The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1954-02-26
$50 Per Month Lured Richard Gray
To Wanchese; Been On Job Al Years
Globe Fish Company Brought Him From Buxton Tells
OF Better Fishing Days Many Years Ago.
By Roger Meekins

Al years ago lat the age of ID
where he was raised, in Buxton
At that time the company had a
small fish house, about 20 by 40
feet, one-half mile offshore from
Buxton, and that is where he
worked. He had to get out to
work by boat. 1t was located
there so the freighters of the
company could load in the deep
water. Richard Gray's salary was
$25 per month.
His parents are Mathew ]. and
Louisa O'Neal Gray. His father
died about six years ago, but
Mrs. Gray is still living and is SO
years old.
When Richard was 10, the
Globe Fish Company wanted to
transfer him to Wanchese. He
didn't want to go at first, but
the lure of the increased salary
of $50 per month brought him on
anyway. While he was first here
he thought he might go back, but
in 1912 he married Miss Daisy
Pugh of Wanchese land that kind
of anchored him down. Hess been
on the same job at the Wanchese
Wharf now for Ala years, buy
ing fish for the Globe Company
and selling oil and running a
store for himself.
At the time he first came to
work for the Globe Fish Com
pany at Wanchese, the wharf was
900 feet long, with a hotel on the
end. A hotel was necessary for
the accommodation of passengers
who travelled on the freight boats
of the company. The hotel had
eight rooms, and was always so
full that some of the passengers
had to stay on the boats over
night.
Int Wanchese wharf at that
time was an exchange point. The
boats coming from Elizabeth City
would pick up the cargo from
the Hatteras boats and make the
return trip to, Elizabeth City. The
Hatteras boats would return to
Hatteras and exchange passen-
gers. "The engines in some of
those boats would run for a solid
week sometimes" Mr.. Gray told.
There were lot of fish back in
those days, and they made one
trip, then turned right around
and made another"
All of the boats had engines, al
though EARLIER there were some
with sails. The "Quide," White
Wing" " Pomano," "Rowena,"
and the ''Fuerstein" were some
of the freighters plying the
waters between Hatteras and
Elizabeth City. he Fuerstein had
sails as well as engines.
Thirty-five years ago the dock,
with its hotel, small store, and
oil storage facilities burned. II
went to dinner" Mr.. Gray said,
land when 1 came back / saw it
burning. There was nothing you
could do. Everybody was afraid
to go near it, because there was
a lot of oil and gas on it at the
time. Nobody else was around"
The dock wasn't rebuilt, but
facilities were moved nearer the
shore where the are today. The
dock is on the edge of the water.
The freight boats made their
runs every day, carrying fish to
Elizabeth City, Norfolk and
northern markets. The Hatteras
boat would leave about 3 am,
make its run to Hatteras, pick
up the load of fish, and make the
return trip to Wanchese where
the cargo would be transferred
to the Elizabeth City boat. Some
of the boats carried as much as
200 boxes, some $50, some so.
Fishing was much better thirty
years ago and longer than it is
today. There was fish house at
Roanoke Marshes which did
booming business for a long time,
with around 100 boats operating
out of there. A nearby camp
housed 20 or 80 fishermen. In
1918 the dock was / led full of
shad, and it was all the boats
could do to keep the fish going
out to market. But the fishing
has fallen off so much since then
that the fish house closed and
only a shack remains there to-
day.
Ice was brought from Manteo
to Wanchese by sailboat, al
though a dirt road existed. 1t was
just as quick to travel by boat
then. That was before Alvah
Ward built the Wanchese plant.
In lr12, after the legislature
passed the Vann Bill, which re-
stricted the length of nets and
prohibited them from being set
in the channels, a gunboat was
sent down to enforce the law