The fishermen who navigated local waters in hand-built boats, supplying Charleston for generations
In this circa-1934 image captured by Charleston Museum curator and marine biologist G.R. Lunz Jr., a group of small sailboats manned by Gullah fishermen transport their catch in baskets and buckets to men waiting on the dock. During the 18th century, groups of enslaved fishermen known as the Mosquito Fleet used waterfront property at the east end of Market Street—a parcel donated by Revolutionary War general Charles Cotesworth Pinckney—for their essential delivery of fresh fish and seafood to locals. With no navigational aids, they ventured 15 to 20 miles offshore in small, hand-built wooden boats fitted with homemade sails, returning to sell their catch. After Emancipation, members of the fleet continued trawling the waters to support their families, but larger commercial fishing operations, refrigeration, waterfront development, and a series of devastating hurricanes took a toll on their livelihood. On September 22, 1989, Hurricane Hugo delivered the final blow, destroying most of the fleet’s historic dock.
