Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 55

Thread: shrimp tales from the 60's in mount pleasant

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Posts
    27

    Default shrimp tales from the 60's in mount pleasant

    It was in the early 60's when I arrived as the "striker" on the shrimp trawler, "skimmer" It was a new 72 ft trawler which drew only 4 feet of water while most trawlers that size drew about 9 feet. It was made that way in able to trawl in shallow SC shrimp grounds such as bulls bay.
    At the time the shrimp dock were located at the little bridge across the creek from the local restaurant. The place was booming then. I came there after fishing on the skimmer in key west. The captain I worked for in key west was the owner who lived in mount pleasant. He hired a new captain who I knicknamed calvin snippersnap which was a play on his second name. He was a stone recent recovering alcoholic who was shaking like a leaf on the trip up the inland waterway from key west.
    He was a total "wheel house captain". That's a captain who stays in the wheel house and never comes on the back deck to help his stricker (me). That dude was totally weird. He didn't even leave the wheel house to eat. He ate nothing but cheddar cheese and crackers which he kept in the wheel house. He wouldn't ever let me take the wheel although I was a very efficient helmsman. I hated that.
    The owner liked me and it was mutual. The owner told snippersnapper that he could never fire me. He knew he could trust me to drop a dime on snippersnap if he touched a drop of booze which I would have done immediately, if not sooner. Unfortunately he stayed sober.
    The "big bugger" (a term used to describe the most productive shrimp boat captain) owned a boat called "bulls bay". about a small 40 trawler. His name was captain Barry who had a crew of two huge black gentlemen. Captain Barry never left the wheel house. He was always spotlessly clean and cut quite a striking figure as he constantaly smoked his pipe. I remember him coming to the docks many times with his boat full of shrimp.
    Just up the street there was a gas station where they sold beer and white lightning. I was really shocked when I saw a gas station that sold alcohol. Welcome to SC. There were a few bars outside of town of which I would describe as "bucket of blood" redneck bars. I was always afraid to visit them for good reason.
    (too be continued)

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Blythewood, SC
    Posts
    6,009

    Default

    to
    When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home. -Tecumseh-

    Quote Originally Posted by Griffin View Post
    You're also one of select few clemings with sense.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Posts
    27

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by JJ1965 View Post
    to
    Huh??? translation please. Clemings?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Here
    Posts
    5,282

    Default

    Are you a gypsy, or hippie?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Charleston
    Posts
    2,618

    Default

    WHEN IT COMES TO GULLAH, BORDER PATROL AIN' FOH KNO'
    By Jack Leland
    News and Courier Staff Writer

    Turn five Wadmalaw Island Negroes- complete with Gullah dialect- loose in an East Coast Florida town and you've got a language problem.
    When the five shrimp trawlermen arrived in a Ft. Myers Beach, Fla., last week (without a Dictionary of Charlestonese), they were promptly arrested by the US Border Patrol on suspicion of being aliens.
    Their white employer, Billy Townsend, of Rockville, who speaks the same type of Sea Island brogue, managed to rescue them only after proving they were South Carolinians.
    The five men were with Capt. Townsend aboard a shrimp trawler bound for Key West. They tied up at Ft. Myers Beach because of bad weather. The Negroes were sitting in front of a packing house when three US Border Patrolmen drove up. They were looking for West Indians who had been slipping into the country aboard fishing boats.
    Calling one of the Negroes over to the patrol car, the officers began asking questions.
    They were answered in the rich Gullah dialect of Wadmalaw, which the Border Patrolmen couldn't understand at all. The same result followed in the questioning of the others so the patrol placed the men under arrest.
    One- managing to break through the language barrier- was given permission to go to the boat at a nearby dock where he found Capt. Townsend.
    "De poleece done grab dem boy and we ain' do a God's ting," he told Townsend.
    Townsend reported: " I went up there and told the patrolmen that we were all Untied States citizens. He couldn't understand me either so I showed him my credentials."
    Then, according to Townsend, the patrolman turned to the other officers and said: "Turn them loose, their boss doesn't talk any better than they do."
    DILLIGAF

