The Oyster War of Pamlico Sound

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 19^th and 20^th 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.    

Unknown fisherman on deck of oyster schooner. Washington NC. Circa 1940-1943
Photo courtesy Lewis Family Collection (C)

Corbett Ireland on oyster schooner. Circa 1940-1943
Photo courtesy Lewis Family Collection (C)

Oystering in Pamlico Sound. Circa 1940-1943
Photo courtesy Lewis Family Collection (C)

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).