LOCKWISE from above: Betty Jean Brown worked alongside her husband, Rock, as his mate from the time they were married until the
arrival of their second child, Debbie. Frank Brown captained the Althea B for a decade before passing the boat down to his son, Rock.
Drew Brown and his father overlook the Althea B, hauled out at Harrelson’s Marina on Middle Sound Loop Road. Betty Jean Brown
poses with sailfish caught on the Althea B. Charters aboard the Althea B left from the Wrightsville Beach Municipal Docks. Note the
old wooden Banks Channel bridge at right.
In 1918 Drew’s grand-
father moved south, joining
others from Onslow County
by settling in Seagate,
the community between
Wrightsville Beach and
Wilmington surrounding the
area where Greenville Loop
and Oleander cross.
In Seagate, Stones Bay
natives found themselves in a
terrain that was familiar and
among people with whom they
had a common background.
The move kept them close
to the ocean and marshes
where many plied their trades,
and closer to resources that
Wilmington could provide.
“Grandaddy and I would
walk along the beach together
while he told me about old
Wrightsville Beach,” remi-nisces
Drew.
His grandfather, Captain
Frank Brown, recounted
stories of the old fishing
fleet that berthed in Banks
Channel on the north side
of the current Causeway
Drive bridge in front of
where Tower 7 is today, and
of times before the bridge
replaced the trolley trestle
and the big hotel was the
Tarrymoore — later the
Oceanic — at the corner
of Stone Street and North
Lumina Avenue.
24 october 2021
WBM
The hotels had docks for
the fishing fleet and as early as
1905 there were oceangoing
charters to take beach visitors
out for the day. Captain Frank
also told him about the Great
Fire of 1934 that destroyed
the Oceanic, the docks, and
100 buildings from Stone
Street north.
By 1935 Lester Newell and
other beach businessmen,
seeing the value of the fleet