Culture, Ship Construction, and Ecological Change: The Sailing Vessels of Pensacola’s Fishing Industry

Summary

Dubbed the "Gloucester of the Gulf," Pensacola and Northwest Florida experienced a tremendous growth in the popularity and success of local commercial fishing in the years following the Civil War.  Entrepreneurial fishermen arriving in Pensacola from New England fueled a massive market for Gulf of Mexico fish, constructing what would become the last all sail-powered commercial fleet in the country.  The connection between  the region’s Reconstruction-era industry and the natural environment in which it existed resulted in a complicated, interdependent relationship.  Considering marine characteristics, historical documents, and archaeological work undertaken on the wreck sites of former commercial vessels, this relationship becomes clear.  This paper thus describes the ways in which Northwest Florida’s environment significantly shaped the unique qualities of its fishing vessels and the lives of those who fished from them.  Equally important, it also discusses the many ways in which commercial vessels and fishermen shaped their natural surroundings.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Marooned: Studies of Shipwreck Sites   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 500