Newspapers / Carteret County News-Times (Morehead … / July 13, 1948, edition 1 / Page 7
Part of Carteret County News-Times (Morehead City, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
;--.'.:"- ' - - t'w-r-, -4 r. CARTEEET COUNTY NEWS-TIMES, BEAUFORT AND MOREHEAD CITY, N. C. PAGE SEVEN of Beaufort in the Nineties .Memories b b I I 4 B E V. 9V i (n- i it bi sjl e'' .11 90 4.f. R6 .tf! By Thomas Ik Carrmv (Copyright IMS) (This, is the sixth in a series of skett-'itt on Beaufort during the 1&90'- We lived across the street from Mr. No, and I was fre quently around when he was butchering and. attending to his stock. He bought a fine marsh pony that had never been bridled, and I was the first to ride him- Finally, lye became well broke, and Mrs. Nee had him as sleek as an apple. One day I was out riding, and I noticed he stumbled. I told Mr. Noe, and on ex amination, he fo,un,d a six penny up to the hilt in, the ppny's foot. He taok. the nail out, but the pojiy writhed in paroxysms of pain for a day or two and died of lockjaw We both wept XXII Transportation ir, b tli J I' ii r.i Everything used by human beings, except air, has to be trans- pprted by one means or another. In no field has greater advance ment been made than in transportation. It rarely occurs to one horn after the turn of the century that prior to that time, he ; horsedraw.i vehicle, the ox cart, the sail boat, and barges were 1o the principal mesns; in fact, practically the only means of trans portation employed in communities not connected with railroads. ' Vl My recollections of Beaufort on this subject are not quite clear. I judge that two thirds of all merchandise reached, town via Jr' the A. & N. C. R. R. to Morehead City and via boats from there lo Beaufort. A number of boats were used for this purpose. I am not sure whether there was very much competition or not. A colored man named Ahle Davis was captain of the clinker- built boat. He regularly operated between the railroad warehouse, which extended over the water at Morehead somewhat as it does now, and Beaufort. There was a derrick on the wharf which was used to lower or hoist the goods intp or from the boat and one on the County Dock in Beaufort for the same purpose. Of course. Captain Able had a helper on his boat. The S. M. Buckman, a two-masted sharpie, Capt. Frank El- liso.i and a crew of two or three, was also used in this service. The S. M. Buckman had an advantage, a block and tackle was ' '' strung on the masts to expedite unloading. When the freight on wa's landed on the County Dock, the draymen picked it up and "j( delivered it to the final destination, each drayman having his "' regular customers. cil br, The principal commodities shipped from Beaufort were fish and clams. My recollection is that boats were especially engaged r-. for this purpose and not the ones that brought the freight from ot' Morehead City, which, as we say on the railroads, necessitated a lot of" "empty movement." There was also a boat line between Beaufort and New Bern. Captain Hall was the skipper, and one or two of his sons cons tituted the crew. One of his spas was named tyave.,, I have. ,a faint recollection that he would include- a jwi! 'f 'Hquo&.io bis cargo if requested to do so by- "reliable" luans.. My recollection is that Captain Hall owned his boat, and that it was a sharpie .-r" type, a big one, with a jib and two sails. His schedule called for t one round trip per week: a day to go, a day to unload and load,, ?.i and a day to return, "laying" over in Beaufort the remainder qf rid the week. (I recently made a round trip to New Bern in a motor bn boat in a few hours). r, Capt, Jim Graham owned a farm eight or ten miles from EfR Beaufort on Newport River. He had a big skiff-type boat with -!: jib and mainsail that he designed and built. He. used it to trans- df Por woo watermelons, other farm products and very fine quality I i.' 'i "moonshine."' He was a Canadian, a 'fine gentleman an.', a warm ki'. friend of my father. He raised a fine family, many of whose off- .n spring, I suppose, are citizens of Carteret, -m mil Bogue Sound and Crab Point farmers brought their produce, mostly watermelons and cantaloupes to, Beaufort in the smaller vll type boats, hut I am not sure what type. I do believe some, of them i used canoes which were made from hollowed out trees. Early in the nineties, the good ship Charles, a small two-mast-- ed vessel, would occasionally hring merchandise from Baltimore S or other cities. I am not sure whether she was able to dock or whether she had to be lightered. It wpuld be. impossible to picture Beauforf in the early nineties without Captjyn John L. and the Charles and Charles Brag, his colored sailor. Occasionally, vessels of considerable size would anchor in the channel near Fort Macon, more often "light" than not to await orders. It impressed me as a child to notice that Jarge vessels always lay head to the tide regardless of the direction of the wind, whereas shallow bottom boats would lie head to the wind, regardless of the tide. I recall very distinctly a three-masted vessel lying peacefully in the Fort Channel while being unloaded, Her cargo was natural ice from, the' sta.te of Maine fqr Beaufort fish dealers. The. ice f was unloaded from the vessel rto smaller boats and then brought to the Cpunty Dock in Beaufort- A narrow boardwalk was con, structed from the dock to the ice house across the street just ' east of the Lipman Store Corner, The colored men would push the ice on the walk across the street where it was hoisted into the ice house and packed in saw dust. From there, it wu distri buted to the fish dealers as required. Every pound that was used was crushed with a wooden maul. Manufactured ice