“….because of the closeness to the sea, this has been a town where water, fishing and shipbuilding influenced the people and architecture of the town…Fishing was the town’s and also the county’s chief economy.. In early days of settlement, Beaufort was known as “FishTown” and earlier as “Hungry Town” because of the poor living conditions of the people and the slow growth of the town during the first part of the 18th century.”… (The Gam, Beaufort, May 3, 2001—Fish Houses on Front Street)
Prior to the exodus from the Banks in the late 1800s, Ca’e Bankers (as they were and are called) lived from their harvest from the waters and their gardens. Besides occasionally hunting seasonal wildfowl, they depended on their ability to adapt to fishing for whatever the season and opportunity made available from the waters of sound and ocean.
Mullet, menhaden, shad, bluefish, oysters, clams, terrapin and other turtles, and other seasonal fish gave sustenance and ability to barter with farmers to supplement their needs.
The same Bankers who were in the “exodus” from Diamond City, Cape Village (1899-1901) and other areas of the Banks at the turn of the century continued to return to fish the same marshes, creeks and sound that had provided for them and their families in earlier days.
“Progger” is the term often used to describe resourceful and adaptable individuals weaving seasonal fishing opportunities, with gardens, occasional wildfowl and the rare whale (in earlier days) into opportunistic survival success. Shackleford Banks was also known for boatbuilding.
Jack Dudley (his Harkers Island book), Steve Goodwin (Beyond the Crow’s Nest , rich menhaden fishing history), David Cecelski‘s (posts about a wide variety of regional fishing topics, as well as stories about Dr. Russell Coles at Cape Lookout) and Barbara -Garrity Blake‘s books and interviews about the fishing industry and its history–and otherauthor/researchers–have documented components of this story already–explore their works.
(references or links will be placed at the end of this post).
Earliest History of Back and Core Sound
“Though European explorers visited the area as early as 1524, there was little specific knowledge of that area before the arrival of the first white settlers in the first decade of the eighteenth century. Before settlers arrived, the area was inhabited by the Coree Indians of the Iroquoian family.” (Charles Paul)
Known to be proficient fishermen, artifacts have been found on these Banks dating back five thousand years. In 1585, English explorers found a group of 85 “indians” at the Cape Lookout (the natives called the area “Croatan”).
Mullet Fishery–
There was a menhaden industry with processing plant on Harkers island in 1865 and even a Red Drum fishery exporting to the other colonies in 1709 (Straits and Old Drum Inlet). But the mullet fish crews of the 1800s are also widely known. Collier Cobb, 1908 National Geographic, presented the structures and story of these fishing crews.
Collier Cobb described the camps:
“—-, I have visited hemispherical huts of woven rushes on Cedar Island, Core Banks, Shackleford Banks, …and at the Carrot Island Fishery, about four miles from Beaufort…”
“…it has been in continuous use for more than a score of years. It is not distinctly hemispherical, but it is round at the bottom with vertical walls, and its roof is rather conical than hemispherical. It is twelve feet in diameter and six feet in height. It has a door large enough to crawl through and a fireplace in the center, the smoke escaping by a hole in the apex of the roof. The rushes have been so thoroughly soaked in salt water as to be practically fireproof.”
“——similar lodges were found by the Raleigh voyagers to our shores in 1585, as is shown by John White’s water-color drawings…”–Collier Cobb
War Years–(1861-1865)–
North Carolina found her coast blockaded and ports closed and the principal productions of the immense “Piny Woods” of the Old North State (tar, pitch, turpentine and oils–‘naval stores’) brought to a standstill. The then $40,000,000 annual exports were lost to the region.
Fishing became even more important to the region–shad and herring fisheries in more northern sounds especially.
