BOAT STORIES
A CULTURAL HISTORY PROJECT
Curtis Carter and Wynn Gale worked both worked on Blessed Assurance out of Darien, GA.
Hinton Arnsdorff
VESSELS: Kary Joe, Missy, Misty Dawn, Ms. Kim, Notre Dame, Gray Ghost, West Wind, Bunny B. Hinton
A Georgia native, Captain Hinton Arndorff is no stranger to shrimping off Georgia’s coast, having done it since he was 15 years old. He has worked on or captained several boats with such names as Kary Joe, Missy, Misty Dawn, Ms. Kim, Notre Dame, Gray Ghost, West Wind, and Bunny B. Hinton. Arnsdorff and his wife, Traci, run their seafood business out of their home in Richmond Hill, Georgia.
Captain Ansdorff used to help test out different turtle excluder devices for Captain Lindsay Parker with UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant.
The Gale Brothers
VESSELS: Big Cobb, Blessed Assurance, Alligator, Hell or High Water, Kim Sea King, Miss Sherry, Mystic Seas, Wait and Sea, Sea Hawk, Sea Flea
Brothers Captain Wynn and Darrell Gale come from a multi generation shrimping family out of Darien, Georgia. Both grew up fishing with their dad and have spent decades fishing Georgia’s coastal waters. The two captains have worked on, captained or owned 10 boats between them including Big Cobb, Blessed Assurance, Alligator, Hell or High Water, Kim Sea King, Miss Sherry, Mystic Seas, Wait and Sea, Sea Hawk and Sea Flea.
Wynn Gale bought his former boat, Big Cobb, from Morris Butler and later sold it to a shrimper in North Carolina who changed the name to Renegade. Darrell Gale recently bought the vessel back from the shrimper and renamed it Big Cobb.
ABOUT THIS PROJECT
The goals of this collaborative project are to teach others about the rich history of commercial fishing on Georgia’s coast, guide current and future decisions to better support the industry, and raise awareness of the experiences of commercial fishermen and their changing livelihoods.
Key to the process were students at Georgia Southern University who conducted all the fisher interviews and recorded the voices for current and future generations. These oral histories help create an invaluable historic and current database of knowledge that can be useful to science as well as local community history.
The full recorded interviews and transcripts collected as part of this project are available on the NOAA Fisheries website, Voices: Oral History Archives. https://voices.nmfs.noaa.gov/collection/boat-stories
PROJECT TEAM
Primary Investigator
Dr. Jennifer Sweeney Tookes
Georgia Southern University
Jennifer Sweeney Tookes is an applied Anthropologist, and has been conducting research with members of Georgia's commercial fishing communities since 2013.
Contact: jtookes@georgiasouthern.edu .
Co-Primary Investigator
Bryan Fluech
UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant
Bryan Fluech serves as the Associate Director of Extension for UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant. He is responsible for coordinating marine extension activities across the state, and also serves as the unit’s fisheries specialist.
Contact: fluech@uga.edu
Project Manager
Jamekia Collins
Georgia Southern University
Jamekia Collins is a graduate of the Georgia Southern University Master's in Social Science program.
Boat Stories is one of several projects on which Tookes and Fluech have collaborated. Details about all their projects can be found at www.WorkingWaterfronts.org .
This project is supported under grant award #NA20NOS4190175 to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources from the Office for Coastal Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendation are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of DNR, OCM or NOAA.
