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Mike Lewis. Circa 1940 -1943. Oyster Schooner Pamlico Sound.
Photo courtesy Lewis Family Collection (C) |
My post on
Tuesday about oysters prompted me to do a bit more research about Goose
Creek Island and
our oyster heritage. I am quite certain
many of us have family ties to someone who oystered out in Pamlico
Sound and River. I came across some old photo negatives recently
that belonged to my grandfather Mike Lewis.
I was able to get them scanned and to my amazement, it was pictures of
him, Leo Ireland, Corbett Ireland
and others working in Pamlico Sound on what he called an
oyster schooner. Some the pictures
showed them docked in Washington, N.C. I would assume these pictures were taken in
the 1940 – 1943 era, as my grandfather enlisted in the Civilian Conservation
Corps in the fall of 1939 to September 1940.
He then entered military service in 1943.
Viewing the
photos and reading historical documentation prompted me to explore our
19th and 20th century history of the oyster fishery in Pamlico
Sound. Reading a research
paper about the “Oyster Wars” transported me back to the grand old days of sail
and the boom of many coastal towns such as Washington,
New Bern and Elizabeth
City. There is no doubt that many Goose
Creek Island
watermen were affected by the economics and the controversies that occurred in the
late 1880’s and early 1890’s.
Pamlico
Sound, a saltwater wonderland for fish and oysters, hugs the
shores of Goose Creek Island. The 1,860 square miles of water has been a
primary source of income and support for all of our ancestors. Before the days of the Civil War, the seafood
industry was normally confined to the locals who lived along the edges of the Sound. The locals would travel up river to farmers
and merchants and trade oysters or fish for produce, corn and other goods.
But after the
Civil War, consumer demand for seafood changed.
New inventions in transportation and harbor dredging projects ushered
in more boats, easier access to wharfs and increased trade in commodities such
as tobacco and cotton. With these newer,
more modern conveniences, the oyster and seafood industry started to gain
importance. Of course, with any increase
in trade and free enterprise, the new industry brought its share of
controversies and greed. And with
controversies, the new oyster trade ushered in the first environmental
awareness of preserving the oyster stocks and eventually the first government
regulations on fishermen in the state.
In the 1880’s, Chesapeake
Bay was the primary source for oyster harvests on the Eastern
Seaboard. When their oyster beds were
virtually depleted by overfishing, the shucking houses or canneries in Baltimore
and other major cities found themselves in need of product to continue
operations. Maryland alone had
harvested more than 10 million bushels of oysters in 1880.
The cannery
operations began looking South into North Carolina
to keep their businesses open. The
canneries sent “buy boats” into Pamlico Sound to
purchase oysters. This new business of
oystering heightened a new economy in the depressed, rural shorelines of the
Sound. Oysters reigned supreme with town
officials in Washington, New
Bern and Elizabeth
City. The new commodity was producing jobs, wealth
and progress in their towns; more money for locals meant more spending in the
mercantile's.
However, the
natural abundance of the bi-valve in Pamlico Sound also
became the source of conflict among locals, government leaders and the
“out-of-staters”. Locals had
historically harvested their oysters by hand, rake or with tongs. The new out-of-staters, with their state of
the art oyster dredges, scooped up tons of oysters each day. The locals
couldn’t compete with this new gear and the efficient two or three masted
schooners.
The local watermen began to question the
validity of their rights to the public oyster beds. Tensions rose between the local native oyster
tongers and the wealthy, cannery operated oyster dredgers. By the late 1880’s, the General Assembly had debated
the oyster issue during several sessions.
In 1887, it was apparent that the state government had to respond to the
controversy and thus enacted the first regulations on the commercial harvest of
oysters.
The new laws were
designed to allow the local watermen to harvest in private oyster beds. Anybody could claim a 10 acre plot of oyster
bottom “for perpetuity” for a fee of 25 cents per acre. The new law also allowed 640 acre plots of
oyster bottom in waters over 8 feet deep.
Only dredging was permitted in the deep water plots. Prior to this enactment, Francis Winslow, a
naval surveyor had just completed a report for the state government, reporting
that Pamlico Sound and other tributaries had an abundant
and virtually untapped supply for oyster harvesting. The report and the new laws did nothing but
create more hostilities. The locals
couldn’t compete with the wealthy canneries and out-of-staters, and basically
the whole Sound was monopolized by them.
This shoved the local watermen even more out of the oyster fishery.
