In the spring of 2018 I was prowling Google Earth for new places to paddle, and found a fleet of trawlers I had not known about in a harbor off the Pungo River. No time was wasted getting down there with a kayak and a camera. I was not prepared for what I found.

I had to sit there and look for a bit, trying to fathom what I was seeing. Rather than a fleet of working shrimp boats, this group was mostly made up of derelicts. Many were coming apart sitting in the mud, while others could be seen already under the water’s surface. Only a few seemed to be in working order. Working only with assumptions, the sense of tragedy was almost overwhelming.

Going immediately back to the web, I found that marine archeologists refer to sites like these as maritime graveyards. Boats are left to die in the communities they served.

Another trip was made in November of 2019, paddling a more versatile boat and at a time of day with better light. With some effort, it’s just possible to set aside the sense of the tragic and make space for an acceptance of the natural way of all things, as well as the beings who made them.