Core Sound Communities

The C. G. Willis Towing Company Story

Shortly after his release from the U.S.S.MESSICK in Norfolk, Chauncey began in earnest to achieve the ambition outlined in his letter. The information herein comes from his nephews Ralph, son of Ivy Willis, and Gerald and Troy Willis sons of Wilkie Troy Willis. They worked for their uncle who with little more than ambition started the C. G. Willis Towing Company of Paulsboro, N. J. It operated for more than twenty years after his death in 1957.

The very first freight boat owned and operated by Chauncey was an old sharpie converted to motor power. The name of the boat is not recorded but from all reports she was in a state of major disrepair. Clyde Willis went with Chauncey when the spent more time working on the boat than actually working the boat. The first trips were made from Carteret County to Norfolk. The time was right and the will was present so they kept on.

No photos are currently available of the first real freight boats used by C. G. Willis. There were three of these which had one 600 HP diesel each for main power. The BELVEDERE and VERMONT had primary routes up and down the inland waterway. The third named BERTIE H. was rammed broadside and sunk in Havana harbor channel carrying a load of bananas in 1940. In the early years of motorboat freight business any work available was attempted to hopefully earn some money. Charlie Piner from Morehead City had rigged one of his tugboats with side rails on her gunwales to make the banana run to Cuba. When the steel freighter cut the BERTIE H. in two, Charlie’s tug rescued her crew and returned to Miami with two boat crews and a deck load of bananas.

Gordon Wade told this sinking story firsthand as he was the engineer sleeping aboard at midnight when the freighter’s bow came through his berthing compartment. Gordon was the last man to escape from the wreckage and was hampered in swimming to the rescue boat by bananas floating from the sinking freight boat. The tug was a sight to behold with a stem to stern deck load of eight foot high bunches and an extra crew that was soaking wet.

This is the EVELYN likely one of the three tugs bought surplus after WW II ended. She is shown here pushing a 300 ft barge loaded with a likely cargo of bulk paper. ELEVYN and her sisters CHAUNCEY and ROLETA were 75 feet long and each had a 750 HP single engine.

Troy Jr. tells of going to work on the WOWTHINGTON of the NBC Line after graduating from Smyrna High School in 1942. After the Worthington was conscripted by the federal government for the war effort Troy Jr. wound up in 1943 working on the ST 475 until 1946.

This is a copy of the paperwork for the ST 475 getting fuel in 1945. Captain was Troy Moore from Marshallberg. At that time ST 475 was part of what was known locally as “Raymond Davis’s Navy.” After the war was over Chauncey Willis bought the ST 475,

which became the CHAUNCEY. Troy Jr. who had been stationed on the ST 475 during the war kept right on working on the same boat when ownership of the ST 475 was transferred to C.G.Willis Towing Company. The first civilian job for the ST 475 after she became the CHAUNCEY was to haul Ford cars from their assembly plant in Norfolk, Va. to Jacksonville, Florida. The round trip was ten days and for the first six months they had no back freight to Norfolk. It was a year before they had a day off. Ralph Willis worked on the CHAUNCEY during the summer when he was off from school during these early years.

In the 1950’s there came newer and more powerful tugs. C. G. Willis Towing had acquired a contract to haul paper from Scott in 1947 and other paper companies used the barge service as well.

The WILLISTON was 90 feet long, single screw and had an 800 HP diesel engine. Her sisters were the same size and power and included the CARTERET, JACK, and PATRICIA. Also coming out at that time was the SWANNEE but she was only 75 feet long.

Business boomed in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Here is paper cargo in rolls of finished product and bulk paper in bales. The bales were taken from Savannah Ga. to Baltimore for processing into paper towels and other items

In the mid 1950’s C. G. Willis Towing had worn out all the fleet and with a bright future ahead built four big tugs. These were the square ended pushers that operated for the company until 1980.

List of the last 4 tugs:
CHAUNCEY, ROLETA, PATRICIA, and CAPT. C. G.

These were built from the same plans and had twin-screw propulsion with two 650 HP Caterpillar Diesels.

As the loads got bigger the barges required deeper water to navigate the canal. Dredging was done but often it was too little too late.Even steel barges were unable to withstand the repeated groundings. Especially in the Myrtle Beach Canal, which has a rock bottom, but also in Brown’s Inlet south of Swansboro, N. C, severe damage was unavoidable.

The tide of freight handling in the inland waterway turned in 1958 when the railroad reduced the freight rates so low that International Paper, West Virginia Paper Company, and two other small companies in Brunswick Ga. Quit using Willis Towing. Only Union Camp stayed with Willis and that was probably because Willis let them use a big warehouse in Savannah at their own convenience. In the 1980’s competition from the railroads proved impossible to beat. By then the paper companies were consolidating, better highways made better trucks more effective and the old logistic advantages of tugboats was gone.

The tide of history turned in 1958 when the railroad reduced the freight rates so low that International Paper, West Virginia Paper Company, and two other small ones in Brunswick Gad, quit using Willis Towing. Only Union Camp stayed with Willis. That was probably because Willis had a big warehouse in Savannah where Union Camp could hold inventory at their own convenience.

By 1990 C. G. Willis was using tugboats that had been running for 35 years. In late years there was with less than ideal maintenance. The barges were also old and battered by groundings and normal wear. Finally, the boats were tied up as major breakdowns occurred and no work for them justified spending money for repairs. C. G. Willis Towing was probably the last major freight line to operate in the Atlantic Intercostals Waterway.

William Irvin Willis and the E.H. & J. A. Meadows Company

Much of the story here comes from records of the menhaden and fertilizer business transactions between the Meadows Company and Irvin Willis. What follows next is a series of reproductions of some of those transactions in the early years of the 20th century.

The differences in the ways of doing business with regard to bookkeeping, banking, and methods of transportation are worthy of note. Also prices have changes along with packaging.

The 1913 contract lists the popular formulas, which came in 200-pound cloth bags and retailed for $ 34.80 per ton for 7-5-8. Today fertilizer can be bought only in 50 pound paper bags The modern formula closest to that of old is 8-8-8 The price has gone up too, Now the per ton price is $235.20 per ton.

Consolidated Portrait and Frame Co of Chicago, Ill did the enlargement
from a snapshot taken in their yard. The original picture had a dog, a child , the corner of the house, and a window frame behind her. They took all that out and did the color of eyes, hair and specific size of the finished product as per order. Some of the color still remains after almost a hundred years.

Photographs

Articles

Elmer D. Willis "Clam King"

Elmer Willis was born in Williston in 1905, one of seven children of Charlie and Ella Willis. When he was in the eighth grade, his father was hurt in an accident. Young Willis quit school, went crabbing and fishing and kept the household going.

Mr. Willis then worked for a time on boats in North Carolina and Florida, spending his spare time studying for a diesel engineer's license. In 1930, he moved back to Ohio and succeeded in getting his engineer's license in Cleveland.

In 1931, he married Pearl Smith, a schoolteacher from Atlantic. From 1935 to 1939, Willis worked as an engineer out of Norfolk.

In 193 9, Willis moved back home to Williston and entered the clam business and formed Willis Brothers, Inc., along with his brother Wesley, whom he later bought out. This company became one of the major clam processing companies in the nation and at one time supplied all the clams used by the Heinz Soup Company in it's clam chowder.

Willis Brothers processed millions of pounds of clams and scallops a year and employed fifty people. His fleet of trucks transported clams and scallops all up and down the east coast and mid-west.

Mr. Willis invented and patented a scallop shucking machine which was sold around the world. Processors in Iceland, Scotland, Australia, as well as all over the United States, use his invention.

Mr. Willis opened Williston Boat Works in the 1950's and employed master boat builders like Elmo Wade and Julian Guthrie. Many trawlers, yachts, and menhaden fishing boats were built at this boat yard in Williston The first yacht built there was the Mary Z. that caught the first blue marlin ever caught out of Morehead City .. Mr. Willis later sold the business to Julian Guthrie and it became Hi-Tide Boat Works. The business was sold again and became Jarrett Bay Boat Works.

