The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1958-01-17
By EARL DEAN

There has always been some
thing exciting and peculiarly fas-
cinating about the hauling in of a
seine net to which few persons
ever become Indifferent no matter
how many times they may witness
the scene. Even the veteran fisher
man seldom, if ever, grows weary
of watching haul made from
either the surf or the sound.
On the beach between Kitty
Hawk and Hatteras nowadays the
seines are hauled in by jeeps and
a few hardy fishermen and a dory
are all that is needed to take care
of the catches during the early
spring and autumn fishing.
But in Albemarle Sound fish
were once so plentiful that horse
and steam-powered fisheries were
for a good many years an import
ant coastal industry.
Seine fishing on the Chowan
River and in Albemarle Sound
reached high-water mark in the
18SO's as indicated by the follow
ing table showing the number of
such fisheries and the total num-
Der of yards of seine fished at
each:
Montrose, 600; Woodley's 1900;
Wingfield, 1000; Big Holly, 1,750;
Cofield, 1900; Drummond's Point,
$500; Greenfield, $500; Long
Beach, 1900; Athol, 1900, and
SINNERS Point, $500.
When was seine fishing first in
troduced in North Carolina in the
waters of Albemarle Sound and its
tributaries? When did the practice
of commercial fishing on a large
scale first appear in Eastern
North Carolina waters? What is
the story behind the origin of this
one time vast fishing industry
that has now all but disappeared
from the sounds, rivers and bays
along the coast?
Research reveals many interest
ing facts about the early days of
seine fishing in North Carolina
and indicates that one Richard
Brownrigg was the first man in
the State to fish with seine for
shad, herring and other fish which
were most abundant in the Chowan
River in his day.
Brownrigg emigrated to North
Carolina from the Valley of Avoca
County, Wickland, Ireland, a local
ity immortalized by the poet
Thomas Moore in his lovely verses,
1.-THE Value of Avoca." This gave
the name of the locality in BERTHE
County which is still known as
Avoca and a place which was long
famous for its fisheries.
At some time prior to 1850
Brownrigg settled on the bank of
the Chowan River and lived at a
place bearing the curious Indian
name "Quankey." Somewhat later
he removed to Chowan County
where he became a tutor in the
home of the Hon. John Campbell,
a prosperous farmer.
Campbell had been a captain in
the British Navy and came origi-
nally from Coleraine, ireland,
where he had been born of parents
who came from Inverness, Scot
land. About 1743 John Campbell
settled at Edenton but soon moved
across the Chowan River into what
is now known as BERTHE County
where he built up a community to
which he gave the name Coleraine.
To his own 800-acre plantation
located on the, west side of the
Chowan River he gave the relaxing
name "Lazy HILL"
While young Richard Brownrigg
was employed as a tutor to the
children of John Campbell and liv-
ing IN his home he fell in love with
one OF his students, Sarah, then a
maid in her teens. They were mar
r1ed, according to old records, on
September 18, 1850, and for the
happy young couple John Campbell
built a beautiful home on the Che
wan River across from one of his
farms, "Point Comfort" which
was then located about nine miles
from the mouth of the Chowan
River. This home was said to have
been completed in 1852, was given
the name of "Wingfield" after the
Brownrigg ancestral home in Ire
land.
Until 1921 evidence that Richard
Brownrigg was the founder of the
shad and herring fishing industry
in North Carolina rested upon a
letter written by Thomas Iredell.
of st. Dorothy's, Jamaica, to his
nephew, James Iredell, who was
then collector of customs for the
port of Edenton. 1t was dated July
10, 1859, and read as follows:
Dear Nephew: / have already
wrote you by the conveyance. II
have determined of a runaway
Negro slave ] sent you. His name
is Spencer. Dispose of him as YOU
can, and by the first opportunity