Shrimp Tales: Small Bites of History

This book portrays the history of the people, places, and boats of the commercial shrimping industry in the southern United States. In the 320 pages there are over 800 pictures and images. Before the invention of refrigerated boxcars in 1875, the US shrimping industry virtually didn't exist. People ate what they caught. The book begins with the region’s earliest shrimpers: Italian and Portuguese fishermen who came to Fernandina and St. Augustine , FL at the end of the 19th century. They combined an enterprising ingenuity with old-world fishing techniques to turn shrimping into a profitable industry. Subsequent chapters show life in major shrimping ports up and down the coast. These include St. Augustine, Fernandina, Thunderbolt and Savannah, Port Royal, Beaufort, Hilton Head Island, Bennetts Point, Edisto, Rockville, Shem Creek, McClellanville and Georgetown. Additionally, a chapter offers a colorful glimpse of the Blessing of the Fleet ceremonies. Finally, there is a chapter that exam