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Posts
    27

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Hogg View Post
    WHEN IT COMES TO GULLAH, BORDER PATROL AIN' FOH KNO'
    By Jack Leland
    News and Courier Staff Writer

    Turn five Wadmalaw Island Negroes- complete with Gullah dialect- loose in an East Coast Florida town and you've got a language problem.
    When the five shrimp trawlermen arrived in a Ft. Myers Beach, Fla., last week (without a Dictionary of Charlestonese), they were promptly arrested by the US Border Patrol on suspicion of being aliens.
    Their white employer, Billy Townsend, of Rockville, who speaks the same type of Sea Island brogue, managed to rescue them only after proving they were South Carolinians.
    The five men were with Capt. Townsend aboard a shrimp trawler bound for Key West. They tied up at Ft. Myers Beach because of bad weather. The Negroes were sitting in front of a packing house when three US Border Patrolmen drove up. They were looking for West Indians who had been slipping into the country aboard fishing boats.
    Calling one of the Negroes over to the patrol car, the officers began asking questions.
    They were answered in the rich Gullah dialect of Wadmalaw, which the Border Patrolmen couldn't understand at all. The same result followed in the questioning of the others so the patrol placed the men under arrest.
    One- managing to break through the language barrier- was given permission to go to the boat at a nearby dock where he found Capt. Townsend.
    "De poleece done grab dem boy and we ain' do a God's ting," he told Townsend.
    Townsend reported: " I went up there and told the patrolmen that we were all Untied States citizens. He couldn't understand me either so I showed him my credentials."
    Then, according to Townsend, the patrolman turned to the other officers and said: "Turn them loose, their boss doesn't talk any better than they do."
    I used to work for the kiesel brothers in ft myers beach. they were originally liberal yankee clam diggers from long island NY. They were very successful and they were the first company to hire what you call "negroes". their fleet fished out of ft myers beach in the winter and aransas pass, texas in the summer. Aransas pass, texas was one wild shrimper town but thats another story.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Sullivan\'s Island
    Posts
    12,863

    Default

    I'm anxious to read the continuation. I know a couple shrimpers and they all seem to have good stories.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    charleston
    Posts
    8,600

    Default

    ya'll don't screw with this ole timer too much and you may get some great stories- keep em comin old time- did you know Capn Jack?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Posts
    27

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bad Habit View Post
    ya'll don't screw with this ole timer too much and you may get some great stories- keep em comin old time- did you know Capn Jack?
    I appreciate that. thank you very much. Capn Jack? I'm not sure.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    pee dee
    Posts
    2,360

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bad Habit View Post
    - did you know Capn Jack?
    sparrow?
    Quote Originally Posted by Roddie View Post
    SCducks is not checkers, it's chess.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Posts
    27

    Default

    I miss the good old days when I was a young 22 year old shrimp boat captain fishing out of my home port of Aransas Pass, Texas during the 60's and early 70's.

    Most of the fishermen I knew had nicknames. Here are some of my favorite ones and their origins

    Cat fish sam, who who had a very wide mouth and looked like a catfish. Crisco Joe, who was discovered in the forepeak bunk with a young new deck mate with an empty can of Crisco shortening next to the bunk.

    Chicken Shack Jack, who everybody was looking for, was found sleeping behind Pee Wee's bar in a chicken coop. Captain Crunch who never learned to dock his boat correctly and was always crashing into the dock. Hungry Richard, who had an a condition that made him eat way too much. In fact he had a hard time getting a job because of it. Hungry Richard died at sea of drowning, rip.

    Tex, who hated me as much as I hated him. He was always bad mouthing me on the cb radio all the time, calling me a dam yankee. He was the stereotype of a braggart red necked Texan.

    Bill Looney (nickname), who was the worst rat bastard to ever walk the face of the earth. I remember him raping a young girl in the back of a car while he was on his way to Boy's Town in Matamorphis, Mexico. Karma caught up to him one day. The dumb ass took a cab from Aransas Pass to Morgan City, La. to sell a load of pot. Somebody ratted him out and he died in prison.

    Sarge, an old retired army sergeant who had become a wino. I used to sit on the docks with him and drink wine with him. He told some great war stories when he was drunk.





