A Sailor-recalling the Gulf Coast Shrimpers

in progress

A Sailor

He…..was truly of the sea and its seaweed and crustaceans. Part and parcel of the ‘make a living’ selling fish and shrimp, and squid .Everything about the way of life, coffee in the morning smelling of chicory and sea salt. Hardboiled egg and a hardtack biscuit. Heavy on the black pepper and a little garlic if on hand. Mending nets as the schooner set out to the reefs...shuttle  in- hand and weaving back the holes the ocean took from the last runs. The gulls and pelicans were the ever present pilferers and begger vagabonds. Just a bit of fish Sir, one needs a small bit if ones to survive. And galumph hard swallow when it’s tossed skyward, acrobatics for the prize and then formation once again.

Picturesque in the morning pre-dawn light, Red in the Morning, sailor...what was it...oh sailor take warning, Painted like the watercolors of a true beach comber. Visual images of the Still Lives of the proud few who still plied this trade and hoped beyond hope a son would carry the sea water in his blood, one more, yes one more generation to the likes of Captain, nay lubber and the hard way of the sailors and hands of the sloops and diesel engine shrimpers of the Gulf Coast.

Gone is the time of masted ships and rigging to spin about the main sails and capture the sea breezes and not becalmed of a turn; a tack into the gentle breeze to speed the laying of the nets ...the cry shrimp on and the sails taut to the pull, lines dropped with skills that the fathers taught the sons, the grandfathers taught them.Buoy away and net in the schools and runs, times a wastin' son ..the first to lay the nets gets the run and the others a lookin for the tells. Woe be he who cuts the excluders , required now to test the patience and skill of even the best of the old salts. Shark meat was the fin cuts now used in the kitchens as clams or scallops or other sort of shell fish less likely due to the red tides and the slicks of the rigs leaking and blow outs.Estuaries and birthing grounds of the coastal marshes,brackish to over winter the sea birds and crustacians,crabs ever plentiful in the past are now just mostly a dream...What say you to the crabbers and shrimpers and redfish gleaners for trade and for license is pricy and hard fought...maintain your quota or loose next year come.

We sang the song of the trade by the moon...'Shrimp boats are a comin' their sails are in sight' Shrimp boats a comin' there 'll be dancin' tonite."

Reviews

[Claire Twinn]

Deliciously salty and fishy, you truly captured the essence of a sea faring life here, very well done. Congrats on the publication too.

[Larry Dyson]

Thanx Claire!

[Larry Dyson]

this was accepted and published in the e-zine.."Red Dirt Review"

[Ken Simm.]

This not only imparts a lot of interesting information but is well and evocatively written. I enjoyed the whole read.

[Cherrie]

..what say you.. there'll be dancin' tonite... Great opening and a very salty feel.. I love to write about nature and love to read of her too, well done.

[Samuel Dickens]

Your beginning paragraph is excellent, sets the mood and draws the reader in. I'm not knowledgeable of fishing sailors, but have spent much time at sea in US Navy, so am completely understanding of the sea's alure.

[Sethnicity]

good writing.. your word choice is proper and has the ah familiar sea chanty feel, jolly even when good times won't reel. I remember a time when you could cast for the horizon to dip a line below the surface with out the worry of license or law... Times when a man was measured by the strength of his Jaw!... Not the colored paper in his wad! I will continue reading because I love Sea worthy tales. Good to you and Keep open your Sails! :)

you get a 99 because there is still more writing to be done!

[M.E.Lyle]

This is great. I can picture it in my mind. One would think you were a shrimper yourself.
That song, The Shrimp Boats are Coming, is one I heard alot growing up. I remember being in New Orleans getting aboard a ship headed back to Venezuela and hearing that song in my head. It was 1957 I believe.
Thanks for a great reminder of how things once were.

[patricia]

this was amazing, the remembering, the observations, the hope of one more generation. Pure Soul. Thanks.

[J. J. Nightingale]

THE MEN OF THE SEA .. THIS HELD ME RIGHT DOWN TO THE LAST LINE ! .. A MOST INTERESTING AND INFORMATIVE WRITE ... WITH A HEART ..

JASMINE ...

[Josephine Nive]

yeah, I agree. nice ending. :)