The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-10-05
POPULAR CAROLINA RESORT
Cincinnati Lady Writes Interesting
Article About Beach.
Was at Wrightsville Last Summer
When Big Haul Of Fish Was Made.
Articles I'm Sunday Cincinnati Paper
Is Accompanied by Several Pictures
Cardinals Famous Seaside Resort is
Attaining No;oriety in More Places
Than i'm the South.

SdiotifLA - iio "~SftS AsS-ofA u
Attaining No;oriety in More Places ,
Than i'm the South.
Those who were on Wr5ghtsyille
beach on the 30th Of las August and
saw the great catch Of mullet viewed
the work Of the fishermen with great
interest and especially those who had
never witnessed any thing of the kind
before and there were many in this
class. Among the many visitors on
the beach at the time were several
Cincinnati people and me Of them took
several photographs of the fishermen
at work and also the each after the
fis hhad been pulled on the beach. The
pictures accompany an interesting ar
-ticle written by Mrs. William klap-
pert, of the Queen City and which APP
pears in the Cincinnati Commercial
Tribune:
Down on the Atlanu1c coast, just
cast VI NIlAAA1SIoh, ~. N, CA q ~
of beach between the Sound or
Wrightsville and the Atlantic ocean, is
one of the most delightful beaches
along the coast. The surf is unSur-
passed for its moderate temperature,
and bathers remain in It for one or two
hours, both in the morning and after
noon.
GOV nortv IF hothorS UhilQ in the
surf on the afternoon of August Both,
were surprised to notice many large
birds of white plumage, somewhat re-
sembling the sea gulls, but which are
called strikers by the southerners,
dive in the ocean and then gracefully
: soar upward. We later discovered
that these birds were diving for null
let, a fat fish of which the larger fish
and strikers are quite -ond as food.
For several weeks fishermen had
beer stationed every two Of three hun
dred yards along the shore locking for
mullet, which usually begin their
southwark journey in the latter part
of August or in S pcembeT. A strong
northeastern" as they tenn the wind
from that quarter, will bring them,
and a high wind had veen prevailing
for several days, but I do not recall
any on hat day, although the surf was
exceedingly rough, and doubtless the
wind was more out at sea. Seeing tn
birds was a cue to the bathers that an
immense school Of mullet "a coming,
and Mr.. Klappert, with Mr.. Willis, the
marshal of the bach, immediately
made a rush down the shore TO tell the
G~L1~-o~- Ti-, yHvo1+n, thot tho cohnn
was on the way. The assistant fisher
man, who had gone home for a rest
was notified, and then the crew Of the
s%urfboat, which numbered somewhere
between eighteen and twenty men, ran
over to the sound for the surfboat and
the large seine, measuring fully 15C
yards in length. The crew, all stall
wart negroes, with costumes as very
ing as the colOrs Of the rainbow, made
+, ready the boat. With a large ne
folded carefully in the stern, five or six
men jumped in and the remainder
waded in the surf, holding the i'm
mense rope to which it was tied, and
which was probably 100 feet in length
/, Then the boat cut out over the break
ers.
Many times it appeared to us tina
the boat would be capsiZed, as break
er after breaker tossed it precipitously
from one wave to another, and quite
frequently it appeared almost perpen'
dicular to the ocean. The gallant crew
stuck doggedly to the boat, n thell
perseverance won the admiration Of
all along the ebach, which, by thi:
time, was lined with a heterofeneous
mass of humanity.
When they were out at sea sufficient
~ far to drop the net the widest com
motion occurred in the ocean. Tn
fish, which had been quite a half al
hOur coming from where We had seer
them, were now quite p~erceptible, ant
the ocean seemed to culver with them
for it was literally alive with fish
sharks, porpoises and other large,
fish, which followed the school On it
journey. The magnitude Of thi
school can be but vaguely conceived
even when we tell you il was com
posed of almost a million fish, but tn
enormity of it seized one as the boa
encircled the inner fraction of it, TO
{ then the momentum at which this bod,
: of fish was coming was so great tina
it was a herculean a to hold tn
; net, whose invasion caused 'consterna
ton of the widest import.
This sudden check to their ours
; caused them to be thrown several fee
, out of the sea- and in the setting sun
: light they glistened like ~dewdrops
!, while the porpofses and sharks leape
/ frantically, time and again, above tn
water. To escape the sharks, prima
l rily as a matter of self-preservatior
and secondar;ly to prevent them fror
: , tearing the nets and permitting tn
, escape Of the fish, necessitated tn
boat being kept within a smaller re
dius of the coast than would have bee
the case had the sharks been farthe