Photos by Kathy Hart 



Ronald Cockfield 



Charlie Powell 



lights hanging from the mast and the 

 wires illuminate the back deck for 

 work. First mate Charlie Powell makes 

 a final check of the nets, making sure 

 the tailbag rope is secure. No one 

 wants to lose a single shrimp tonight. 

 Along the side of the boat, Powell 

 readies the "tickle" chain, so called 

 because it drags the ocean floor "tick- 

 ling" the shrimp off the bottom and 

 into the net. 



Cockfield is running the Miss Bozy 

 just offshore toward Carolina Beach. 

 Powell points to several towers of 

 blinking lights that emit loran 

 navigational readings. "Ronald 

 usually puts the nets down when we 

 pull alongside those towers," the 20- 

 year-old first mate says. 



And to prove the first mate right, 

 the motor slows just as the trawler 

 pulls even with the towers. Cockfield 

 emerges from the pilot house to help 

 Powell lower the nets into the ocean. 

 The sound of grinding winches fills the 

 night air. First each set of otter doors 

 are hoisted to the end of the outriggers. 

 Placed at each side of the mouth of the 

 net, the wooden doors aid in keeping 

 the net open and on the bottom. 



Next, the main body of the right net 

 is lowered into the waves. The right 

 tailbag follows. The procedure is 

 repeated for the left net. The Miss 

 Bozy is a double-rig trawler. She pulls 

 two 75-foot nets. 



With the nets in position, Cockfield 

 lowers the doors into place. A marking 

 on the steel towing line lets the captain 

 know when the nets are the right dis- 

 tance from the boat and its propellers. 



Off the left side of the boat Cockfield 

 drops the try net. The try net, a 16- 

 foot miniature version of the large 

 nets, catches a small sampling of what 

 the larger nets catch. Pulled up every 

 30 minutes to an hour, the try net gives 

 the captain a good idea what he's 

 catching and whether he should con- 

 tinue trawling in a certain area. 



With all the nets in the water, 

 Cockfield returns to the pilot house 

 and increases the boat's speed for 

 trawling. We soon pass another small 

 island of light indicating another boat 

 and crew are at work. 



On this July night, just after 2:30 

 a.m., there is no moonlight reflecting 

 off the water. Cockfield is glad. He 

 catches more shrimp on dark nights. 



It is the height of the season in 

 southern North Carolina, and 

 Cockfield is hoping for a large catch 

 tonight. But so far the season has not 

 been prosperous. 



"My catches are nowhere near what 

 they usually are," Cockfield says. "I'm 

 catching a third of what I usually 

 catch. Where I usually get ten to fif- 

 teen boxes of shrimp a night (one box 

 holds about 100 pounds of shrimp), I'm 

 lucky to get three boxes now. Shrimp- 

 ing's bad this season. We're not mak- 

 ing any money." 



Cockfield captains the Miss Bozy, 

 but B. C. Costin of Wilmington owns 

 her. Cockfield managed another one of 

 Costin's trawlers, the Night Train, 

 for six years. Cockfield says he has 

 spent most of his life on the water. His 

 father, also a shrimper, schooled him 

 early in the techniques of shrimping. 

 "I quit shrimping for a while a few 

 years back and took up installing air 

 conditioners," he says. "But I couldn't 

 stay away from it. Staying on the 

 water has a lure that keeps drawing 

 you back." 



About 45 minutes after setting out 

 the nets, Cockfield winches in the try 



