t'\ UNC Sea Grant February, 1984

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Photo bv Geile Furr N.C- Trcvel and Tourism photo

Towns

that were Portsmouth church steeple (left); Portsrnouth frorn above (right)

Towns with names like Exeter, Old Town Point, and a trading center. But a nearby town, first called Brunswick Town, Charles Town and Buffalo City Newton, then Wilmington, grew to overshadow once dotted the maps of coastal North Carolina. Brunswick Town. Towns whose only link to the present is a crumbling Hurricanes, politics and a lack of commerce caused wall, an abandoned house, an excavation. a recollec- the demise of several coastal towns and villages. tion. State and county histories tel1 us about their fate. The Roanoke Island colony may be North But two Carteret County communities, deserted Carolina's most famous abandoned settlement. But during the twentieth century, are still fresh in the other towns have fiourished and then died. Bruns- minds of a few former inhabitants. This month. wick Town, established on the shores of the Cape Fear Coastwatcft takes a look at Portsmouth Village and River in 1728, was envisioned as a seat of government Diamond City. Chronicle of a seaport village

Portsmouth Village is quiet now. historic district has been part of the of Portsmouth in Ocracoke In1et. But its history tells the story of a once- National Park Service's Cape Lookout served as a lightering station. Ships bustling community. Of a town that National Seashore since 1976 when the arriving at Ocracoke Inlet had their was established as a transshipment state turned deeds to the property over cargoes lightered to the island's point, fiourished for a while, then to the federal government. warehouses where the goods were finally failed. Of a town whose resi- Like so many coastal towns, stored until they could be sent inland. dents managed to keep their village Portsmouth's existence depended on By 1759, Portsmouth Village was alive for another century. Of a town an inlet. In the days when Ocracoke experiencing the perils of modern Valentine which, even today. folks still refuse to Inlet was kind to seafarers' Ports- growth. A tavern o\\'ner. ri'ith permitting call deserted. mouth prospered. Old records indicate Wade, was charged playing Portsmouth Island is the northern- that the North Carolina colonial dancing, drinking and card in most strip of land in Core Banks. The legislature authorized the village in his tavern on SundaS's. years. went village lies on the tip of that island just 1753 as a point where ships' cargoes For many the tinY town War across the inlet from Ocracoke. could be lightered ashore for shipment unnoticed. The Rer-olutionary The Today, Portsmouth Village is Part to the mainland. barely touched Portsmouth. of the National Register of Historic Portsmouth owed much of its com- census of 1790 lists 96 free white males, Places. The Register recognizes out- mercial success to a tiny neighboring 92 |ree white females and 38 siaves. standing historic buildings and dis- island composed entirely of oyster The leading citizen. David Wallace Jr., tricts. The 250-acre Portsmouth shells. Shell Castle Island, to the west owned 16 slaves and had tr.vo houses in the vi1lage. By 1810. u'ith a population of 246. Portsmouth q'as the second largest town on the Outer Banks. ocRAcoKE\. By 1860, Portsmouth Village and nearby Shel1 Castle Island boasted a population of nearl5r 600 residents. The village included about 100 houses, a church. severai ta\-erns. warehouses,