took the place of natural ice and shortly before or after 1890, the ships fron Maine were seen no more. . . It is worth while recalling that the fish industry was always' and. js nqw. dependent upon ice and the expansion of the fish business wu largely dependent upon the expansion of the ice business and the facilities for transporting ice. There were, of course, a great many other boats engaged in carrying all types of freight to and from all quarters, particularly wood for fuel. For example, there was a lone steam boat that wu connected with a saw mill at Stella which occasionally brought, a load f lujnber or slab wood to Beaufort. I remember h short, Tflidgy,' genial captain, hut I am unable to recall his or the . .boat's, .namely 'V It seems to me that prior to 1890 "flat boats were used ex- tensjvely, pejr were of the sipall, vessel type with, no dfck, -They bad. wife walkway from, stem to steti along the gunwal ; on each sideband the crew with' 15 to 18 toft pole would push.', them along in calm weather,, walking from head to atern, pushing the feat, aftd; lejurely walking forward to start all over again.; ' On Saturdays, In good weather, there was always a number of Mil skiffs and a few canoes moored to the dock connected with the teveral stores on Front Street They came empty from ;. ' mt. . ' J '" 1 CARING FOR THE I.ITTI.K ()KS Many of the Negro cooks during the author's teen-age days also cared for children of the families for whom they worked. Charlotte Gaston, cook, dandles Dorothy Jones, Mrs. Julia Jones' riauxnler, on her knees. Here Hsrkers Island, the Straits, east North River, and other poi.its east to load up with groceries and other merchandise for home consumption. XXIII Whales and Wrecks Being near the sea, we children heard many .stories about whales, hew big they were and how high they cpuld blow the water into the air on rising to the surface, not to mention the battle they would put up when harpooied. It was therefore an important event when the news spread in Beaufort one day that a whale had been captured and landed on the banks opposite Wad Shore,. I happened to get an opportunity to see the whale, having joined a parly whp journeyed to the scene for this purpose. We wil'.iessed the carving of the earcass and saw it rendered into oil a, rare sight for a child. My recollection is That the proceeds from the whale netted the fishermen some $1800 which was big money in the nineties. That was the only whale tha,t was caught near Beaufort during my time. Ever since the sail was invented and develqped for ocean going vessels, there have been shipwrecks. Seafaring is neces sarily an intermittent battle with the elements. The probabilities of wrecks during severe storms provides a fruitful subject for conversation for people living along the ocean. Thus, during heavy weather, it was common practice tq survey the ocean with a spy glass from the docks. It was really a thrill to see the top mast of a vessel heave in sight and then discover she had wear thered the storm. In one instance, the good ship was not so lucky. A. black three-masted Norwegian bark wu obliged to cut away her iasts but managed to weather the storm otherwise. Beiig disabled, she, was towed into port and anchored in New port River not far from the railroad pier in Morehead City. There she remained for a year or so, a lonely spectacle, a mere ghost of a ship that provoked innumerable commentaries. I am unaware of what finally happened to her. My impression is that the original fatback boats were small two masted vessels of the' schooner type, 70 or 80 feet in length. They were sturdy craft and could weather a storm almost as well as the big vessels. I remember two very distinctly. They were named the Convoy and the Alert. A negro man, Charles Nelson, a very fine character, was captain of one of the fatback boats. He went qut with ht boat one day and was caught in a storm, His boat became dismasted, and she drifted about on the seaj for days but was finally sighted, and the crew. was rescued by another boat. I loved to hear Captain Charles tell of his ex perience, how he expected every wave would sink his ship, and how after the fresh water gave out, his crew was approach! ig starvation when the Lord answered his prayer. He had a resonant voice and an ample vocabulary of its kind. His narration was' exciting. Scarcely a year passed that there was not a wreck or two off Cape Hatteras, but that was so far away that it made little impression upon us other than to keep us reminded of the ravages of. the sea, an important fact since there was scarcely any time When some of qur people were not on the sea. ' Mr, Harry Pierce, a young man of Beaufort, the brother of the late Mr. Will Pierce, shipped as mate on a vessel that dis appeared, and neither the vessel nor any member of the crew was ever 'heard from again. ..When. I was less than 10 years old, the-, late Captain John. Beveridge was a. young sea captain. He lived near my father's tore on hack landing. His homecoming was always an event, because he would tell us all about his experience, the storms he weathered, the cities he had visited, and the cargoes he carried. There was a sea captain named Sam Howland. He was full, of humqr, and the boys loved, his stories of the aea. He was an expert navigator, but for what reason I dq not know, he; preferred to ship as mate nOt than Captain. Thus, Captain Joe Gaskill, with Captain Sam Howland, as mate, ran the two masted schooner, ' ' If he ChernbJm. fqe some time. Captain Sam was a Confederate soldier, and he liked to Join the parades on Decoration Day. I re Mil playing the flute in on of the parades in which he parties, pated. Not much music, just enough to keep time by. XXIV Making