    BOY'S TOWN, Brownsville Texas
    we arrived at the fish house and unloaded our catch. But my work was not done. I had to clean
    the engine room. The engine room was filthy. The whole room was covered in black soot. There
    was a reason for this. My uncle had the governor removed and was turing the 610 GM at
    undreamed of rpm's in order to tow his oversized 60' texas flat nets. All the other boats were
    pulling 40' nets at the time. A few years later, as the turbo charger was introduced all of the boats
    would be towing 60' nets. The called this new breed of trawlers, "super trawlers". My uncle was
    the first fisherman in the gulf to do this. The boat owner, Percy *******, also owned a GM diesel
    distributorship so he did not mind rebuilding the engine , which lasted about three trips.
    After cleaning the engine room with a combination of diesel fuel and tide I got my check and
    headed to town. After washing up and getting some new clothes I was rearing to go to "boy's
    town", Mexico.


    +Brownsville is right across the rio grande river from matamorphis, which is a very
    large mexican town. Boy's town is about 10 miles from matamorphis. A couple of other shrimpers
    took a cab there. Shrimperss always took cabs every where. Most of them did not own cars. My
    uncle had confinscated my renault but I did not care. I was usually too drunk to drive anyway.

    After about a 15 mile drive through a wasteland we arrived in boy town. I pop[ped up out of no
    where in a desolate area. The town was mostly bars which were all whore houses. There were no
    paved roads or sidewalks. I could not believe that at last I was finally here. Every woman in the
    town was a registered prostitute. I said to myself, looking at the women, I can have any one of
    them i want.


    The first bar we entered there was a floor show going on. I could not believe my young eyes.
    There on the stage was "banana girl". I had heard of htings like this but I really did not believe
    them till now. Most of my sex education was from reading "The one hundred dollar
    misunderstanding." After she made the banana disappear a naked dude in a cape came on the
    stage. He had an enormous penus. Years later I saw the same thing in the godfather II movie


    I picked out a girl from among the crowded bar and arranged for a sexual liaison with her for three
    dollars. After we made love, she begged me to stay and said "fukie for love". Wow, I was
    Last edited by old time shrimpper; 01-01-2018 at 04:46 PM.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Posts
    27

    Default

    It was the summer of 1969. There will never be a year like 1969. It was the height of the love
    generation. The beatles were at the top of the charts along with some of the greatest musical
    artists of the century. everybody wss following Timothy O'Leary's advice and "tuning in and
    dropping out". There were also a lot of "plastic hippies" around.. These were the ones who
    were influenced by the gonzo media at the time.
    Most of them were just looking to get some hippy nookie. There were other people too, like
    charles manson who would soon destroy the summer of love.

    I had just gotten married to Carole. We had met in a bar in key west called "the brown derby". It
    ws mostly inhabited by navy guys. Carole's father was a navy chief petty officer who piloted ships
    into Norfolk, Va's harbor. It was love at first sight. Our eyes locked and we could actually read
    each others mind. I was drinking black russians all night and talking to her. We made
    arrangements to meet the next day.
    I awoke in my hotel room the next day and the first thing I remember is that I had fallen in love last
    night but I could not remember where I was supposed to meet Carole.
    I got dressed and went looking for her in the streets of key west early sunday morning. Key West
    is a small town. We soon found each other on Duvall St., key west's main drag. She had been
    looking for me too. We were never apart after that. We got married about a week later. We held
    the reception before the wedding at Sloppy Joe's bar, a bar made famous because Hemmingway
    used to hang out there.
    After partying at the reception for a few hours everybody left and we started a procession of
    hippies to the court house on our way to get married. We were married by a judge who at first
    seemed shocked to see all the flower children in the marrying room. He sensed that something
    was special about us and then married us. I did not have a ring while we weere getting married so
    Susie Creamcheese gave me one to use. We have been happily married ever since.
    Those were good times in key west. Carole used to go with me on the shrimp boat. We fished at
    night and anchored up at daylight. Usuall a bunch of boats would ties onto us and come aboard to
    smoke some reefer and eat french toast. I am talking about a lot of french toast and maple syrup.
    After that everyone would hit the sack until nightfall, when we would start shrimping again.
    It was early in the season and the few shrimp that there were were small. I needed to make the
    boat owner, Joe ******** some money. He was my best friend and had just bought the boat I was
    running. I started dragging at night in the "nursery". This was an area about 10 miles from the
    key west sea buoy. It was forbidden to fish there by the state fisheries. Anyone caught fishing
    there would be prosecuted. Nobody fished there because it was also a world warII minefield. It
    was loaded with unexploded mines that could easily be caught in the nets.
    I fished there, anyway. What I did was set a small blinking light attached to the top of a bamboo
    pole to mark the beginning of the drag. I dragged for one half hour in one direction, then set
    another blinking light to mark the dragging area. I took a chance but I made the drag without
    catching a mine. For the rest of the trip I dragged without any lights on the boat. In ten days I had
    the holds filled with shrimp. Everybody at the docks freaked out when they heard about the catch.
    Joe wanted to go with us on the next trip which we made a couple days later. We repeated our luck
    and success, with another full load of shrimp. That was the last time I fished in the nursery. I did
    not want to push my luck by being greedy.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Here
    Posts
    5,282