PORTSMOUTH ISLAND

-coREBANKS

SHACKLEFORD BANKS

rnap pinpointin! the location of Portsrnouth and Shacklefotd Banks Village post office shipbuilding yards and a post office. the mainland. A lifesaving station the Park Service reminds that it's not But then came the Civil War. This provided jobs for some residents from easy to get there. You can reach the war. Portsmouth didn't fare as well. 1897 until 1938 when it was closed. In island by way of two concessioners During the Iirst year, Confederate 1943. the doors to the one-room who operate ferries from Ocracoke and troops were stationed at Portsmouth. schoolhouse closed for good. The post from Cedar Island. Or. you can take But as the Yankees pressed further office, opened in 18,10. finally closed in your own boat to the island. South. the rebel soldiers withdrew and 1959 rvhen permanent residents num- Patton adds that the management most of the inhabitants f ollowed. bered less than 15. plan for the island doesn't call for mak- Legend has it that only one Ports- With the death of Henry Pigott. the ing it any easier to get there. He says mouth resident stuck it out-by island's last male resident, in 1971, the the Park Service is protecting the necessity. Supposedly. she was so fat last two women left for the mainland island by having limited access. that she couldn't fit through her door. (see page 4). If you do plan a trip to Portsmouth, According to the legend, the Yankee Portsmouth stands now-the tou/n be prepared. says Portsmouth district soldiers were kind to her. with no people. But. the village hasn't ranger Dick Williams. Flardy mos- Some say it was the Civil War that been ignored. Since 1978, the National quitoes, 99 percent humidity and no doomed Portsmouth. Others blame a Park Service has '"vorked to stabilize water-just a few of the things you'I1 major hurricane in 1933. Or. maybe the condition of the buildings. Some of be up against. Williams advises there just weren't any jobs. Whatever the houses recei'u,ed a f resh coat of visitors to take insect spray, wear long the reason, only a fraction of the paint and new cedar shake roofs. pants and a long-sleeve shirt. and take villagers returned after the war and Bob Patton, the interpretive along a supply of water. the population steadily declined. By specialist with tire National Park Ser- Patton adds that for all the discom- 1870 the population was 323. Just ten vice, says that while Portsmouth forts, it's well worth the trip. "It looks years later. that number had dropped Village dates back to 1753, there is and feels just as it once did. And the by another hundred. very little evidence of the early years. challenge of getting to Portsmouth Those residents who remained con- The oldest house still standing is the makes the visitor more appreciative of tinued to depend on the sea for their Washington Roberts hc.ruse, built what it must have been like vears livelihood. But storms destroyed around 1850. ago." says Patton. houses and more residents moved to While thc village is open to visitors. Davis -Nancy Natiottal Park Serr:ce ploto

Class of 1916 Children with familiar Ports- mouth narrtes like Salter, Babb, Gil{o and Dixon pose f or their class portrait. After the turn of the century, the number o{ school- a{ed children on the island s/ead- ily declined. A new school was built in the 1920s. but its doors closed for the last tirne in 1943. Portsmouth: a town without people

National Park Service Photo Portsmouth Village may have seen its better days, but it's far from dead. Ask its residents-well, former residents. They've left their village, but they haven't deserted it, they say. Consider Marion Babb. She was one of the last children born on Portsmouth Island. That was in L922 .r .s *p' when there was still some life left in the already ';*r..S declining village. But, even then, Portsmouth was breathing its last breaths. ln L971, Babb and her aunt moved to the mainland, the last permanent residents to leave the seaport village. But their home stands today, freshly painted, yard mowed, ready for their return. Babb points to a color photo of the old homeplace and says, "That's home. And it'll never be anything but home." Although the National Park Service controls the land and buildings on Portsmouth Island, Babb main- tains a lease on her house. For her and others like her, it's more than sentiment that draws her back. "I wish I could go back and stay forever-the quiet, no telephones," she says. Babb remembers the good life. It was a time when all the young folks on the island would have candy parties or ice cream parties. Or, they'd play a little canasta, dominoes or chinese checkers. She remembers having all the necessities plus a lit- tle more. A wooden tank held 1,600 gallons of water, a generator provided light and, in later years, they had a gas stove. Most of the homes had outdoor toilets as well as outdoor cooking houses, called summer kitchens, for cooking in hot weather. And, even Henry Pigott at about 14 Photo b: Steve Morra;.

