COASTAL 



TIDINGS 



The Waterman y s Song 



In his new 

 book, The Waterman's 

 Song: Slavery and 

 Freedom in Maritime 

 North Carolina, David 

 S. Cecelski traces the 

 evolution of maritime 

 slave culture from the 

 black pirates and 

 African boatmen of 

 the 18th century to 

 the slave pilots in 

 North Carolina ports. 



Cecelski, whose 

 "Historian's Coast" 

 essays have appeared 

 in Coastwatch, sheds 

 light on often 



overlooked chapters of history. He tells of 

 the black watermen who piloted Union 

 vessels and the slave pilots who helped 

 runaway slaves escape by ship. 



'The stories of slave watermen's lives 

 usually have to be teased from the barest 

 threads in the documentary record," 

 Cecelski writes. Through steadfast 

 research of slave narratives, he provides 



jhE WATERMAN'S SONG 



insight into the 

 lives of the many 

 African Americans 

 who worked as 

 boatmen, pilots, 

 fishers, sailors, 

 stevedores and 

 shipwrights. 



His stories 

 capture their 

 struggles along the 

 way to freedom 

 fro m the colonial 

 era through 

 Reconstruction, 

 from the Great 

 Dismal to the Cape 

 Fear, and from 

 bustling seaports to quiet fish camps. 



Cecelski is the Lehman Bradyjoint 

 Chair Professor in Documentary and 

 American Studies at Duke University and 

 the University of North Carolina at Chapel 

 Hill. He is the author of several other books, 

 including Along Freedom Road: Hyde County. 

 The Waterman's Song is available from The 

 University of North Carolina Press. — P.S. 



CAROLINA 

 S. CECELskl 



Wetlands Project 

 to be Community Model 



Airlie Gardens, a popular New 

 Hanover County park, recently began 

 construction of a one-acre rain garden. The 

 man-made wetland project could become a 

 model for alternative methods of catching 

 and treating stormwater. 



Stormwater from a nearby housing 

 development will filter through the rain 

 garden before running into Bradley Creek — 

 one of many creeks and streams that drains 

 into the environmentally sensitive Cape Fear 

 River. 



Airlie Gardens officials hope both 



developers and planning officials will 

 consider constructed wetlands as an effective 

 stormwater management technique. 



Students from Cape Fear Community 

 College will help Airlie staff members install 

 and maintain the new rain garden. 



Airlie Gardens, known for its display of 

 azaleas, is a favorite destination for 

 Wilmington residents and tourists. In 1998, 

 New Hanover County purchased the gardens 

 from a private landowner, in part, with a 

 grant from the N.C. Clean Water Manage- 

 ment Trust Fund. - P.S. 



Coastal Ocean 

 Program Receives 

 NOAA Grant 



The University of North Carolina at 

 Wilmington will continue its Coastal 

 Ocean Research and Monitoring Program 

 with a $925,000 grant from the National 

 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

 (NOAA). 



The interdisciplinary program 

 provides in-depth research of the 

 biological, chemical, geological and 

 physical/meteorological dynamics of 

 North Carolina's coastal ocean. Broad 

 initiatives within the program include 

 fisheries, oceanography, coastal ocean 

 water quality, coastal ocean productivity, 

 sediment transport, shoreline stability, 

 ocean circulation and weather, and the 

 general health of the coastal ecosystem. 



"We have begun a far-reaching 

 program to assure that future decisions 

 regarding the health of our fragile coasts 

 is based on comprehensive information 

 and understanding," says Marvin K. 

 Moss, professor of physics and physical 

 oceanography and program director. 



The program is designed to address 

 the rapid growth and development of the 

 Southeastern region and its effects on the 

 coastal system, as well as the long-term 

 problems associated with frequent 

 hurricanes and other storm systems, 

 beach erosion, polluted run-off from cities 

 and farms, and loss of living resources. 



Data will be collected from 1 7 

 permanent moorings in the coastal waters 

 of North Carolina's Onslow and Long 

 bays, as well as 20 or more fixed sites. 



More than a dozen researchers are 

 involved, from UNC-W, North Carolina 

 State University, the University of Rhode 

 Island and NOAA's National Undersea 

 Research Center. — K.M. 



COASTWATCH S 