Harper’s Weekly Reports on Coastal Fishing in 1861–F.C. Salisbury, Cart. News-Ties-Oct. 24, 1961
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/september/albermarle-fisheries.htm
click link for more info
Supporting Industries for Fishing expanded its impact—
Using sink nets (gill nets), haul nets, trawl nets, trotline, gigging, crabbing, oystering, clamming, shrimping and scalloping, fishermen brought seasonal catches to shore–spot, mackerel, trout, blue fish, croak, sea mullet and “venerable” jumping mullet.
Before ice plants, fish were gutted, washed, salted and packed into barrels for marketing–a 100 pound barrel of mullet could be exchanged for 5 bushels of shelled corn from mainland farmers.
On shore, fishing required several spin-off activities—
Boatbuilding–
Shackleford Banks, Straits, and much of Carteret County shoreline was long known for its boatbuilding
Fish Houses —
Industry and busy hands within and accompanied by the” gatherings of older fishermen, telling their yarns and spinning their tales while using their pocketknives to whittle objects of their own creation.”–on fish house porches.
Activity along Taylors Creek included trawlers, by-boats. shrimp boats, the menhaden fleet and multiple fish houses. Captain Pepper’s boathouse had been torn down even before Urban Renewal.
Ways Fish House--opened about 1913–re-established on Front Street in the Holland building after M.C. Holland’s accidental death in 1922–owned and operated by Brady C. Way until his death in 1935. Son, William “Stony” Way managed it till its 1960’s closure.
Suppliers were mostly from Down East and Salter Path–fish sent by rail to Richmond, Washington D.C., Baltimore, and Fulton’s Fish market in N.Y. City.
Davis Seafood Company–
owned by Leslie Davis (after his death, son Charles and nephew, Oliver Davis ran the business). Oliver left to run Davis Fish House in Harkers Island.
Holland’s Fish House–
–M.C.( “Monnie”) Holland’s fish house sent fish and scallops to New York Markets–Gherman Holland later ran a fish house on Gallants Channel, as did Homer Smith (near the site of the prior draw bridge). M.C. Holland served as mayor 1907-1908.
J. H. Potter’s Fish House–
–specialized in shipping to N.Y. markets, especially scallops
Back Landing–
–a cluster of fish houses were located at the west end of Pine Street and along Gallants Channel and Town Creek
As described by Nancy Russell, (The Gam, May 3, 2001), there was a “fish house at every deep water spot”–Danny Glover’s, Jack Parson, Benny Copeland (a clam house), and Con Merrill, along with others.
“By Boats”–
–boats often named for family members (“Johnnie, Eleanore, Varina Callo, J. M. Lewis”)–often seen tied up at Way’s Fish House. The “Josephine” and” Nancy” ‘by boats’ were tied up at the Davis Fish House.
“By Boats” went out to meet boats that had caught the fish and which were then transferred to the ‘by boats”, –iced and brought to the fish market–transfers occurred at Cape Lookout. This preserved the freshness of fish and allowed fishing to continue.
Net Making and Mending–and Supplies
The Mullet Pond Fishery–
Shackleford Banks was settled by fishermen and whalers in the early 1700s—Thomas Anson Lewis was one example, migrating from Chowan about 1760 as a whaler and fisherman. (Bill Lewis documentation) James Lewis, son Charlie and grandson Joe Lane Lewis (1908) of the Mullet Pond area and fishery were descendants.
When Joseph Lewis, Sr. acquired the 450 acre “Mullet Pond Tract” in 1899, he was preceded by Lewis family members present on Shackleford Banks since the 1700s. Thomas Aanson Lewis, Sr. (mentioned above), of the Wades Shore area is thought to be the progenitor of most of the Lewises in eastern Carteret County.
One occasion–“Captain Charlie Lewis and Fred Lewis—caught nearly 100,000 pounds of Cape mullet by two crews hauling in waters near Shackleford—-Charlie and Fred caught 80,000 pounds of that record catch—biggest catch by that method—Gherman Holland, dealer, bought the fish—100 persons were employed to process the catch “(which brought $1,500 to the fishermen).–Jack Dudley
There once were many settlements along Shackleford Banks. Generally, they consisted of only two to four houses each. Creeks determined where people would settle. They lived at the head of these creeks, each of which had six to eight feet of water, deep enough for boats to enter and leave. Usually, they had a landing to pull their boats up at the head of the creek. Of course, they were all sailboats in those days.