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Former Portsrnoutlr residenfs clairn the fertile island rnars.hes produce the best oysfers in the world "Portsntouth is rnore of a state of mind. It's the love the poeple have for the village that rcaIIy fteeps it go- in{." -Margaret Willis though she's living on the mainland now with the lux- With the death of Henry Pigott, Babb and her aunt ury of electricity, Babb still refuses to give up her were alone on the island. When they decided to pack kerosene lamps. up and leave in 1971, Portsmouth was a village Once a month, a minister came from Ocracoke to without a population. preach in the little church next to Babb's house. Even But then Margaret Willis adopted the village as her the mail came to the island until the post office closed home. From L974 to 1977, she was the lone inhabitant in the 1950s. Then, it was up to the island's last male of the village. Her home-the one-room schoolhouse. resident, Henry Pigott, to row out into the channel to Her only companion-a dog. pick up the mail. Margaret likes to tell a story of how she enjoyed all The Portsmouth residents were a mail order the niceties of home at Portsmouth. She had coal for society, says Bob Patton, interpretive specialist with her stove, an inside toilet, a tub, and water in the the National Park Service. The islanders placed or- cistern. Tiring of being alone, she left to visit her ders, then waited weeks for their goods to arrive. parents in Ocracoke. She arrived about the same time Local lore has it that Henry Pigott ordered paint, in a as a snow and ice storm. "There I was with no heat, no buff color, from the Sears catalog. When it arrived lights. I had left all the luxuries of Portsmouth weeks later, the package contained pink paint instead. behind." Rather than returning it, then waiting for it to arrive Margaret was married on Portsmouth Island and again, Pigott settled for pink. And that was the color her daughter, Caroline, was baptized there. These his house stayed until the Park Service restored it to days, she's living in Sea Level, but she still holds a its original buff color several years ago. lease on a house in the village. Charles McNeill, Director of the Hampton Margaret describes the allure of Portsmouth Mariners Museum, likes to tell a story about his Village: "It's the peace, not necessarily being alone," friend Henry Pigott. It seems that a magazine repor- she says. She was frightened only once in her three ter from New York was writing a story about Ports- years on the island. She opened the door of the mouth. McNeill showed her around the island and in- schoolhouse one night to let her dog outside. "It was troduced her to Pigott. like looking into a black hole. There was no moon, no The reporter began to criticize Pigott's lifestyle on stars. I couldn't see anything. I felt like I was in the the island, telling him he was crazy to live among all middle of a void. I closed the door and for the very the mosquitoes, with no electricity and no running first time, I locked it." water. While Margaret lived on the island, the Park Ser- Pigott thought for a moment, then replied that he vice paid her $2.50 a day for serving as a volunteer. had done some traveling. He had even been to New She watched for vandals and mowed the grass at York. And, he had seen all the modern innovations. about half the village houses. Then, says McNeill, Pigott paused and added, "And, Money wasn't important on Portsmouth, says I'm not sure which one of us is crazy." Such is the at- Willis. "It's amazing how little you need." She es- titude of a true Portsmouth villager. timates it took her about $150 a month to live. And, if Babb says the mainlanders are soft. "It can get aw- she were a seafood lover, her cost of living would have ful hot and the mosquitoes are bad. But they're bad been considerably less, she adds. here, too (in Beaufort). I never put a bit of bug spray Folks with ties to Portsmouth are sensitive to the on me. Those park rangers-well, I tell them they're labels that have been attached to the village. "People timid," she says. can call it abandoned or deserted, but it's not dead un- Babb scoffs at those who want to know what it was til it's forgotten. Portsmouth is more of a state of like to live on Portsmouth during Hurricane Hazel. mind. It's the love the people have for the village that "$f616s-r67ell, I was there through most all of them really keeps it going. The Park Service can paint the we had. 1944 was the worst one. It was a hurricane buildings and restore as much as they can. But, it's and I mean a bad one. There were ten-and-a-half in- the love of the descendents that will hold it together," ches of water in the house. But everybody wants to