The first of its kind, this unique photo book portrays the people, places, and boats that tell the fascinating story of the commercial shrimping industry in the Southeast. The book begins with the region’s earliest shrimpers: Italian and Portuguese fishermen who came to Fernandina and St. Augustine at the end of the 19th century and turned shrimping into a profitable industry. Hundreds of historical and recent photos provide perspectives on life in the major shrimping ports up and down the coast, such as St. Augustine, Thunderbolt, Port Royal, Beaufort, Hilton Head Island, Bennetts Point, Edisto, Rockville, Shem Creek, McClellanville and Georgetown. One chapter offers a colorful glimpse of the annual Blessing of the Fleet ceremonies, while another examines the integral role that shrimpers played in keeping the German chemical company BASF from building a plant that could have devastated the local fishery. This event may have saved the future of many seaside resorts like Hilton Head that depended on clean waters. Based on years of research and relentless pursuit of the images that tell the tale, this book is more than just a photo history. It is a story of a community and culture.