The Menhaden Chanteymen

The Menhaden Chanteymen is a musical group based out of Carteret County, North Carolina. They are a group of retired African-American commercial fishermen who publicly perform the work songs they used when hauling nets.

Their work draws from the genres of hymns, gospel, blues, and barbershop quartet songs.

In 1990 the Menhaden Chanteymen recorded a collection of maritime work songs, "Won't You Help Me to Raise 'Em: Authentic Net Hauling Songs from an African-American Fishery," for Global Village Music.

The group won a 1991 North Carolina Folk Heritage Award in the category of Folk/Traditional Music.
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Top Left Image: Menhaden fishermen in waters off Beaufort, N.C., ca. 1939. Photo by Charles A. Farrell. Courtesy, State Archives of North Carolina.

Top Right Image: The Menhaden Chanteymen, as they liked to be called then, were constantly in the public eye. They performed for the North Carolina General Assembly and the National Council on the Arts, appeared at Carnegie Hall, and were featured on national television and radio. And every Friday night they gathered at the parish house of St. Stephen’s Congregational Church in Beaufort to sing for themselves and to share the fellowship wrought by decades of rugged camaraderie at sea.

Right Bottom Image: Performance of impromptu work chanteys sung over many decades by Menhaden fishermen along the coast of North Carolina and elsewhere. Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center, Harkers Island, North Carolina, February 19, 2011.

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Excerpts From an article published, June 6, 2014.

The Menhaden Chanteymen consisted of retired African American fishermen who previously worked off the coast of North Carolina near Beaufort.

The group, during their working years, used singing to synchronize the pulling of their nets of menhaden, or shad.

A leader sang out the first line of the song alone, to be answered with another line sung in harmony by the rest of the crew. The songs were derived from many sources, including hymns and gospel songs, blues, and barbershop quartet songs, and they were often improvised.

“Singing gave you more spirit and power to pull, raise your fish better. If you didn’t sing, you wouldn’t get them,” Ernest Davis, Chanteyman, explained at a recent program with the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center.

Davis grew up in the North River community near Beaufort, NC.
He’s lived here all his life, and has made a career of fishing. Davis recalled one fall fishing season that there were103 boats in Beaufort with all the factories combined.

Menhaden were harvested in Carteret County starting shortly after the Civil War and continued through 2005 when the last Menhaden fishing plant closed in Beaufort, North Carolina. The fish were primarily harvested to be used in fertilizers and the fish oil was used in the production of paints, varnishes and leather. Fishermen needed to coordinate their efforts when hauling up (hardening) nets full of tons of menhaden. In an age-old seafaring tradition, they used songs, called chanteys, to synchronize their strenuous labor.

Nine years ago Beaufort Fisheries on the Beaufort waterfront closed its doors. Although it was the end of the fishing era, the legacy continues. The story of menhaden fishing in Beaufort, NC is featured in the new Commercial Fishing Exhibit at the North Carolina Maritime Museum.

Following the program, visitors will be invited to visit the NC Maritime Museum’s new exhibit about the Commercial Fishing in Carteret County. The exhibit includes a display of products made with Menhaden Fish and a 10-foot model Menhaden Fishing boat. Artifacts and interactive elements use sights, sounds, and even smells to demonstrate these industries, sciences, and cultures. Participants — fishermen and processors (often African-American), owners, and scientists — relate their own stories.

One of the most popular aspects of the Museum’s new exhibit features chanteys from the Menhaden Chanteymen’s CD, Won’t You Help Me Raise ‘Em.

The menhaden industry made Beaufort prosperous. Local menhaden companies once provided hundreds of jobs in the local community and surrounding areas with numerous factories and vessels working this lucrative fishery.

The fishery itself, processing plants ashore, and support infrastructure provided steady employment opportunities, especially for African-Americans. While many visitors remember the smell of the fish, locals call it the “smell of money”. It was their livelihood. Local merchants all benefited from the influx of people and money during menhaden’s fishing season. Menhaden fishing was recognized throughout Carteret County as an important part of this county’s commercial fishing industry.

Article source: https://www.jdnews.com/.../spotlight-on.../34252316007/

To hear them sing, click this YouTube link:
Performance of impromptu work chanteys sung over many decades by Menhaden fishermen along the coast of North Carolina and elsewhere. Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center, Harkers Island, North Carolina, February 19, 2011.

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