Saving Hidden Beauty of Wooden Vessels

 

Wooden boats have captured the imagination and affection of boat lovers since the dawn of boating, but with the rise of modern materials many of them are being left on shore to decay - including the wooden shrimp trawlers that helped put Fernandina Beach on the map as the birthplace of modern shrimping.

Many factors have contributed to the challenges and demise of coastal shrimpers, including the increase of upland shrimp farms, which undercut native shrimp prices, and the rising cost of fuel to run the trawlers.

Local photographer John Adams wants to capture the beauty of wooden shrimp trawlers with his "Evanescent Trawlers of the South," a photographic retrospective of the disappearing handcrafted wooden shrimp trawlers that once plied the coastal waters from the Carolinas to Texas.

Adams hopes to get donations for his photography project through Kickstarter, an online funding source for creative projects. He plans to travel 4,000 miles along Southern shorelines using donated funds from Kickstarter. He said he hopes to create prints for exhibitions in Northeast Florida, a limited edition fine art photography book and an e-book.

"The finished series will represent the essence of the challenges, hard life and above all the hidden beauty of the last rare and quickly passing wooden vessels that remain in the industry," Adams says.

Adams' interest in boats began as a young man working as a salmon fisherman and sea urchin diver in Northern California, after which he spent 20 years in the Navy traveling all over on military vessels.

Now retired from the Navy and working at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Brunswick, Ga., Adams has lived in Fernandina Beach for about six years. He says he is interested in showcasing the lost skills of wooden boatbuilding by capturing images of as many of the remaining trawlers as possible this summer. Adams has been shooting photos of the local shrimping community for the last four years.

Adams says ideally he will take three trips to Florida's east and west coastlines and the Keys; along the Florida Panhandle, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana; and along the coast of Georgia and South Carolina.

Cities he plans to visit include Pensacola, Apalachicola, Panama City, Fort Walton Beach, St Augustine, Titusville, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Key West, Key Largo, Fort Meyers, Tampa, Gulfport, Mobile, Biloxi, Gulfport, New Orleans, Delcambre, Darien, Savannah, Hilton Head, Charleston and many small towns in between.

Adams began taking black-and-white photos and learned to develop them himself at the age of 13. Photography continued as a hobby when he began taking photos of his children, and when digital photography came around, he eagerly embraced its ease of use.

"All the settings are the same, but you don't have to mess with the darkroom or anything," Adams says of digital technology.

A few years back, Adams began taking photos of shrimp trawlers in Brunswick, Ga.

"Every year, the shrimp trawlers are going away," Adams says. "The boats are falling apart and in pieces. Salt water is hard on wooden boats. I want to focus on wood trawlers if I can. ... I'll make a trip or a series of trips and get as many photos as I can."

Adams is also nostalgic about special boatbuilding skills that have been lost due to the dying market for wooden boats.

"Fernandina developed a lot of the techniques (for building wooden trawlers) right here," Adams says. Boat builders were all over the island, he says, including one where Cotton-Eyed Joe's restaurant is now located.

Adams says his plan is to take at least one trip this summer to photograph wooden trawlers in Southern coastal waters, which he will fund himself if he does not get enough in donations. The summer months, although uncomfortably hot, are the ideal time to take outdoor photos, Adams says. This is because it's the best time of year for storm cloud formations and the huge thunderheads that are ideal backgrounds for photographing the coastline.

Once the project is finished, Adams wants to exhibit the photographs at a large venue such as the Jacksonville International Airport. Prints of various sizes are also available at Adams' Kickstarter site, in exchange for a minimum pledge of $25 toward the project. Pledges of $10 or more will receive a free copy of the Evanescent Trawlers of the South e-book. Pledges must be received by Sunday and the website is www.kickstarter.com.