THE MENHADEN CATCH ONCE DROVE THE ECONOMY OF THE BRUNSWICK COUNTY TOWN
S O UTH P ORT ’ S
Fantastic Fishery
BY ROBERT REHDER
“Fish!” shouted the captain as the H.W. Anderson’s powerful 500-horse-power
twin diesel engines roared to life. High above the ship, a bright green Piper
Super Cub spotter plane, brilliant against a cloudless azure sky, descended in a
tight bank, circling low over the shimmering purplish mass drifting slowly down
the coast below.
Earlier that morning, as the sun rose above a cool, flat sea, the Anderson had
sailed from Southport. She had been on site for two hours, patiently idling just off
{ OFF FRYING
PAN SHOALS
ABOARD THE
} MENHADEN
SHIP H.W.
ANDERSON,
OCT. 1, 1960
the coast of Bald Head Island, when suddenly the ship’s VHF radio broke the silence, spitting
and crackling the message every menhaden captain hoped for.
“A good-sized school about two miles off your port bow moving north,” said Hall Watters,
chief spotter pilot for the Standard Products Company of Southport.
The dark, purplish blotch Watters had seen from the air was indeed a massive school of
menhaden, a football field in length. On board the 100-foot converted World War II mine-sweeper
were 24 strong crewmen and two 30-foot purse boats that would launch from her stern
when the vessel reached the school. The crew’s pay was dependent on their catch, so anticipation
was high as the ship raced full throttle toward the fish.
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WBM march 2021