He’s known as the TikTok Waterman for making the Chesapeake Bay waterman lifestyle relatable to more than two million followers on his social media platforms. He’s credited with renewing young peoples’ interest in working the water.
Luke McFadden crabs out of Bodkin Creek on F/V Southern Girl and runs Bodkin Point Seafood in Glen Burnie, Maryland, using a crab stand he made from a repurposed Chesapeake Bay workboat.
And now, McFadden is the victim of a disheartening crime.
In a video posted to Instagram, McFadden says he had just bought “his dream boat” and took delivery of it this week. He says he docked it at Kent Narrows Wednesday night, planning to bring it home to Bodkin Creek.
In the video, the young waterman shows the damage left behind. Sometime, likely between 12:20 and 1:10 a.m. July 25, someone ransacked his boat, smashed windows and stripped it of electronics. The video shows hydraulic lines cut, and permanently mounted electronics and gauges smashed. “If they couldn’t steal it, they just destroyed it,” McFadden says.
He notes none of his tools or crab baskets were taken. None of the nearby workboats were targeted, either.
McFadden says he has seen video from the night of the burglary that shows two males park a truck and then spend about 30 minutes on his boat.
Photojournalist and CBM contributor Jay Fleming was with McFadden when the damage was discovered.
He says McFadden had just bought the boat from a waterman in Dorchester County.
“This is the boat I had been wanting for a long time. I’d been working hard and saving a lot of money to buy this boat, and I didn’t even get to run it,” McFadden says. “I didn’t even have it ten hours.”
McFadden is making a plea (echoed by Fleming) to his vast social media network to call Maryland Natural Resources Police with any information on the case at 410-260-8888.
McFadden has received an outpouring of support around the Bay, with many spreading the word about finding the suspects. Two Maryland businesses, Doc’s Riverside Grille in Centreville and Albrecht’s in Pasadena, have put up $2,000 each for a combined reward of $4,000 for information leading to an arrest.
The McFaddens are grateful for the support but say multiple GoFundMe fundraisers have popped up that are not connected to Luke. He asks that if anyone wants to support him in this time, please buy some crabs.