says Willis. know about HazeLIt wasn't bad at a11." -Nancy Davis The abandoned communities of And just as Blackbeard used Cape Lookout's bay to harbor his crew, other privateers and pirates used the sheltered bay. To stop such use, several of North Carolina's royal governors appealed to the Shackleford crown for money to construct a fort at the cape. But all pleas were ignored. ln L777, the Continental Con- gress considered building defenses at the cape. Again Banks the consideration amounted to only talk. But a spunky Frenchman, Captain de Cottineau de Kerloguen, finally made the fort a reality in 1778. Cottineau, bound for the colonies in an armed frigate, The Cape. Diamond City. Sam Windsor's Lump. met with a chase from several ships of the British Wade's Shore. Whale Creek. Guthrie's Hammock. Royal Navy. To evade his pursuers, Cottineau sailed huts Mullet Pond. into Cape Lookout Bay, assuming the whalers' him The names of these communities ring with the were part of a colonial fort that could offer protection. sound of fiction and fantasy. But, in fact, they were find no fortress at the once as real as Beaufort and Wilmington are today. Cottineau was dismayed to historian These communities dotted the shores of Shackleford cape, says William Pohoresky, a Newport Banks before the turn of the century. And families and writer. To remedy that oversight, Cottineau with names like Lewis, Davis, Guthrie, Chadwick, quickly wrote the North Carolina General Assembly, plans near the Willis, Rose, Wade and Moore eked out an existence informing them of his to build a fort to Cape along their shores, often battling the vagaries of the whalers' huts, which overl.ooked the entrance sea. Lookout Bay. But it was the sea that drew people to settle With the help of the men from his frigate, Cot- On 23, 1778, the Shackleford's shores around 1700. Whales, which were tineau began to build the fort. April the for- common in the waters off Cape Lookout, attracted North Carolina General Assembly authorized provided Shackleford's earliest settlers. But the bank's first tification of Cape Lookout Bay and 5,000 pay outfit- whalers never left the shore to make their catch. They pounds to for the construction. Cottineau depended on beached whales for their livelihood, ted the fort with guns from his frigate because arms wrote Lawson in his 1714 history of North were scarce. The fort was called Fort Hancock after John land Carolina. They used no boats or harpoons like their Enoch Hancock, the man who owned the the northern neighbors. whaling village and fort were built upon. sailed on to But northern whalers soon ventured south to teach After completion of the fort, Cottineau play larger role in history. He and his frigate fought their counterparts a few whaling lessons. They lived in a crude huts built between the dunes during whaling at the side of John Paul Jones and the Bonhomrne naval where season. When a whale was sighted, they shoved off in Richard in that famous battle Jones ut- their whaling boats, using harpoons to make the kill. tered, "I have not yet begun to fight." Eventually some of these whalers decided to move No one knows whether Fort Hancock ever saw any their families to Shackleford. The Chadwick family Revolutionary War action, but on May 4, 1780, the along coastal North Carolina are descendents of a state senate ordered the "colors" to be lowered over northern whaling family that moved south. the fort. Nothing remains of the fort today. Only On early maps of North Carolina, the whaling through colonial histories can its existence be traced. village at Shackleford was called Whaler's Hutts. It After the war, the Shackleford Bankers continued would be another century before the village would be to depend on the sea for their livelihood. Though named Diamond City. But Shackleford Banks may not have been pop- ulated entirely with whalers. Beaufort historian Grayden Paul says that North Carolina's most famous pirate, Edward Teach or Blackbeard as he was more commonly called, may have left some of his marauders on Shackleford Banks in 1718. Paul says that Teach left one boat in need of repairs in Cape Lookout Bay, while he traveled to Edenton for his yearly rendezvous with Governor Eden. The plan called for Teach to pick up the boat and crew on his way south. But Teach was captured and killed. Paul says the crew decided to give up their pirating ways and settle down on Shackleford Banks. Launching the boat Ior a niShttime rescue whaling was limited to four months a year, it provided Lighthouse board authorized a taller tower, which was the Bankers with a profitable income. One whale completed in 1859 and built of red brick. It would be could yield from $1,000 to $2,000 in whalebone and sixteen