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Menhaden Trawler Parkins
Menhaden, known as the fish that built Beaufort was a major fishery that began in the south shortly after the civil war. After 1890 the menhaden industry in North Carolina was booming. The main method to catch these fish utilized several smaller boats that would assist a larger mothership. Built in 1923 the Parkins was made for the purpose of trawling for menhaden. By 1940 according to the Beaufort News, the Parkins and her captain David Davis had caught more menhaden than any other boat along east coast and Gulf of Mexico. On the evening of December 17, 1942 the Parkins was caught in heavy weather and began taking on water at a rate in which its pumps could not keep up. By December 18th around 1:40am the boat was beginning to sink and USCG Fort Macon sent a motor lifeboat to their rescue. The rescue crew found the entire crew of the Parkins safe aboard the Parkins’ mate boat and purse boat. They began to tow the stranded fishermen to shore with the mate boat being the first in tow and the purse boat dead last. The mate boat capsized in the heavy seas. In order to free themselves from the overturned vessel the purse boat cut their tow line free. Unfortunately the purse boat, now adrift, capsized in the breakers approaching Shackleford banks. This disaster resulted in 18 casualties, only 16 of which were ever recovered. The other 7 crew members were rescued. The nameplate for the Parkins is on display at the Beaufort Maritime Museum in their commercial fishing display.