Freight boat to Ocracoke brought ice, fruit and memories

Once a week, the old freight boat would leave out of Ocracoke Island, N.C., and run across the Pamlico Sound and go up the Pamlico River to the docks at Washington, N.C. 

Crews would offload lots of seafood products packed in salt to be delivered to markets in eastern North Carolina and beyond.

The last vessel to make the run was the Bessie Virginia, retiring in the early 1960s. Built in 1910, she was a diesel-powered, 65-foot vessel capable of carrying 90 tons of freight. This is how the Ocracoke Islanders got their supplies and materials.

Ocracoke’s old-timers said: “Now and then, dead bodies were carried off the island on the freight boat. At those times, the vessel’s flag was flown upside down at half mast,” as a signal for folks to be prayerful toward the families of the “dearly departeds.”

Before electrification of Ocracoke in the mid-1930s, the freight boat brought an important commodity – huge, 300-pound blocks of ice. (When the Ocracoke Power and Light Company was formed, one of the first village projects was to build an ice plant next to the community store.)

Three generations of Ocracoke O’Neals served as freight boat pilots over the years, and they would also carry passengers packed amidst the cargo, which could include livestock, soft drinks, groceries, medicines, clothing, building supplies…and anything else that would fit aboard.

Capt. Van Henry O’Neal could often be seen visiting Washington shops with a list of items needed by the O’cokers.

Fannie Pearl Fulcher said: “We used to leave Ocracoke early in the morning, and it would take us all day long to cross the Pamlico Sound and chug up the river to get into Washington.”

Capt. Van Henry O’Neal said the average trip time was 7 hours, 15 minutes. The top speed was 10 knots (about 11.5 miles per hour).

Fannie said that Ocracoke had little access to fruit except for what was transported on the freight boat from Washington, such as oranges, apples, coconuts, pineapples, lemons and limes. Island churches had fruit festivals each year, selling lemon pies, pineapple cake and ice cream flavored with a variety of fruits.

Ocracoke’s Elsie Ballance Garrish said the freight boat would bring vacationers from Washington to Ocracoke so they would enjoy fishing and sunbathing. Of course, the highlight was always the Saturday night square dancing.

 

“The Ocracoke Island square dance is actually a big circle dance,” wrote Philip Howard, who often “calls” the community dances these days. He will talk you through the dance:

 

“Swing your partner...and promenade…wring your dishrag…shoo fly in the middle…open up and wind the clock.”

“Dive for the oyster…dig for the clam…carry your partner to the promised land!”

Author Bland Simpson (shown below) shared a tale about the Bessie Virginia told by Blount Rumley, a historian based in “Little Washington.”

 

“One trip, Capt. Van had a whole hull full of crabs on the Bessie Virginia…the market was flooded with crabs; he couldn’t get rid of ‘em, and they were starting to go bad, fast…and it was making a big smell,” Rumley said.

 

Blount Rumley

“The captain went all through the town of Washington begging people to come take these crabs. My father got three pickup truck loads,” Rumley said. “Spread ‘em all over the backyard for fertilizer. Mama was so mad! She was furious. It did smell right much. Neighbors didn’t like it too much either.”

“The next day, the crabs mysteriously disappeared.”

Meet Ocracokers Irvin and Elsie Garrish: 

Capt. Irvin Scott Garrish of Ocracoke (1916-97) used to run the ferry route between Ocracoke Island and the mainland in Carteret County. 

The ferry service, which began in 1960, was owned and operated by the Taylor brothers of Sea Level. They had multiple business interests in the Down East section of Carteret County.

The State of North Carolina purchased the Taylors’ ferry operation in 1964, and the southern docks were moved from the village of Atlantic to Cedar Island, cutting the crossing time by 75 minutes. 

(Today, the Cedar Island-Ocracoke ferry crossing takes approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes. The distance is roughly 22 miles.)

Martha Garrish O’Neal said Capt. Garrish (her father) loved his job, “indulging his penchant for sharing the story of Ocracoke. He’d tell stories and point out different things about the sounds (Core and Pamlico) over the loudspeaker for the passengers.”

When time came for Irvin Garrish to retire from ferry boat piloting, he found work as the driver and narrator of the Ocracoke village trolley. When the trolley service was discontinued, “Irvin got a van and drove it around as a tour shuttle for visitors,” Martha said.

 

“He also made a cassette recording for people to do their own tours,” she said. “His mind was always going.”

Irvin Garrish was a one-man tourism bureau. As a tribute, the North Carolina Department of Transportation named the historic 17-mile stretch of N.C. Route 12 on Ocracoke Island in his memory – “Irvin Garrish Highway.”

 

Another chapter in the “life and times of Irvin Garrish,” details his distinction as being the first representative from Ocracoke Township to be elected to the Hyde County Board of Commissioners. 

This was an important breakthrough that helped allay feelings of “taxation without representation” on the island. Ocracoke provides more than half of the tax base for Hyde County.

Irvin Garrish was married to an Ocracoke girl named Elsie Dean Ballance (1915-2003), who probably deserved her own highway.

She became a Registered Nurse in 1938, having received her training at Rex Hospital in Raleigh. “In Ocracoke (with no doctor), Elsie devoted herself to providing health care for her friends and neighbors,” according to village historian Philip Howard.

The Garrish clan is well-represented on Ocracoke Island, Philip Howard said. Garrish is one of about a dozen surnames that date back to the first census in 1790.

Martha Garrish, wife of Wilson Jule Garrish, has assumed a bit of a “gatekeeper” role in her career as an Ocracoke real estate sales executive.

Writing for Our State magazine, journalist Michael Graff stated: “Martha Garrish sells pieces of Ocracoke to people who love it. ‘This is not a financial decision,’ Martha tells prospective buyers. ‘This is an emotional decision. You’re buying a love of Ocracoke.’”

“The worst thing you can do is come here because you love it and then try to change it,” Martha said. 

“If you do, it’s like ‘Survivor.’ We’re going to vote you off the island.”

She’s not serious, of course…but there’s nothing wrong with a friendly idle threat to get the point across.

Doug and Judy Eifer moved to Ocracoke from Kentucky to rejuvenate a local restaurant, Graff reported.

 

“The Eifers get almost all of their seafood from fishermen on the island. Ferris brings the bluefish, flounder and drum. Julian provides most of the shellfish. And Rodney brings the clams,” Graff said. “Rodney also helped Doug learn how to drive a boat.”

“The reason we moved here was because of the people,” Doug says. “The natural beauty only takes you so far.”