NC: Saving the Fish House: Ocracoke Islanders keep their fishing heritage alive

 

 “We ate fish three times a day. It was fried for breakfast, stewed for dinner, and baked for supper. Next day we turned it round the other way,” shares Roy Parsons in the oral history, “Ocracoke Still Speaks.” [Click on the audio file below to hear Parsons share this story, part of the oral history compilation “Ocracoke Still Speaks.”] OCRACOKE’S BROGUE

James Barrie Gaskill was a waterman to the core. Before he unexpectedly passed away in June 2017 while tending his nets, he would spend a portion of his day hanging out at the fish house on Ocracoke Island, watching the comings and goings of commercial fishermen and fisherwomen. He was a teacher and later principal at Ocracoke School, but for much of his life he made a living on the sea.

 

As he watched his son, Morty, fill large containers on his skiff with ice before pushing away from the dock to head out into Pamlico Sound, James Barrie shook his head. “He has a degree, and he has come back to this,” he said with a thick Ocracoke brogue and a mixture of incredulous wonder and fatherly pride.

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