    Default

    Hippie. Lol. Cool story

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    2,418

    Default

    Great stories. Keep them coming

    Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Posts
    27

    Default

    thanks for your support people. There are many nice people in SC. Real people. I applaud ya'll.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    1,439

    Default

    Capt. Barry had some nice boats for sure.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Posts
    27

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by usrgce View Post
    Capt. Barry had some nice boats for sure.
    wow! Did you know him?

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    charleston
    Posts
    8,600

    Default

    Capn Jack Murray- commercial fished and shrimped from the Bama coast to Charleston- used to own and run the Mustang 2 headboat out of Shem creek in the 70's

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Posts
    27

    Default

    Cool beans. bama to charleston, that's a lot of territory. I'd love to hear some stories about him.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Posts
    27

    Default

    I loved fishing out of aransas pass, texas in the early sixties from the summer until fall. In the early part of summer we fished for brown shrimp during the night time. Unlike SC where brown shrimp were caught during daylight hours. After the first norther hit in the fall the white shrimp appeared in the daylight hours.

    During the fishing season in summer you could trawl (drag) from brownsville. Texas to Biloxi Mississippi and never lose sight of a shrimp trawler. There were a lot of steel hull trawlers from mexico. They drove like they were stoned out of their minds. If you saw one coming it was best to get out of the way. It was easy to spot them because the had many different types of different colored light lit up like a christmas tree. I doubt if any of them had required fishing licenses but the fishing wardens rarely bothered them.

    Those were the days when there were no modern electronic equipment such as lorans or gps. The ships radios were big bulky things powered by dynamometers. They used a lot of electrical juice. When you pushed your microphone button the noisy dynamo would whine like a baby with shitty diapers, and the lights would go dim. Only the captains were allowed to use the radios and they had to have a radio license. There were many strict rules involved while operating one. One of the stricted rules was that you had to use identifying call letters and you were not allowed to use the coast guard channel except for emergencies. Their frequency was 2182. I had a friend who wanted to be a captain real bad just so he could talk on a radio. He used to say, "Give me a 100 watt Apelco and call me cap'n and I'll work for groceries".

    But it all changed with the citizen band radio. Anybody could use them and it was impossible for the authorities to monitor them because everybody had them. Everybody stopped using call signs and they had many different channels unlike the old dynamo radios. There was a lot of traffic on them and it wa something like twitter with anonymous callers flaming each other.

    I'll never forget the time i used to broadcast beatles songs on them. My favorite one was ".rocky racoon" .I usually got a wild reaction from the good ole boys, like "wtf was that shit". It wasn't george jones that's for sure.

    Speaking of george jones, you could go to any bar in texas, at the time, and never miss a word of his latest hit. I am still a huge G Jones fan. The saddest CW song ever sung was recorded by him called, "He stopped loving her today" It still brings a tear to my eye.

    Shrimp boat music was a big thing in those days because there was no other entertainment available in the old days. That is why I mention it. Oh yeah, buck owens was big then too. I love his music still.

    Well, it time to wind up the rigs.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •