Shrimp Boat City by Ed Long and Brendan Burke

Florida Book Feature:

Name of book: Shrimp Boat City - 100 Years of Catching Shrimp and Building Boats in St. Augustine, the Nation's Oldest Port

Author name: Ed Long and Brendan Burke

Genre: Essays, Florida Historical

Author location: St. Augustine, Florida

Publication Year: 2013

About the book:

Shrimp Boat City by Ed Long and Brendan Burke is a non-fiction book about the St. Augustine shrimping history published by the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum.

Shrimp Boat City is an illustrated essay about St. Augustine's strong connection to commercial shrimping and boat building. St. Augustine serve as a center for commercial shrimping from 1922 until the early 1950s, and the ancient city became the trawler-building capital of the world and, by 1990, thousands of locally built trawlers were fishing the world over. Contributing to over 23 foreign fleets and participating in many important fisheries, St. Augustine's trawlers became known as productive, safe, and reliable boats. 

The stories and pictures from the industry in Shrimp Boat City help to tell the tale of an American epic, the halcyon days of fishing and boat building in St. Augustine. 

Facts About the Authors: Ed Long is a native of St. Augustine and worked in the boat building and repair business beginning in 1951. He also worked for DESCO for over 14 years. 

Brendan Burke is a maritime archaeologist with the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program, the research wing of the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum.

Buy the book: You can find a copy of Shrimp Boat City at the St. Augustine Lighthouse online bookstore or at their gift shop at the museum.