The creeks are all gone or very shallow now. The place called Mullet Pond, which can still be found, once had an outlet large enough to float a boat in and out of, but now it too is only inches deep.
(Orlando Phillips interview with Bruce Weber, NPS, Feb. 10. 1980)
The Lewis family at the Mullet Pond was example.
Having Dinner at Home–The Mullet Pond was my first post on this blog. Please check out the story.
“Early Lewises of Carteret County. North Carolina by Robert Glenn Lewis (The Researcher-Spring 1994) outlines his findings of family genealogy.
Joseph Lane Lewis (1855-1937) was the last man off the Banks–according to cemetery documents. He and Serene (Guthrie) were the parents of Charles Lewis.
Family Connections:
Houston Salter, 103 this year and with a newly renewed drivers license, tells me that his mother Foy Lewis was born at the Lewis home alongside the Mullet Pond or Mullet Hole.
James Lewis, boatbuilder, relates the story of Joseph, his ancestor, who hugged onto a tree to avoid washing away and to survive the 1933 storm as he stayed at the family home near the Mullet Pond.
The Mighty Menhaden
Commercial fishing on the Atlantic coast for menhaden dates to colonial times with the first Carteret County menhaden fishery established on Harkers Island in 1865 (lasting only a couple years).
1887 saw 76 manufacturers along the Atlantic Coast, but Steve Goodwin has documented 78 manufacturers in Carteret County alone in the years that followed. The abundant N.C. fall fishery for menhaden made it the county’s largest fish harvest from the waters. Used initially for fertilizer for crops, use evolved to extraction of the oil, fish meal, food for livestock, and bait for fishing.
“black fishermen”—1914 till 1940s—-
“an expression referring to the men who came here from Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark to fish for black sea bass (thick fish, not really large and weighing two or three pounds).”
“During the depression years and even before that, probably from 1914 through the 1940s, boats owned by local seafood dealers were sent out to fish for black sea bass, commonly called black fish. The boats were usually double-ended and had a round bottom.
They were sea-worthy: they had to be since they were comparatively small and went out in the ocean, often in rough weather. The boats were usually from 38 to 42 feet long and were powered by Fairbanks engines. The way they were designed made them safe but also caused them to rock badly.
Each boat carried a captain and at least two others. There were four bunks for sleeping purposes and a wood stove for cooking—always with a bucket of water close in case of fire.”
“The captain kept one eye on his ‘glass’ (barometer) and when it indicated a storm was coming, he said, “Git the anchor”. And they did. ………They fished in deep water off rocks on the bottom of the ocean.”
“It took a lot of fish to fill the boat. Usually the boat stayed out three days, however, if the weather got bad, they went into the Cape.” Such fishing was done locally in winter, with summer fishing done at Cape May, N.J.
Described as “for the most part, small men, very polite, and generally well educated.”, from seafaring communities….very talented men with broad skills, craftsmen, piano players, certified captains, painters—“a hardy lot”.
Jean Day, 1986
Whaling on Shackleford Banks–
The last whale taken along these Banks was in 1916. Beginning in the 1700s, whale stranding and the pursuit of whales along shore, provided a source of income to supplement harvest from gardens, fowl and the waters.
Though some established crews existed for seasonal whaling and many Bankers were involved in the “trying’ or processing, numbers of whales taken may be less than might be imagined (see reference below-Reeves)
Interview: Shackleford Banks–H. Orlandah Phillips
By Bruce Weber
I’m an 80 year old man, but I still remember the tales
my grandmother and others told me about Shackleford Banks. My grandfather, Jim Hancock, was born on Shackleford. How he got there, how anyone got there, I don’t know. But folks had lived there for a long time. In those days, Shackleford was known
as “Cay Banks” and people lived in hamlets along its entire length. They fished and gardened, built boats and hunted whales.
