Oystering came to a crossroads at Ocracoke in late 1880s

“O” is for Oysters and Ocracoke. This island community was directly in the crosshairs of the “Oyster War” that began in the late 1880s and was caused by oyster poachers from the Chesapeake Bay area of Maryland and Virginia who invaded North Carolina waters.

Several coastal writers have reported on this incident, which became an important chapter in North Carolina’s maritime history.

Kip Tabb, a correspondent with the North Carolina Coastal Federation, reported that “the harvesting of oysters in North Carolina had begun as a family affair with oystermen tending small oyster gardens near the shore, harvesting their oysters with tongs, a rake-like device.”

“The technique was labor-intensive, and the depth of the water the oystermen could work was limited by the length of the (implement’s) handle,” Tabb said.

 

However, Robert F. Moss, a food and beverage writer from Charleston, S.C., noted that “in the Chesapeake Bay, hand tongs were replaced by dredges dragged over the beds by steam-powered boats, harvesting oysters in massive quantities…but destroying centuries-old beds in the process.”

The late George Stevenson Jr., who served nearly four decades as the official North Carolina state archivist, confirmed that “overfishing had dangerously depleted the seemingly inexhaustible oyster beds of Maryland and Virginia.”

Consequently, oyster dredging operators targeted North Carolina as fertile ground.

“In 1888, seven armed vessels from Virginia were reported plying the waters of Hyde County, gathering and transporting 7,000 bushels of oysters weekly to Virginia,” Stevenson wrote.

“During the 1890 season, Carteret, Hyde and Pamlico counties in North Carolina dispatched patrol boats to drive off the oyster pirates, but individual confrontations locally proved ineffectual,” he said.

The editor of the weekly Elizabeth City Economist, lamented the continuing “infernal Virginia oyster thievery.”

“In 1891, North Carolina Gov. Daniel G. Fowle of Washington, N.C., pushed through the General Assembly legislation strong enough to put the dredgers out of business and to prevent the shipping of North Carolina oysters to out-of-state markets,” Stevenson said.

The oystermen of Ocracoke were quick to mobilize and were ready to fight, if necessary, said local historian Philip Howard.

“There never was any doubt among Ocracoke islanders that Pamlico Sound oyster beds belonged to them and should remain protected from large scale commercial dredging companies who would have…quickly depleted the oyster populations,” Howard said.

The Wilmington Weekly Star reported that a North Carolina oyster patrol was formed, stating: “If any dredgers are found continuing to ravish the oyster beds they will be arrested, even if their boats have to be blown out of the water and their crews killed.”

Only one vessel was impounded, Stevenson said. “Its captain and crew were charged and tried in the Pamlico County Superior Court, thus ending the ‘Oyster War’” in North Carolina.

Fortunately, it was short-lived and bloodless, he said.

Stevenson’s summary leaves out some of the juicy tidbits.

The late Philip Gerard, a contributor to Our State magazine, said the “war heroes” were about 40 Ocracoke oystermen. “The stakes were as high as they get: control of precious watery territory, defense of a community’s livelihood and the preservation of an endangered fishery.”

The Ocracokers prevailed over the business interests of U.S. Navy Lt. Francis E. Winslow Jr., who had been commissioned by the North Carolina Board of Agriculture to survey the oyster grounds of Pamlico Sound to determine their “oyster potential.”

 

Lt. Winslow mapped more than 500,000 acres of Pamlico Sound and other waters. His findings were published in 1889 and revealed that an “oyster bonanza” lied beneath the water’s surface.

Winslow immediately exited the Navy and joined the Pamlico Oyster Company as its general manager, in an attempt to cash in and make a personal fortune.

Soon thereafter, in early 1890, Winslow arrived in Pamlico Sound on a small schooner with a workforce he had recruited from various Core Sound communities, intending to dredge for oysters, according to Philip Howard.

Ocracokers were afraid that Winslow and “his trespassers would attempt to cheaply harvest oysters that native Ocracokers considered their rightful property,” Howard said.

The islanders took up arms. It was reported that Winslow said that “he never saw the muzzle of a shotgun look so large.”

Hyde County Sheriff J. R. Roper was expected to keep the peace. He sought assistance from attorney S. T. Beckwith, who wrote to Gov. Fowle on Feb. 4, 1890, stating that the “Ocracoke oystermen have concluded that they believe from the depth of their hearts that they are proprietors of the public oyster grounds.”

Gov. Fowle replied that “the men of Ocracoke know that the courts of our State is the tribunal in which your rights will receive careful investigation, and full justice will be done you.’”

He also telegraphed Sheriff Roper with an urgent message: “BLOODSHED MUST BE AVOIDED IF THE LAW CAN BE EXECUTED WITHOUT IT.”

At a judicial hearing, the jurors sided with the islanders, and in the end, more than 300 out-of-state oyster sloops (“oyster pirates”) finally left North Carolina waters, Howard said.

Francis Winslow retreated as well.

He would surface once again in 1899 when he was appointed secretary of the U.S. Nicaraguan Canal Commission, which proposed building a 173-mile canal to connect the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.