years before the lighthouse was painted in its oil. The oil was used as fuel for lamps. The bone was now familiar black-and-white diamond pattern. Dia- shaped into corsets, dress hoops and umbrella ribs. mond City was named for the diamond-patterned The remainder of the whale was sold for fertilizer. Cape Lookout lighthouse in whose shadow it stood. The Bankers also caught porpoises for processing in But even the beams of the lighthouse couldn't save a small factory that was located on Shackleford the crew of the Crissie Wright, which ran aground just Banks. Like the whales, the porpoises yielded large off Wade's Shore on a cold January night in 1886. The quantities of oil that could be used to fuel lamps. Crissie Wright, a schooner bearing a crew of seven The mullet fishery proved to be profitable for the men and a cargo of phosphate, was sailing for her Bankers. The Cape Lookout Bight formed a natural home port of New York City when she was caught in a trap that supplied the banker fishermen with an abun- blistery southwester. The captain decided to take dance of mullet and other fish. Salted mullet became a refuge from the storm in Cape Lookout Bay. But as specialty that made the Bankers famous all along the the schooner approached the hook of the cape, the East coast. They took special care in cleaning, salting wind shifted and pushed the vessel into the shore. and packing the mullet. The Crissie Wright was broached larboard side-to While Cape Lookout became noted for its abun- and taking on water fast when the captain gave the dance of fish, it also garnered less favorable recogni- order for the crew to lash themselves to the mast and tion as a treacherous shoreline. And added to the riggings. During the night the wind shifted to the danger of the shoals was the fact that the profile of the northeast and the temperature dropped to eight land was so low that even in clear weather a ship degrees above zero. might be on the shoals before the captain realized his At daybreak the wreck was sighted from shore. The vessel was close to land. Bankers quickly gathered and made numerous at- To aid mariners in their navigation of the cape, tempts to launch their whaling boats into the surf. Congress authorized the erection of a lighthouse. The But stiff winds and l0-foot waves pushed the boats lighthouse was completed in 1812 and consisted of two back at every attempt. towers, one brick and the other wooden. The wooden A huge bonfire was built to keep the rescuers warm building was painted in red-and-white horizontal and to signal the men on the Crissie Wright that ef- stripes. forts were being made to save them. But it would be Mariners soon found fault with this lighthouse, say- the next day before the winds calmed and a rescue ing its structure was too short to make its light visible could be accomplished. By then, all but one of the for long distances at sea. In answer to complaints, the Continued on next page crew had frozen to death or been swallowed by the sea. And even today when the temperature drops and the northeast winds begin to howl in Carteret County, folks can be heard saying, "It's gonna get colder than the time the Crissie Wright went ashore." After the tragedy for the Crissie Wright, the need for a life-saving station became apparent. A station was begun in 1887 and completed in 1888 on Core Banks. With the appraoch of the twentieth century, the Bankers began to see a change in their island environ- ment. Two hurricanes swept across Shackleford and Core Banks in 1878. In 1879, a hurricane packing winds of 168 miles per hour, lashed the North Carolina coast. In a report of the 1879 hurricane, it was written that "on the Outer Banks the storm caused great destruction at Diamond City . . ." The thick maritime forest, which covered much of Shackleford and Core Banks, began dying from the ef- fects of the storms. The sand began creeping over the dunes and killing much of the underbrush. Soon vegetables refused to grow and the fruit trees began dying. In 1897, three more hurricanes hit the coast. But the last straw came in 1899 when a slow-moving The diamond-patterned Cape Lookout Lighthouse August hurricane whirled its way up the Outer Banks, bringing with it 120- to 140-mile-per-hour winds. plank, to Harkers Island and The Promised Land, an Several houses along Shackleford Banks were area of Morehead City. Yet another hurricane destroyed; others were severely damaged. Many of ravaged the banks in October, 1899. Only a few the Banker's cattle and sheep drowned. families remained on Shackleford after the 1899 After this hurricane, many Bankers moved their hurricanes and all of these would eventually move families, belongings and their homes, plank by awaY' Hart their -Kathv