My grandmother was Martha Ruffin Mason. She was familiar with the banks in another way. After the Civil War, her father had been associated as keeper of the Cape Lookout lighthouse. She and her sister Charlotte Ann frequently went to the lighthouse with him to tend the light. In those days the lighthouse ran on lamps, wicks and whale oil and there was always something to do. They sat up in the tower as the light burned at night.
The glass lens in use then was so large that it was possible for both Martha and Charlotte Ann to sit inside it. I remember her telling me that’ on stormy nights, it wasn’t uncommon for birds to break their necks and wings against the lighthouse and afterwards the two girls would gather up the dead birds from along the platform that encircled the top of the lighthouse. Then, sitting inside that lens, they would put the birds on forks, and roast them over the burning wick .Oh, how they looked forward to doing that every fall.
Martha made many trips to the banks as she was growing up. Eventually, she met my grandfather, Jim Hancock, a sharp looking man from the Banks. She said he looked like Gary Cooper. They married, lived on Shackleford for a short time and then left sometime in the 1880’s for Morehead City where they settled in a house in the 1000 block. That’s where I’d visit and hear these tales.
Everyone was gradually moving off the banks then. The sand was blowing, killing the trees and fillng the creeks the people depended on for keeping their boats in . Some people went to Harkers Island, others went to Beaufort. Many people ended up in the area adjacent to Morehead Village called the “Promised Land.” No one really knows why they called i t that. But Morehead was developing, there was a port terminal and many job opportunities.
My grandfather, known to everyone along the waterfront as “Uncle Jim,” was 6 feet 2 inches tall, handsome and an excellent swimmer.
He could even catch and ride sea turtles with his bare hands. He’d go out in a small boat and seeing a turtle in the water would dive for it. The turtle would try to swim
away but my grandfather could follow it down in ten feet of water, grab it by the neck and back, and hold on. If things went right the turtle would hold its head up and swim right to the surface. The turtle couldn’t dive so long as it was held in this
position. Eventually, someone sailed the small boat,
a sharpy, back to my grandfather and they’d haul the t u r t l e aboard. People ate turtles then, even the eggs. They said there was nothing better than turtle cooked with onions and potatoes.
There once were many settlements along Shackleford Banks. Generally, they consisted of only two to four houses each. Creeks determined where people would settle. They lived at the head of these creeks, each of which had six to eight feet of water, deep enough for boats to enter and leave. Usually, they had a landing to pull their boats up at the head of the creek. Of course, they were all sail boats in those days.
The creeks are all gone or very shallow now. The place called Mullet Pond, which can still be found, once had an outlet large enough to float a boat in and out of, but now it too is only inches deep.
I remember the names of most of the settlements. From Beaufort Inlet east you’d come to places called Joe Lewis’ Breakwater, Yellow Hill, Bottle Rum Point, Whale Creek, Wades Shore, Bells Island, Guthries Hammock, The Haulover and finally one they called Diamond City. Diamond City, of course, was a name only. It wasn’t a city; I doubt if there were more than twenty houses there. They didn’t have a school or church.
Diamond City was located right i n the middle of where Bardens Inlet is now.
The people of Shackleford Banks lived in small houses and generally cooked in their fireplaces. Few had stoves. Today if you wander the banks you can find chunks of brick and mortar which probably indicates the s i t e of these early fireplaces. Usually, nearby you can also find stuff used in the kitchens; oyster and clam shells, broken bottles and dishes, and pieces of rusted metal pots.
Forest once extended the entire length of the island; from the lighthouse to Beaufort Inlet. Trees were as high as 75 feet. Where those trees grew, there are, none today; at least not any higher than a man. Something killed the trees, probably sand.
Sand was blowing across the island then. When sand accumulates around the roots of trees, it kills them.