Mr. Willis hosted numerous fund-raising clambakes for Smyrna School and later for East Carteret School. During the early years of the fundraisers, four governors attended the clambakes.

Mr. Willis served as a member of the East Carteret High School Advisory Board and the Athletic Association. He served as president of the North Carolina Fisheries Association and at the time of his death was director of the North American Oyster Institute.

In 1966, Mr. Willis was named, "Tar Heel of the Week" by The News and Observer.

In 1967, Mr. Willis was awarded the Food Science Award by North Carolina State University for his outstanding work in processing and promoting North Carolina seafood and other food products.

Mr. Willis was killed in an automobile accident on June 18, 1977. He was survived by his wife, Pearl S. Willis, and two daughters, Mrs. Nancy Lewis and Mrs. Beverly Harvey. He was also survived by five grandchildren, Melinda Davis, Chris Piner, Gay P. Mason, Jimmy Harvey, and Jennifer Harvey.

Willis Brothers - Williston, N.C.

In 1939, Willis Brothers, Inc. was started by two brothers, Elmer D. Willis and Wesley Willis, Williston natives. They bought the former Lon Willis grocery store located on Jarrett's Bay.

Willis Brothers was started as a clam buying and shipping business, then later became a shucking operation and at one time furnished every clam that Heinz Soup Company used in its clam chowder. (According to an old sales book for June 1947, 2500 gallons of clams were shipped to Heinz twice a week for $2.20 per gallon.) During the summer, the small clams were put on clam beds to be taken up in the fall for shipments to New York and Cleveland, Ohio. (According to a 1947 sales book, I 00,000 little neck cherrystone clams were shipped and delivered every three days for $950.00). In the fall, the men of Williston would "take up the clams" manually with a rake and some would take up 90 bushels per day.

In the 1940's, Willis Brothers began having "Clambakes" as fund raisers and through this provided the funds to build the first lunchroom that Smyrna School ever had. These clambakes were attended by thousands and all the big name politicians and governors attended.

Also, during the 1940's, the company purchased a menhaden fishing boat named the "Tenderheart", which fished out of Beaufort and Lewis, Delaware. During this time, a sweet potato curing plant was built to utilize the sweet potatoes grown in Carteret County. This building was later converted to a boat building facility.

In the 1950's, Elmer purchased Wesley's interest and became the sole owner of the company. The company continued to expand and added a boat building operation, where yachts, trawlers, and menhaden fishing boats were built with master boat builder, Elmo Wade, of Williston in charge and later, Julian Guthrie of Harkers Island. Julian Guthrie later purchased the boat building operation and it became Hi-Tide Boat Works. The business was sold again and became Jarrett Bay Boat Works.

During the 1960's, Willis Brothers began buying and selling scallops at the plant in Williston, as well as, opened the first scallop plant in Cape Canaveral, Florida. A nitrogen quick freezer was installed at Williston to IQF the scallops. The first scallop shucking machine was invented by Willis Brothers. Elmer Willis got a patent on the machine and sold the machines to processors in Iceland, Scotland, Australia, as well as, the United States.

Elmer Willis was a pioneer in the seafood industry and would try anything to promote seafood. He served on the board on the Oyster Institute of America and when in Washington, D. C. for meetings, would pick up the phone and call Senator Sam Ervin or other politicians, invite them over for dinner and they would come! He was president of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, a member of the Conservation and Development Board of North Carolina, was chairman of the East Carteret High School Advisory Board, chairman of the East Carteret Athletic Association, was "Tar Heel of the Week" for The News and Observer and was awarded the Food Science Award by North Carolina State University for his processing and promotion ofNorth Carolina seafood and other food products.

After the death of Elmer Willis in an automobile accident in 1977, Willis Brothers was sold, but has not been in operation since 1980. Mr. Willis was survived by his wife, Pearl Willis, who served as postmaster of Williston from 1940-55, and two daughters, Mrs. Nancy Lewis and Mrs. Beverly Harvey. He was also survived by five grandchildren, Melinda Davis, Chris Piner, Gay P. Mason, Jimmy Harvey, and Jennifer Harvey.