Shrimping with Captain Royce
My name is Joe Lawson. I live in Martinsville, Indiana, but my wife was
born and raised in Georgia. Shortly after we met, up here in Indiana, she said,
“Come to Georgia with me, I want to show you MY island!!
That was in 1989. After one visit, I was indeed addicted to Tybee Island. I
think we have visited Tybee every year since then. Being a ‘flatlander,’ I have
never come to embrace all the seafood delicacies that the ocean has to offer.
BUT I do love shrimp!! So over the years, as we came to Tybee, it became our
ritual on the first night of our visit to get the water and spices on the fire, then
I would run out to Lazaretto Creek Seafood and buy a couple or three pounds
of fresh shrimp. I would take those to my wife then head to MacElwee’s to
get some hush puppies. By the time I got home with the hush puppies, the
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shrimp were headed and boiled and we were ready for our ‘welcome back
to Tybee feast!’ Over the years, this added up to many, many trips to the
Lazaretto Creek Seafood store.
Captain Roy happened to be in his store one day as I bought fresh shrimp.
We chatted briefly as we often did, catching up on health issues and Island
gossip. As I was leaving, Captain said, “You ought to come fishing with me
one day.” I said, “Are you serious? “ He replied, “If you’re here at 4am, you’re
welcome!”
(12 hours later, 4am)
We loaded the boat with several buckets of ice.
First Mate Steve snatched up a piece of plywood from the cabin floor and
dropped down to the engine as Captain Roy reached the Captain’s chair.
Steve said “Ready,” Roy hit the starter, and with one quick shot of starter
fluid, the old engine sprang to life.
We cast off and Captain Roy steered thru the marina and out to the river/
sea. Steve began to prepare the nets. Soon the engine was cut back to
dragging speed and after 5 minutes of a moaning winch and grinding cables,
the nets were let out. We were shrimping!!
The moment we began to ‘shrimp,’ the atmosphere on the boat went from
‘all business’ to ‘laid back.’ Captain Roy steered while Steve fixed us a bite to
eat. Captain Roy was a good old boy with no misconceptions about who he
was or who he wasn’t. This made him a pleasure to be around. He could’ve
stood to lose 25 pounds (couldn’t we all), and could’ve used a haircut. His
sweatshirt was clean and his jeans had a crease down the front. Said he’d
been a shrimper for 41 years and wouldn’t trade a day of it for anything.
Claimed if the season was year round, he’d never go on vacation, because
there’s no place he liked better. He laughed and claimed he would be a
shrimper even if it didn’t provide him with a living.
First Mate Steve was very quiet and seemed intelligent to me. But to the
Captain, Steve needed guidance and input 2 or 3 times per hour, which Roy
was willing to provide. I believe they liked each other but as the day wore on,
I occasionally needed to remind myself of that ‘alleged affection.’
Roy spent the next couple of hours sharing his fishing adventures with
me. Note that we were basically standing on top of a 400 HP engine, with
By Joe Lawson