Mount Pleasant Magazine 6.4

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a football and wrestling star
and also started his own
T-shirt business while he was
still in high school.
One day someone from
the Charleston Harbor Pilots
Association called Magwood.
The government was “en-
couraging” the group to do
something for a person of
color. Did Magwood know
anyone who might benefit
from the group’s largesse?
The captain got the asso-
ciation in contact with the young athlete/entrepreneur and
eventually the group gave him a scholarship to the Maine
Maritime Academy. Local shrimpers took up a collection so
he could buy cold-weather clothing and other necessities.
He graduated from the academy and today is a harbor pilot
in Norfolk, Virginia.
“That’s a good success story,” Magwood commented.
Local shrimpers in general and Magwood in particular
also played a role in establishing the Blessing of the Fleet,
now an annual event at
Memorial Waterfront Park
in Mount Pleasant. In fact,
Magwood said the Blessing,
held in Charleston in the
beginning and later at Al-
hambra Hall, was his idea.
He pointed out that local
shrimpers needed some
good publicity at the time.
“The shrimpers were
getting a bad name. We had a
bad reputation. People said we
were raping the sea,” he com-
mented. “We wanted to show that we do good things, too.”
The benefactor of the first Blessing of the Fleet was the
local Meals on Wheels program.
Through the good times and bad, