jerry Walker (Billy’s cousin) refurbished it, an effort that included sinking the Sea Duster in Terry Cove long enough for the planks to swell before pumping it out, re-sealing the hull and installing a new motor.
Callaway bought it from Jerry Walker and owned it for 10 years before selling it to Sydney Walker, Jr.
“I always coveted the boat,’’ Callaway said. “It’s just so pretty and so distinct with what the Walkers called a Norwegian stern. It’s not fast, but it’s classic, and Jerry had it running good mechanically.’’
The Sea Duster earned Callaway the top award the only time he took it over to Pirates Cove for the Wood Boat Festival.
Sydney Walker, Rabun’s grandson, sold The Sea Duster to Scott Washington from Georgia, who lived on the vessel when he was on the Alabama Coast.
When Earl got wind that Washington was selling the boat earlier this year, he scratched up enough capital to buy it for a second time, with hopes that he could finally turn it over to the city.
“This will be Orange Beach’s own floating piece of history,’’ Callaway said. “And it will still be floating 100 years – 200 years – from now. It’s slow. The City Council laughed when I said it speeds along at 8 knots.’’
It took awhile, but Callaway’s quest to make The Sea Duster, a boat with solid ties to each of Orange Beach’s two founding fishing families, part of Orange Beach’s permanent nautical heritage is complete.
Does he realize that by petitioning City Council to add The Sea Duster to Orange Beach’s legacy as a fishing village, he also has added to his own legacy?
“Well I don’t know about that,’’ he said. “That sounds a little bit pretentious to me.’’

Pictured: Earl Callaway on the stern of the Sea Duster holding a fishing pole that his grandfather, Amel Callaway (see sidebar), made for him in the late 1950’s. Earl now uses the pole as a cane.