A look back at life on the Banks

Ninety-one-year-old Alan Moore, three months each year during the available. And fish and seafood were Uncle Alan to his friends, remembers summer. There was no resident readily available and free for the tak- Diamond City and the communities of teacher, minister or doctor. "They ing. The Bankers ate oysters, clams, Shackleford Banks first hand. Moore doctored with herbs and Indian cure- crabs, mullet and other fish. Shackle- was born on Shackleford Banks, three a1ls," she says. ford women were known as excellent to four miles west of Diamond City. Social life and entertainment were seafood cooks, Davis says. He lived there for twenty years before limited, says Lillian Davis, a Harkers Besides seafood. the Bankers had moving to Harkers Island. Island native. Davis has compiled a small gardens where they grew collard Moore remembers Diamond City as local history of Shackleford Banks. greens, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes a tightly clustered group of homes and During summer the families often and onions. They also owned pigs, a few stores. "There were about 35 or walked to the beach on moonlit nights, cows, sheep and goats. 40 houses," he says. "You could stand she writes. The adults talked among Marcus Hepburn, a sociologist and in the door of one house and talk with themselves, while the children played former Sea Grant researcher, says the all of your neighbors." tag in the surf. On summer Sundays, Bankers ate a wide variety of birds and A community house was used for people came from the mainland to waterfowl. Hepburn spent two years church gatherings and school. Nettie church services and revival meetings. living on Harkers Island, delving into Murrill, a Morehead City resident Like the pioneers who settled the the history and sociology of the island whose family lived on the banks for west, the Bankers survived by learning residents. Many islanders told Hep- generations, says school was held for how to "make do" with what was burn of their family histories, which m ffit,,.@

