Menhaden Fishing Fleet and Chanteymen

The economy and culture of Beaufort, North Carolina, was built largely by the menhaden industry. Also known as shad, menhaden fisheries employed predominantly Black crews during their heyday in the 19th and 20th century. To ease and pace the physically demanding labor assigned to them, the men sang “chanteys,” or work songs. Generally, one crew member would sing out the first line of each verse and was answered with the chorus by the rest of the crew. The songs or lines were drawn from many sources, including hymns and gospel songs, blues, and barbershop quartet songs, and were often improvised. Read about the chanteymen in a blog post from UNC Press.