2023 Conference Agenda

Below is the preliminary agenda for the 33rd Annual North Carolina Maritime History Council Conference! Click the titles on each talk to view the abstract for the presentation.

Don't forget to register for the conference using the link below:

Thursday, November 30, 2023

Janice Hardison Faulkner Gallery, Joyner Library, ECU Main Campus

6:00 – 8:00 PM

Welcome Reception

Finger foods, snacks, & drinks provided.

Friday, December 01, 2023

Harvey Hall, Murphy Center, Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium

8:00 – 9:00 AM

Registration

Session 1:

Legacies of Maritime Industry and Infrastructure

(In honor of Harry Thompson, 1934-2013)

9:00 – 9:20 AM

The Management of Free and Enslaved Laborers in North Carolina’s Antebellum Shad and Herring Fisheries

Bennett, David

North Carolina Maritime Museum, Beaufort

9:20 – 9:40 AM

B-LIMEY! A Nineteenth Century Oyster Shell Burning Lime Kiln and Legacy of “The Castle,” Washington, North Carolina

Jeremy Borrelli

Program in Maritime Studies, East Carolina University

9:40 – 10:00 AM

Influences of Tradition and Legacies of Risk on Provincetown Plum-Pudding Whaling Operations in the North Carolina Hatteras Grounds

Lindsay Wentzel

Program in Maritime Studies, East Carolina University

10:00 – 10:20 AM

Timber Analysis of Washington’s Castle Island

Olivia Livingston, Jason T. Raupp, & R. Stockton Maxwell

Program in Maritime Studies, East Carolina University

Department of Geospatial Science, Radford University

10:20 – 10:40 AM

The Manteo Screw Pile: An Engineering Relic in Context

Nathan Richards

Program in Maritime Studies, East Carolina University

10:40 – 11:00 AM

When in Five Fathoms Water: The Federal Point Lighthouse

Becky Sawyer

Fort Fisher State Historic Site, North Carolina Historic Sites

11:00 – 11:10 AM

BREAK

Session 2:

Impacts of Historic Preservation in NC

(In honor of Wilson Walker Snowden, 1943-2023)

11:10 – 11:30 AM

Interpreting North Carolina’s Maritime Heritage and Legacy at NC Historic Sites

Andrew Duppstadt

North Carolina Historic Sites

11:30 – 11:50 AM

Assessing 60 years of North Carolina Dugout Canoe Research

Kim Kenyon, Chris Southerly, Stephen B. Atkinson, & David Cranford

Office of State Archaeology

North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

11:50 AM – 12:10 PM

Adapting Stations: Climate Change Strategies on the Historic Preservation of the Ocracoke Light Station

Jami Lanier & George Jaramillo

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, National Park Service

12:10 – 12:30 PM

“A Tale of Two Ships: Part Deux” Previous discoveries in the history of La Concorde and the next phase of the NC African American Heritage Commission’s IMLS-funded project

Jillian Schuler

North Carolina African American Heritage Commission

12:30 – 2:00 PM

LUNCH

Session 3:

American Civil War History

(In honor of Dr. William N. Still, 1932-2023)

2:00 – 2:20 PM

Waccamaw: The History of a Double Ender

Thomas Fosdick

Program in Maritime Studies, East Carolina University

2:20 – 2:40 PM

Failure to Commission: Ironclad Production in North Carolina as a Microcosm of Confederate Industrial Collapse

Jim Fowler

Program in Maritime Studies, East Carolina University

2:40 – 3:00 PM

Testing the Typology: New Analysis of Civil War Blockade Runners

Alex Owens

Program in Maritime Studies, East Carolina University

3:00 – 3:20 PM

Defending the Sounds: North Carolina’s Confederate Coast and the Steamers CSS Winslow and CSS SeaBird

Adam Parker

AECOM

3:20 – 3:40 PM

Professionals, Amateurs, Deserters, and Heroes; The Crew of the CSS Neuse

Matthew Young

CSS Neuse Civil War Museum

3:40 – 4:00 PM

Waves of Change: The Maritime Legacy of Robert Smalls

Armani Gibbs

Program in Maritime Studies, East Carolina University

4:00 PM – 4:20 PM

British-American Colonial Credit in this Summer Country: The Legacy of Bath County, North Carolina Second Oldest County (cr.1696-ext.1739)

