The Unpleasantness of Fishing

     Throughout the generations of Goose Creek Islanders, commercial fishermen have plied the creeks, rivers, sounds and ocean.  The saltiness in the fishermen expressed the good they saw in their honorable professions of being fishers of men.  In such harsh elements of their work, they witnessed the quietness of sunrises, the beauty of sunsets, porpoises diving in rhythm to the movement of the bow and the mysterious creations that lurked in its depths.
     But in the business of commercial fishing, not all things are pleasant.  With it come the dangers of drastic changes in weather, equipment failures and the unspeakable concern of sinking and possible death.  Sometimes the job of fisherman took on the job of search and rescue and recovery.
     In my search through the Dare County Library Archives for The Coastland Times newspaper, I came across this article in March 1973.  Captain Robbie Mercer had the unpleasant surprise of a dead body in the net of his trawler off the coast of North Carolina.

From The Coastland Times, March 22, 1973