Kath; Hart ,$ _, t$ ., 6 $

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Frotn his Harkers Island honte, Alan Moore points to his native "Banks"

and then beat into small pieces for always stationed at the head of the brewing. boat; another at the stern. Once the ;: , Moore remembers how the lush harpoons were fired and the whale maritime forest, thick with cedars, began its struggle for life, the crew and oaks and pines, once covered the boat were always in danger of being island. The Bankers' homes, built from struck by the whale's lashing tail. forest timbers or wreck lumber, sat on After a kill was made, the whale was stilts that lifted them off the ground. pulled to shore. Huge chunks of blub- Hepburn says the Bankers piled empty ber were cut from the whale and taken .is clam and oyster shells beneath their to a board where they were sliced into houses to prevent the wind from cup- smaller pieces. The small pieces were ping under the house during storms. cooked in iron pots to release their oil. more often than not included a relative And no talk of Diamond City would The oil was skimmed from the surface from Shackleford Banks. be complete without mention of whal- of the boiling pot. The cooked blubber "They ate loons and a bird they ing. The Bankers grouped together in was removed from the Pot, squeezed called a teetee bird, which was some crews for whaling season, which lasted for its last drop of oil, and thrown in kind of sparrow, " Hepburn says. from Christmas until April. One crew the pot's fire for fuel. This process was "They ate robins. I've often heard member kept a constant watch for the called "trying out" the whale and it they prepared a dish called'rice and giant mammals from a "crows nest" could take from one to two weeks to robins. "' established on the tallest dune. complete. For drinking water, the people of When a whale was sighted, a crew of The Bankers liked to name the Shackleford Banks built wells by sink- six to eight men would run into the whales they killed. One whale caught ing two or three large pork barrels into surf carrying their 22-foot whale boat, in May was donned Mayflower. the ground, Moore says. They dipped or pilot boat as it was called. The pilot Another was named "The Little the water out with a long stick which boats were light-weight, sturdy vessels Children" because it was captured by had a bucket at the end. with lapstraked hulls. Once in the a group of young boys. And for lack of The Bankers sold salted mullet and water, the pilot boats were propelled good name, one whale received the ti- whale oil to buy necessities such as by oars and sails. tle of "Haint Bin Named Yet." cloth, flour and coffee. Moore says the The whalers used harpoons and har- Moore says he made one whaling coffee was bought green. It had to be poon guns to make their kill. The most trip with his father, but didn't enjoy parched in an iron pot over a low fire accurate man with the harpoon was Continued on next page N.C. Archives and History photo the activity. "As iong as I could see the whale I was satisfied," Moore says. "But I was scared when the whale went under because you didn't know where it was going to surface." Some say the whaling activities of the Bankers have been overglamo- rized. And indeed it was just one of the ways the Bankers made their living. Moore says he ran fish to market and raised sheep to sustain himself. The sheep ran free on the island and were rounded up each summer for shearing, Moore says. The fine silky wool was sold to Leaksville Woolen Mil1s, out- side ol Charlotte, where it was woven into blankets. But Murrill says the poor Banker One whale yielded as rnuch as in oil and bone families could not afford to own sheep. $2,000 She remembers her uncle saying that when a poor family needed wool for socks the mother would send her a * children to chase a few sheep through ; the briars. "Some of the sheep's wool ! would snag on the briars, where it L, could be collected for weaving," Murrill says. Before Barden's Inlet was carved by / a 1933 hurricane, Bankers could walk f rom Shackleford to Core Banks. Moore says a storm caught him and his father by surprise while they were crabbing along Core Banks. Strong winds and a frothy sound forced the pair to walk home. They walked 17 [- miles, passing the lighthouse and Dia- mond City, before reaching home, Moore says. "Mama was standing out in the rain watching for us when we came into sight," he says. "I've never seen anyone happier to see two bodies than Mama was to see us that night." I Hart Divine Guthrie, a Shackleford boatbuilder, near the turn of the century -Kathy