Gillian Hookway-Jones

Bath, North Carolina

4:20 – 6:30 PM

BREAK

6:30 PM – 9:00 PM

KEYNOTE & DINNER

High Liners and Rabble Rousers: Legendary Participants of the North Carolina Commercial Fishing Industry

Barbara Garrity-Blake

The history of North Carolina’s commercial fisheries is well documented. Less visible are the personalities and lived experiences of commercial fishers who have shared their knowledge and stories with researchers throughout the years. I will highlight a few people who have helped me better understand the complexities of commercial fishing. I will describe how I crossed paths with them, and offer reflections on their legacy achievements in helping shape North Carolina fisheries and management in the past fifty years.

About Our Speaker

Barbara Garrity-Blake is a cultural anthropologist and author. She teaches marine fisheries policy at the Duke University Marine Laboratory and is president of NC Catch, a local seafood advocacy non-profit. She is author of The Fish Factory (University of Tennessee Press), and co-author of Fish House Opera (Mystic Seaport Press with Susan West) and Living at the Water's Edge (UNC Press with Karen Amspacher). She lives in Gloucester (Carteret County) with her husband Bryan, where they organize the Gloucester Mardi Gras and the Wild Caught Local Seafood and Music Festival.

Saturday, December 02, 2023

Harvey Hall, Murphy Center, Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium

8:00 – 9:00 AM

Registration

Session 4:

People, Places, & Goods in the Atlantic World

(In honor of Dr. Lindley S. Butler, 1939-2022)

9:00 – 9:20 AM

Masters at Sea: Navigation Aboard La Concorde /Queen Anne’s Revenge

Nick Baker

Program in Maritime Studies, East Carolina University

9:20 – 9:40 AM

North Carolina Emigration to Liberia in the 19th and 20th Century

Jarvis Hargrove

Department of History, East Carolina University

9:40 – 10:00 AM

Jamaican Rum, Snakeroot and Walking Canes: Exploring 18th Century Port Brunswick Cargoes

Lynn B. Harris

Program in Maritime Studies, East Carolina University

10:00 – 10:20 AM

Robert Pringle and Globalization in Colonial South Carolina

Eric Oakley

Department of History, East Carolina University

10:20 – 10:40 AM

India Ink and Permanent Marks: Tattoos Among Sailors at Fort Fisher

Becky Sawyer

Fort Fisher State Historic Site, North Carolina Historic Sites

10:40 – 10:50 AM

BREAK

Session 5:

Military Legacy and Conflict History

(In honor of Dr. Wade Dudley, 1953-2020)

10:50 – 11:10 AM

In a Very Unwarlike Condition: The HMS Cruizer and British Naval Activity in the Lower Cape Fear River, 1775-1776

Stephen B. Atkinson

North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Branch

11:10 – 11:30 AM

A History F6F-3 Hellcats in the Battle for Saipan

Jennifer McKinnon & Alexander Morrow

Program in Maritime Studies, East Carolina University

11:30 – 11:50 AM

Six Oilers: The Epic History and Founding of the Supply Line Between the United States and Australia in 1942

Salvatore R. Mercogliano

Department of History, Criminal Justice, and Political Science, Campbell University

11:50 AM – 12:00 PM

CLOSING REMARKS

12:30 – 1:30 PM

EXECUTIVE BOARD ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

This meeting is open to all Council members and attendees of the conference.

2:30-4:30 PM

AFTERNOON TOUR

Queen Anne's Revenge Project Lab (NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources) & Maritime Archaeology Labs of the Program in Maritime Studies (East Carolina University)

ECU West Research Campus (1157 VOA Site C Road, Greenville, N.C. 27834) Come and tour the conservation lab of the Queen Anne's Revenge Project (https://www.qaronline.org/) and see the maritime archaeology laboratories of East Carolina University's Program in Maritime Studies (Department of History; https://maritimestudies.ecu.edu/) Due to time and space limitations, tours will be limited to groups of 25 -- up two groups (max 50) may attend the tour. (Open to registrants only; Registration is in advance at the conference via signup sheet-- at which time directions will be provided)