A boat in every yard is still the rule on Harkers Island 



'Sun dogs' and the weather 



When folks on Harkers Island 

 discuss the weather, they're not just 

 passing time. Even more than fisheries 

 enforcement officials, the weather con- 

 trols the commercial fisherman's life. It 

 determines what there is to catch, how 

 much of it and when the fisherman can 

 go out to get it. 



Back in the days before living room 

 barometers and television meteorolo- 

 gists, Harkers Island fishermen had to 

 be able to predict the weather. Most of 

 them still can. 



According to Marcus Hepburn, who 

 has been collecting weather lore, the 

 fishermen's specialized language 

 describes delicate changes in the sun, 

 moon, clouds, water, wind, tides and 

 the behavior of animals. 



It's a far cry from meteorologists' 

 pedantic language. But it's colorful 

 and accurate. In lieu of cirus and 

 cumulus clouds, the fishermen talk 

 about mare's tails, turkle fat and 

 double-headed giants. And they can 

 make the fine distinctions between 

 calm water, slick calm and dead slick 

 calm. 



When it comes to wind conditions, 

 Harkers Island fishermen use expres- 

 sions like Rotten Easter, wind chop 



and sheep storm. "Smelling the pine 

 tops" is a predictive phrase, usually 

 associated with mullet blows in 

 August. The belief is that if a whispy 

 black cloud passes over the water 

 carrying the odor of pinetops there will 

 be a mullet run soon. 



Ever heard of a "sun dog?" It's a 

 tiny multi-colored cloud seen in the 

 evening. "If you see one this evening 

 that side of the sun, you'll have bad 

 weather from that direction 

 tomorrow," says Charlie Russell. 



A few Harkers Island weather 

 phrases have a lilting rhythm that 

 makes them easy to remember. Like 

 this one: "When the wind backen 

 against the sky, trust it not for Back 

 Shell run." Or "wind blowing on the 

 change of the moon, it'll rule that way 

 till the moon is full." 



The relationship between tide and 

 wind is noted in detail. A north wind, 

 some fishermen say, should keep the 

 tide from ebbing out too far. But with 

 a southwest wind at low tide "just 

 about everything will be ebbed out." 



Any Harkers Islander worth his salt 

 can tell something about the weather 

 from the behavior of animals. If you 

 see lightning bugs in the evening, they 



say, there will not be strong or bad 

 weather the next day. What's more, 

 there will be "fire" or phosphorus in 

 the water that night. They also say 

 that when the horses that still roam 

 Shackleford Banks come off the marsh, 

 there will be bad weather before long. 



And here's another Harkers Island 

 favorite: the George Anson. "You get 

 it especially in the month of March," 

 explains Charlie Hancock. "You'll be 

 going in the water and directly 

 something will build right up in the 

 water like a little tornado or 

 something. It don't mean nothing. . . . 

 Directly it will blow right out and go to 

 nothing. I've seen many a one of 'em in 

 my time." 



A few of the weather phrases are 

 closely tied to the history of the Outer 

 Banks. "Cold as Crissy Wright times," 

 for example, refers to one of the area's 

 worst shipwrecks. The Crissy Wright, 

 with her crew of eight, ran aground off 

 the coast of Shackleford Banks in the 

 winter of 1905. It was so cold and 

 windy that all but one of the crew froze 

 to death before a rescue team could 

 plow through the rough seas to the 

 ship. 



Watch out if you ever hear the ex- 

 pression: "The Lawrences are going to 

 dance." That means it's gonna be a 

 scorcher. It refers to the heat waves 

 which rise from the surface of the earth 

 or street during very hot weather. 



Talk about folklore always seems to 

 come around to witches. Like most 

 traditional communities in North 

 Carolina, Harkers Island is reputed to 

 have had its share of practicing 

 witches. Charlie Russell remembers 

 one in particular. "She claimed she had 

 a crooked stick, she could work you, 

 make you give her something." 



During his youth, Russell says, there 

 were lots of folks on the island who 

 believed in the witches' powers. When 

 a fisherman had a streak of bad luck, 

 he might blame a local witch who had 

 "put a conjure on him." 



The most popular way of breaking 

 the jinx, says Russell, was for the 

 fisherman to make a life-sized drawing 

 of the witch. He then stood the draw- 

 ing in the yard and fired his shotgun at 

 it. "That was — most any fisherman 

 that had little enough sense to believe 

 it," chuckles Russell. 



