I lived on a 28' Chris Craft from June 30, 1970 until May 1, 1971, in Southport, and also traveled the Intracoastal Waterway from Southport to Washington, DC and South to Riviera Beach, Florida.
Captain Len Lowrey from Reedville, Virginia, had a 42' Yacht under the covered dock and he lived aboard when fishing in this area. Captain Len had given up alcohol and he said it changed his life, thus the name of his yacht "The Menopause". I always knew when someone saw that name for the first time, because of the laughter from the tourists and transient boat owners that walked by.
At that time there were 3 old wooden minesweepers converted to fishing vessels that fished out of Southport in search of menhaden or "pogies". These fish were processed at the Fish Factory and the product was either fertilizer or an additive to chicken feed, depending on who was telling the story.
The boats would be directed to schools of fish by airplane "spotters", purse boats would be dropped from the larger boat. These smaller boats then encircled the school to draw a net around the fish. The fish were then into the hold. I went out on one of these boats, and saw that the crew would spear out the good table fish for dinner. The "fertilizer" fish were processed locally and a good catch meant there was money to be spent in the town. Cruising back in by Southport, the boats would sound their horn three times to say "hello" to Southport, then each blast on the horn after that would signify 100,000 fish. I was told by Captain Len that when the catch was good that credit was easy to come by in anticipation of good paychecks to follow.
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