The unlimited potential to lay claims on
oyster plots escalated with the out-of-staters and canneries. Soundside towns suddenly became "boom towns". Prosperity came to Washington, Belhaven, and
Elizabeth City,
as the out-of –staters built cannery operations in those towns which provided
much needed jobs and brought money into the community.
Accusations began
to swirl in the sound country of illegal poaching operations on oyster plots, fraud,
and violent hostilities between local watermen and the “oyster pirates”. The local watermen began to pressure their
state representatives for relief. In
1889, the oyster laws were revised and limited only North
Carolinian's to the use of oyster dredges. County
Sheriff’s were to enforce the new
rule. For a variety of reasons, most
county officials did not enforce them and much to the dismay of the local
watermen, the out-of-state oyster dredgers continued their “poaching”
operations.
If there ever was
time in North Carolina history
that “the little man’s” voice was heard in state government, it was heard in
1890. State Senator W.H. Lucas of Hyde
County heard the passionate pleas
from his constituents in rural Hyde, Beaufort, and Pamlico
Counties. He skillfully garnered support among fellow
representatives and senators to protect the local, native watermen of the State and began
his quest to outlaw dredging for oysters in North
Carolina’s public waters.
The oyster debate
in Raleigh prompted the wealthy
canneries to hire lobbyists, thus the lobbyists and cannery owners pressured
the local town officials to support the economic prosperity their businesses
had brought into the towns. In January 1891, an act
to promote and protect the oyster interests of the state passed in the General
Assembly. The new law authorized the Governor to use military force, if needed,
to remove the out-of-state oyster dredgers from the oyster beds in Pamlico
Sound. Before Governor
Daniel G. Fowle (a native of Washington N.C.)
signed the bill into law, he assembled a regiment of the N.C. State Guard for
he knew enforcement would be difficult, if not hostile and/or violent.
Governor Fowle called up the Pasquotank Rifles
out of Elizabeth City
and armed the state patrol boat Vesper with
ammunition and a Howitzer gun. Once the
patrol boat was stationed in Pamlico Sound, the Governor
signed the bill into law in January 1891.
North Carolina watermen
and the Governor meant business about its oysters. The patrol boat and the state guard were
instructed to arrest or even blow out of the water, any dredgers who were found
violating the new law. During the Vesper’s three month patrol of the
Sound, only one vessel, its captain and crew were arrested and brought to
trial.
In March 1891,
new, comprehensive legislation was created to protect the local, native
watermen of North Carolina. For the first time, all watermen who participated
in the oyster fishery were required to purchase a license. The harvest season was established from
October to May, and the state’s first conservation measures to preserve oyster
stocks were enacted. Even State Senator W.H. Lucas of Hyde
County was appointed to be the
state’s first oyster commissioner.
Since the days of
the “oyster wars” much has changed in Pamlico Sound. Long gone are the days of the sailing
schooners or sharpies working under sail.
Long gone are the exciting and adventurous days of young Island
men traveling up the Pamlico River
to the bustling wharves of Washington. But most importantly, long gone are the days
of the “oyster pirates” who almost decimated one North
Carolina and Goose Creek
Island’s most valuable
fishery. If the harvesting had been left
“unchecked” and unregulated, today the oyster could have been nothing more than
a story for the history books.
Today, water
quality is the primary culprit to our decline of the oyster. Freshwater and storm water run-off have drained
into our estuaries. Few watermen still continue minor dredging operations. The oyster fishery has now become nothing
more than a winter time supplement to their main income of crabbing. But when the wind starts to blow cold out of the
northeast, nothing is more inviting to a Goose Creek Islander than a table full
of steamed oysters. It’s funny how an
ugly old bi-valve could cause a “war”.
But what is even more interesting, is this ugly old bivalve can be the
reason for a gathering and a celebration on a cold winters night.
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Unknown fisherman on deck of oyster schooner. Washington NC. Circa 1940-1943
Photo courtesy Lewis Family Collection (C) |
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Corbett Ireland on oyster schooner. Circa 1940-1943
Photo courtesy Lewis Family Collection (C) |
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Oystering in Pamlico Sound. Circa 1940-1943
Photo courtesy Lewis Family Collection (C) |
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| Jonah Lewis Oyster License issued October 1917. Jonah J. Lewis Collection (C) |
References and Sources:
Chapter 338, An Act to Promote and Protect the Oyster Interests of the State, Laws of North Carolina, 1891.
The More Things Change...: Oysters, Public Policy, and Species Decline in the Pamlico Sound, 1880-1900, Kathleen S. Carter, High Point University.
Photos from the Lewis Family Collection (C).
Oyster License from the Jonah J. Lewis Collection (C).