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"The Back Page" is an update versity of North Carolina at Chapel County Community College in on Sea Grant activities-on Hill and coordinator for UNC Sea Washington. Experienced shedders research, matine education and Grant's coastal studies research, was will be on hand to tell fishermen about advisory se.rvrces. If 's a/so a $ood also elected to the board. their successful shedding methods. The place to find out about meetin$s, workshop will include discussions on workshops and new publications. blue crab biology, peeler identification, any of harvesting methods, facility design For more information on Ji* Bahen, a Sea the projects descrrbed, contact the Grant marine advisory and marketing. Fishermen will find get into the Sea Grant olfices in RaleiPh agent at Ft. Fisher. is out what it costs to potential (919/737-24s4). testing an excluder trawl business and what the return for shrimping. Working is. with a local shrimper The fee for the workshop is $5 in ad- vance and at the door. For a com- tougher than who has agreed to use $6 Whrt'. plete agenda and a registration form, a pier piling made out of the trawl, Bahen will compare the write Murray, UNC Sea Grant, steel and covered with catch results from the excluder trawl Jim 105 1911 Building, North Carolina Spencer with those of a standard trawl. concrete? University, Box 8605, Raleigh, Rogers, Sea Grant's An excluder trarvl has two tailbags State N.C.27695-8605 or call (919) 737- coastal engineering and a mesh panel in the belly of the specialist, says the net. As the trawl is dragged along, the 2454. answer is plastic. catch enters the mouth of the net. The Rogers says a new method of con- shrimp will pass through the mesh of structing piles for piers and marina the panel and into the main tailbag. Do yo., need a new docks uses a PVC pipe as a casing that Bycatch, such as fish, jellyfish and engine for your shrimp is filled with concrete reinforced with crabs, will strike the panel and be trawler, but you can't steel. forced into the other tailbag, which decide what to buy? At- While the initial cost is slightly can be left open so that the fish can tend the North Carolina higher than concrete construction, pass back into the water. Commercial Fishing Rogers says the iong-term cost is The excluder trawl is designed to ex- Show, March 16, 17 and probably less expensive. The PVC tend the vessel towing time and free 18, at the Crystal Coast Civic Center piles require less maintenance and they many of the juvenile fish and shellfish in Morehead City. Manufacturers and last longer. that often die in the trawl. dealers will be on hand with the latest A wooden pile has a lifetime of about in boats, nets, engines, motors, traps, 30 years, but the PVC piles have lasted pots and accessory gear. up to 50 years. And, they're stronger Th" blr. crab grows The show will be open 6 to 9 p.m., than a concrete pile of the same size. In only periodically Friday, March 16; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the conventional concrete piles, water through a molting pro- Saturday, March 17; and 11 a.m. to 5 penetrates the concrete to rust the cess, ca11ed shedding. p.m., Sunday, March 18. Admission is steel inside, causing the concrete to For a period of several free. The Crystal Coast Civic Center is crack. hours after shedding, the located off U.S. 70 in Morehead City, Rogers says the new method is hard blue crab, includ- on the campus of Carteret Technical useful for new construction as well as ing its shell, appendages and internal Co11ege. for repair work on docks using the parts, is soft. We know the crab in this A series of short seminars will be older. conventional methods. soft state as a delicacy. And, fishermen presented throughout the three-day can land extra profits if they're willing event. Seminar topics will cover UNC Sea Grant Director B.J. to cull out peelers (crabs preparing to everything from crab shedding to the Copeland was elected to the Board of shed) and hold them until they shed. prevention of boat fouling. Directors for the Marine Division of With a plentiful supply of crabs in The North Carolina Commercial the National Association of State Uni- North Carolina's waters, more lisher- Fishing Show is sponsored by UNC versities and Land-Grant Colleges men are giving soft-shell crabbing a Sea Grant, the N.C. Agricultural Ex- (NASULGC). Copeland was one of try. tension Program, the N.C. Division of two Sea Grant directors elected to the That's why UNC Sea Grant is spon- Marine Fisheries, the N.C. Fisheries board. soring a soft-shell crab workshop. The Association and Carteret Technical Dirk Frankenberg, director of the workshop will be held March 10 from College. marine science curriculum at the Uni- 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Beaufort Continued on next pa$e Wh... do the 1984 of point source polluters. Each river the property owner can offer another gubernatorial candi- "bloomed" at about the same time resource in exhange for the resource dates stand on the de- during the summer of 1983. And, each lost. In this case, the owner might offer velopment of North of the rivers had a low river flow at the to create additional marsh by lowering Carolina's outer conti- time of the bloom. As the salt water other high-ground property to marsh nental shelf? On the began to intrude up into the river, elevation. And. if the Commission ac- stabilization of Oregon there was a rapid decline of the bloom cepted the offer, the owner could com- Inlet? On submerged land ownership? on all the rivers, says Christian. plete his project. You can find out. The North Christian says that while environ- If you'd like more information on Carolina Marine Science Council is mental managers in the D.C. area rely mitigation, contact Clark at (9I9) 737- sponsoring a public forum March 5, at on an elaborate computer model to 2454. 7 p.m.in the auditorium of the predict and monitor blooms, research- Archives and History Building, 109 ers in North Carolina have the advan- Tom Blevins, a North Carolina East Jones St.. Raieigh. During the tage of doing more experimental work State University zoology graduate, has forum each candidate will be given 15 to understand the process of an algae joined the staff at the Sea Grant minutes to address the important b1oom. Aquaculture Research and coastal and marine issues facing North Demonstration Center in Aurora. Carolina's next governor. Besides the Blevins will assist Sea Grant marine topics mentioned above, candidates advisory agent Randy Rouse with his will be asked to address the issues of The North Carolina aquaculture work. peat mining and land drainage on the Coastal Resources Com- Before coming to Sea Grant, Blevins Albemarle-Pamlico peninsula, and the mission recently adopted worked r,vith Sea Grant researcher promotion of North Carolina's a mitigation policy. Howard Kerby on his striped bass fisheries products. Now. development that proj ect. occurs within the If you'd like to contact Blevins, call jurisdiction of the Coast- (9r9) 322-40s4. a1 Area Management Act may be eligi- Sea Grant research- ble for mitigation, says Walter Clark, ers Donald Stanley, Bob Sea Grant's coastal 1aw specialist. Coastwatch is published monthly Hans Clark says that in the natural Christian and except and December by the Uni- met with resources contexL. mitigation means July Paerl recently versity of North Carolina Sea Grant gov- the trading of one valuable resource for representatives of College Program, 105 1911 Building. f another resource of equal or greater ernments rom Wash- North Carolina State University, Box D.C. and sur- value. For example, suppose a water- ington, 8605. Raleigh, NC 27695 8605. Vo1. the front property or,vner wants to ex- rounding communities to discuss 11, No. 2. February, 1984. Dr. B.J. Potomac River cavate some coastal wetland to gain algae blooms on the Copeland, director. Kathy Hart and on the Neuse and Chowan Rivers boat access to deep water. The owner and Nancy Davis, staff writers. Second- says they applies to the state for a permit, but in North Carolina. Christian class postage paid at Raleigh, NC f ound a lot of similarities in the the permit is denied based on the per- 27 6ll. problems of the three rivers. manent ioss to the wetland. A11 three rivers have a large number Under the new mitigation policy,

00lsTlul't'0H 105 1911 Building Second-class postage paid North Carolina State University at Raleigh, NC 27611 Box 8605 (ISSN 0161-8369) Raleigh, NC 27695-8605 A u^

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