As long as I can remember, my grandfather, Captain Faulkner, always loved the sea. He was a "Man of the Sea" and made his living in the charter boat business down at Beaufort just across the causeway from Morehead City. Granddaddy loved people and enjoyed taking them fishing in the inshore waters around Atlantic Beach, Beaufort Inlet, and Harkers Island. His boat was a Harkers Island built boat and a very sturdy diesel powered vessel. Many a chartered trip returned bountiful catches for all his clients and gained him the respect and admiration of many of his customers. Granddaddy was a college graduate and was loved by all who met him and all anyone had to do was just mention his name along the Beaufort waterfront and immediately smiles came to peoples faces. Yes they knew Captain Faulkner, and loved the Man who loved the sea. My granddaddy, on my mothers side, always looked forward to taking us out fishing and even named his boat after his two grandsons. That's my brother Wayne in the middle and me on the right in the above photo. I often asked why granddaddy misspelled my name and he just grinned and said he'd ran out of room and had to shorten it. Around the mid 50's were years of harsh devastating storms on the southeast coast of North Carolina. Granddaddy had to sink his vessel many times in the sound water to keep it from being destroyed by the high winds and storm surges from hurricanes such as Hazel, and Connie. I was very young at the time, but remember them just like it was yesterday.

Fishing was good back then and really much better than it is today. Granddaddy's boat was one of maybe five in the area. Back then, the only boats that people had were wooden ones hand crafted on the island and most were diesel powered. Fiberglass boats and outboard motors came along several years later. So having a granddaddy that was charter boat captain who owned his own boat was quite a thrill. We always had a great time fishing and filled the ice chests almost immediately with plenty of big spots, croakers, gray trout, speckled trout, sea bass, hogfish, and flounder. Granddaddy knew where all the good fishing spots were and back then there were no maps and charts. Only the local knowledge of the guides and captains. Granddaddy lived right on the waterfront in a set of fishing cabins run by a local businessman. He was an integral part of a very popular fish camp in Beaufort. I remember so well climbing the long set of stairs that led up to his room overlooking the harbor. What a great view it was. You could look down and see the Wayne and Dwayne anchored and moored at its dockage. Just to smell the salt air and hear the sounds of the gulls filled the room with excitement in the early morning hours just before each trip. Granddaddy was a man of principal and stood strong and tall and always spoke his mind, yet was considerate for his fellow man, while still valuing his own personal privacy.

Many times out on the water granddaddy would let me steer the boat as we passed under the causeway drawbridge. The drawbridge attendant would also holler out a big hello and a hardy wave as we passed underneath. It was one of the high spots in my life. Times like that are forever cherished. When we weren't on the water, my brother and I were always hand lining for pinfish from the boat docks. We got pretty good at catching those fast bait stealers. We used black Dacron line and small extra sharp hooks. No rods and reels for us. We would just lay down on the docks and hang over the edges pulling those pinfish up two at a time. Mother was always afraid that we might fall in, and warned us to be extra careful and to watch out for each other and we did. We were not allowed to fish alone. I still remember my first rod and reel my parents bought me. It was all plastic except for a few nuts and bolts. More like a toy than anything else and you could barely reel up a fish with it. It would bind and jam and cause all kinds of grief, but it wouldn't rust and it was a start. One day while fishing with it I hooked into what must have been a 3 pound flounder. Still can see that fish as it came to the surface. It looked like it had a star map painted on its back. I didn't know what I had hooked and when it finally managed to pull itself free and swim away, I was so disappointed, cause I knew it was something special.

After missing that fish I told my parents that I was tired of the toy and wanted a real rod and reel just like the ones that Granddaddy used. Well granddaddy made sure that we both had one of his rod and reels, with good line and good tackle to go with it. After that we always managed to land our fish and along with all those fish I developed a lifetime relationship with the very sea that my grandfather loved so dearly and even to this day he lives on within me and every time that I reel a fish in, granddaddy is right there with me, reeling in too.