Men once made boats. on the banks and women made the s a i l s . They produced two masted vessels that were 75 feet long which were sold and used down south to haul rice and lumber. The men cut the ribs from the tremendous curved limbs of the live oak trees.
They launched the boats in the creeks. Today, both the forest and the creeks are gone.
As a boy, I remember being told how the old Cape Lookout lighthouse was knocked down. One had been built in 1812. A taller one was put up in 1859, to replace. All during the Civil War the two towers stood side by side until eventually a contract was let to knock the old one down. This is how they did it .
The contractor had beat apart the brick at the base of the old lighthouse until only a few critical key bricks were left supporting the whole structure. When these key bricks were knocked out the whole thing would fall. But who would risk his life to knock out these last few bricks? The contractor said “I’ll give anyone $5.00 to knock them bricks out. If he can run fast, he can run out from under i t before i t falls on him.”
Now a man by the name of Bill Hancock was known locally as the fastest man in the world. Since $5.00 was half a months wages, he agreed to knock out the remaining bricks. Word spread and soon everybody came from all the nearby hamlets to watch Bill risk his life. They carefully measured off the area where they thought the lighthouse would fall and sat nearby on the sand hills so falling bricks wouldn’t hit them. Bill got ready. He took his maul and began to knock out the remaining bricks. He got down to the last, gave a hard swing, turned around and ran. When the old Cape Lookout lighthouse came down and splattered, Bill Hancock was so fast that he was the farthest man away from it.
Whaling on Shackleford Banks—
My grandmother used to tell me tales of whaling on Shackleford Banks. The people of the banks were generally poor and there were few opportunities to earn cash money.
In the fall of the year, they caught mullet which they salted right on the beach and sold or traded to the fish houses in Beaufort. They traded for corn and salt pork and sometimes when these ran out they substituted their diets by eating loons, a large tough bird of the sounds that is now illegal to kill.
In the spring of t h e year, they got money by hunting whales. It was normal for whales to migrate north in April and May and some would end up in the relatively shallow waters off Cape Lookout bight. There, they became easy targets for the whale crews of Shackleford Banks. There were at least six crews, most being located down by the bight.
The practice in those days, was that when a whale was sighted, the six men in each crew would jump into their boats and the whale belonged to whichever crew got to it first. They always set out in at least two boats so that if one boat got into trouble, there was another nearby to help out.
They used a very efficient boat called a pilot boat. It was 21 feet in length, five feet wide and built of 3/4 inch juniper. It was relatively light in weight. They used a lap streak design because it was less likely to leak. The water pressure, pushing against all edges, tightened the boat and bouyed i t up when it went through the surf. It had ribs made out of cedar roots, striped.
The boat was a double-ender, sharp at both ends with the back being a little wider than the front.
Pilot boats were fine boats but there are now none of them still in use around here. In fact, I haven’t seen any in a long time. Sometime people put center boards in these boats and sailed them.
They sailed better than a skiff. However, because they were so light, they couldn’t stand rough use.
Six men rode the boat. Four would row. A man would stand in the head (bow) with the shackle iron and lance and a man in the stern steered. The captain usually steered, and the most dependable man was selected to use the shackle iron.
The men of Shackleford generally only killed the Right whale. They didn’t bother with the humpback or sperm whales because they were scared of them. A sperm whale could come up to a pilot boat and cut it in two, which was very risky for the crew. The number of whales caught in any one season usually
averaged one to the crew but a smart and ambitious crew might get as much as three whales.
Whale oil was the major reason whales were hunted. It was the oil that brought in the big money.
However, baleen, the whalebone out of the mouth of the whale, was also sold. In those days, baleen was used for corset and collar stays, and whale oil fueled lamps throughout the nation.
Here is the way they’d kill a whale.
When a whale boat crew went after a whale they’d try to get close enough to drive a shackle iron into it. The shackle
iron was a harpoon-like device, six inches long on the end of a shaft. When they drove it into the whale it came off the shaft, turned crossways and wouldn’t come out. They then tied it to the boat and wherever the whale went it would pull the boat right along.
