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NC Sea Grant and UNC Coastal Studies Institute Host a Presentation on the Formation of Boat Graveyards and their Correlation with the NC Commercial Fishing Industry: April 1


April 1, 2011 — 6 p.m., Jockey's Ridge State Park Auditorium, Nags Head, NC


Jacqueline L. Marcotte, a graduate student in ECU's Program in Maritime Studies, will present her study "End of the Line: The History and Archaeology of the Wright's Creek Boat Graveyard and the North Carolina Fishing Industry."  The study was performed as part of a graduate program and Dr. Nathan Richards of ECU and the UNC Coastal Studies Institute acted as the student's advisor.  Her research was funded by a North Carolina Sea Grant Fellowship in Maritime Heritage in partnership with East Carolina University.

The presentation will outline work that was done between 2007 and 2009 studying small boat disposal sites that allowed archaeologists to construct alternative interpretations of the social, economic and technological changes affecting communities heavily reliant upon commercial fi shing. The continued interaction of the local shipbuilders and ship owners with their discarded watercraft also demonstrated the social significance of these vessels, and established how these boats act as tangible records of transitioning maritime industries.

This presentation will discuss recent archaeological research at Wright's Creek, and how the formation of boat graveyard sites correspond with the fortunes of the North Carolina commercial fishing industry and the communities around them. The findings of this study may have interesting correlations to the fishing history of the Outer Banks.

For more information, visit http://csi.northcarolina.edu. Or read about this research featured in the Winter 2009 issue of Coastwatch magazine.