a Livelihood always been intc reste.l in the means peopl employ ramifications. I hav to make a livelihood. The subject haj tieineniloii In the first place, in every community there are not cnly the people .who will not work, but also tluse who are Willi v; and anxious to work, but for whom work in not available, or, wh.it is often worse, the work available brings wholly inadequate ; nd olien no income, as farming or fishing in bad seasons. The percentage of invalids and aged people of Beaufort was as great before the close of the century ns now. perhaps somewhat greater. I am very sure that the percentage of able bedied people unemployed was, on the average, much greater. The principle reason was that there was not then as much opportunity for work r.s n;.w, but regardless of the reasons, the percentage of people !ili i had no regular income w;s much greater than today. Ii is my impression that quite a number oi citizens uho were of the more affluent families prior to the Civil War, lost their fortunes :s a result of the war and its aftermath. It is infrequent that a man divested of a fortune, even a small one, is able to recoup it. There are exceptions, but they are rare. Hence, there were scions of some of the old families who were non-productive and therefore had a precarious existence. Hut aside from these, the matter of making a livelihood was a hard problem. There were scores of people who wanted to work for whom work was not always available. Fishing and farmi lg were already overmanned. Carpentry wus well supplied. Boating had more people in it than the demand required, and the field of merch andizing was more than amply filled. Thus, some of the young fellows like my brother Claude took to the sea and others like myself repaired to other parts to earn a living, while still others like mv brother Charlie remained i i Beaufort. In all human experience, nothing impresses me more than I lie luck, good or had, that attends the decision of a young person in selecting r having thrust upon him his life's work. F.ven in the professions, the particular "line" or specialty a man follows is more often than not fortuitous. In my own case, I would not have come to Philadelphia if ray brother had not asked roe, I would nut have connected with the Pennsylvania Railroad if cn acquaintance had not advised me how to do so, a id I would not have been selected for the particular job on which 1 have happily worked for AO years if I had not made the acquaintance of a man early in life who selected me. As I remember, a large percentage of Beaufort men, both young and old, had no continuous income for fishing a id farming were both uncertain and only a few were able to make these vo cations really p.iy. A few merchants dii1 comparatively well, but many did not. I recall a Mr. Dickinson of Harlowe or Core Creek, a man who had lost a leg in the Civil War, saying that he was "land poor," meinimj that his return from his ample acres was too, meaner to provide what he required. These observations are emphasized by experience in my father's grocery store. Many of his customers were on credit, apd lie had gre;t difficulty in milking the business a success. That's why he decided to run for Recorder of Deeds. His income, in cluding fees, was less than $100 per month from his job, which was about the maximum in salaries. My recollection is that Mr. Winfield Chadwick, ftie richest man in Beaufort at that time, made only $125 per month as President of the A.&N.C.R R. al though lie had other income at the lime. He was an astute busi nessman and a clever politician. (To Be Continued) Mow lid, ptuwed Ludiisf ItQjcotneA mote unptieMiw than evet o o o ate owl mote aUiaciive ikon Ut the paAt! FIRST in Value . . . FIRST in Big-Car Qualify at Lpwest Prices . . , FIRST in Registrations ALWAYS THE VALUE-LEADER . . , i always the first choice of people who want the finest at lowest cost . . . Chevrolet's vulue-leadership is now so outstanding that men and women everywhere are deciding it's more than ever the preferred investment in its held) "Not only docs Chevrolet stand out as the first and only low-priced car with all the fol lowing major advances which comprise the soundest and best in modern motoring . . . not only does it offer all these major advan tages of Big-Car quality at lowest prices . . . but it offers them at prices tliat are now defi nitely and decisively lower than those of any other car that even remotely approaches it in quality! It's the first and oply low-priced car with the original and outstanding Unitized Knee Action Ride. It's the first and only low-priced car with a world's champion Valvc-in-Head Engine. It's the first and only low-priced car with the enviable Body by Fisher. It's the first and only low-priced car with the triple safety-protection of Fisher Unistecl Body Construction, the Unitized Knee-Action, Ride and Positive-Action Hydraulic Brakes, And yet, despite the fact that CHEV ROLET AND ONLY CHEVROLET 13 FIRST to offer all these major advancements of low-cost motoring, it holds an even greater price-advantage and gives you eyen more value for ypur dollars in comparison with other automobiles today than at any previous time in, Chevrolet history! That is why more people are buying Chev rolet! than any other make of car, this year as jpr the total 1 7-year period! 1931 to, date; that is why they are agreeing, with ever mounting enthusiasm, that Chevrolet is first in dollar-value as it is first in, nation-wide demand. . . . I CHEVROLET-M&to'mF-i8 FIRC?! S0UI1D CHEVROLET COIIPAU Y IIIC. V
Carteret County News-Times (Morehead City, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 13, 1948, edition 1
7
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75