At precisely the right time, when the crew thought the whale would surface, they’s haul the line as hard as they could and come up along side the whale. Then they’d pierce it with a long sharp bladed shaft called the lance. They’d aim for the lungs and “cut the lights”, causing the whale to bleed” to death. They knew they’d hit the lungs and the whale was dying when it began to spout blood.
Bringing a dead whale back to shore was no easy task and many people were involved.
Each crew had a small house on the beach where the equipment they rendered the whale with was stored. As soon as the whale was caught, people would set up the big pots and prepare cooking fires. If the whale was killed several miles off-shore, it was often a time consuming task to bring it back. Lines were tied to i t from each boat and the men had to row ashore. Sometime this
took many hours for the whales were often 50 feet long and the small pilot boats could only pull a mile an hour. This is another reason whey they needed two boats. And sometimes, to get the whale in position for butchering, they had to wait for high tide
The people of Shackleford often named individual whales and the one called the “Mayflower” was one my grandmother told me about many times. It gave so much trouble and fought so hard that the story of how that whale was caught spread up and down the banks.
Two boat crews had gone out to catch this whale. It dived and before they knew what was happening, rose up between the two boats. It passed so close with it s body, that it knocked the whole side out of one of the pilot boats causing the entire crew to be in the water. That wasn’t all. One of the men in the remaining boat got so scared that he jumped his full length out into the ocean to get away from this whale. The remaining men in the boat then had to keep him from drowning and at the same time pick up the men from the damaged boat.
Meanwhile, they still had their line in the whale. They eventually pulled up to it when i t rose up from about 25 feet of water and pierced it with the lance. But the bellow was so loud she felt the vibrations of it clear at the lighthouse.
It was one of the biggest days ever on Shackleford Banks and the people talked about it for years afterward.
“Last Whaler”
Dudley relates that Stacy Guthrie (1882-1972) was “last of the whalers” and lived in the house he was born in on Shackleford Banks. Stacy participated in three whale kills and was also a boat builder. He, like others, brought his home with him when he left the Banks.
.
Wonderful Additional Offerings related to Fishing and Community
David Cecelski has documented many viewpoints of local fishing–this link and others in the reference section make for good reads.
Our Coast’s People–Last Daughter of Davis Ridge
https://coastalreview.org/2022/02/our-coasts-people-last-daughter-of-davis-ridge
Terrapin and other Turtles–
Harvest of terrapin was a lucrative resource for a while (click the red link to read more). Other turtles were a favorite harvest for fishermen’s own tables.
The Shark Fishery–
Jack Dudley reminds us of the Shark (“Sharks”)fishing industry——For ages, shark liver oil was a folk remedy to promote healing of wounds. Catching sharks for shark liver oil was a timeless tradition. Specially equipped boats harvested sharks throughout the 1930s and 40s. Nevertheless, in Carteret waters, sharks were more of a nemesis and nuisance than a bounty of nature.”—-“Islanders used the moniker ‘shurkes’ when referring to sharks.”
Russell Coles, based in his houseboat at the Cape, was a famous Shark fisherman and marine researcher.–see David Cecelski’s articles on his website. Teddy Roosevelt fished with Coles.
Clams-Oysters-Scallops—-
Harvest from the marshes and creeks and Back Sound continues even though the camps have been removed from the Banks
https://davidcecelski.com/category/photographs-of-charles-farrell
The link above leads you to David Cecelski’s presentation of regional fishing photos by Charles Farrell–I think you will enjoy these
Danny’s Island–Danny Rose Camp--(an example of a small fishing camp)–
Danny Rose had a little camp built on an island inshore of Shackleford Banks. James Rose remembered his small camp (12′ by 14′ or so) with small boat and nets alongside. “You have bunks in one end of it and a little table or something to sit down to.”
“You wanted it small.”–“You didn’t want to have to heat.”
(CALO History Project–10-008, 2010 –James Rose, Connie Mason)
Camps along Shackleford Banks–
Recreation, mostly personal use and sometimes fishing for sale
Eddie Willis can remember more than 40 camps along Shackleford Banks–his dad, Peter, had a main camp on the eastern end sound side and a fishing cabin on the ocean side across the island. They both have commercially fished, along with enjoying their camp times.
Locals fished nets and raked clams for personal use and supplemented their income by selling their harvest--Emma Rose Guthrie was one example.
Commercial Fishing more recently–
Nancy Russell reminds us: “The life of a fisherman is an uncertain lot because of the dependence upon availability of fish, clams, oysters, crab and shrimp and uncertainty of weather.”
“Most fishermen have come from generations of family members who have been fishermen …the yearn for the sea is in their blood and the desire to be like their father, grandfather, uncle or brother remains strong. Being a person who harvests the sea is a proud way to earn a living.“
“Regulation of Fishing Began Here in the Late 18th Century”
—-More for locals to Navigate—-
October 22, 1784–A Public Act of the General Assembly passed an early act (maybe first commercial fishing law) to give counties authority control sites for fishing. (1955, News-Times, Eric Rodgers)
1823—first real supervision over water resources—— including fish—creation of Office of State Geologist was created
1877—Board of Agriculture was set up and given general supervision over state fisheries. 1887—office of Shellfish Commissioner set up as a branch of the Dept of Agriculture
1895—Chief Inspector of Shellfish replaced the Shellfish commissioner
1901—Oyster Commisssioner appointed
1919—the Fisheries Commission was established
1927—Fisheries commission merged into the Board of Conservation and Development at the Division of Commercial Fisheries
Selected References:
Davis island: The Early Days—by Mark Weir, July 2022—self published–
(documents the recreational fishing experienced along 20th century Core Banks by his family and friends, includes history about ferries and guides )
The National Geographic Magazine, July 1908, Collier Cobb, “Some human Habitations”
(photos and references to turn-of century “mullet camps” on Shackleford Banks and Cedar island)
Beyond the Crows’ Nest—The story of Menhaden Fishery of Carteret Co., by Steve Goodwin—Carteret County’s menhaden history began in 1865—Steve worked on menhaden vessels as a young man-
Brown’s Island Mullet Camp, 1938—by David Cecelski, Vol 20, No. 3: Southern Waters, Southern Cultures, Fall 2014
The Last Daughter of Davis Ridge, David Cecelski, August 29, 2017,
https://davidcecelski.com › tag › davis-ridge-n-c
Shark Hunter: Russel Coles at Cape Lookout, at
https://davidcecelski.com/category/shark-hunter-russell-coles-at-cape-lookout
(friend of Theodore Roosevelt d subject of several additional Roosevelt-Coles pieces found on the David Cecelski site)
Colonial Beaufort: The History of a North Carolina Town, Charles Livingston Paul, May 1965, East Carolina College thesis
(outlines early history of the region and role of fishing)
History of Whaling In and Near North Carolina, Randall R. Reeves and Edward Mitchell, National Marine Fisheries Service, March, 1988—NOAA Technical Report , NMFS65
(comprehensive compilation of findable data regarding the whaling story)
Harkers Island—A Good Place to Live—Jack Dudley’s Cultural Heritage Series—out of print (contains photos and information regarding varieties of local fishing in the 20th century)
Menhaden- A Biologist’s Thirty-Two Year Journey with the Fish and the Fishery, Joseph W. Smith—Palmetto Publishing, Charleston, S.C.
(comprehensive text regarding the role of menhaden and reflecting its local and national importance)
A History of the Menhaden, by G. Brown Goode, American Fisheries, 1880, N.Y.–curator of the National Museum, Asst., U.S. Fish Commission–(earlier history of the fishery)
Living at the Water’s Edge: a Heritage Guide to the Outer Banks Byway, by Barbara Garrity-Blake and Karen Willis Anspacher
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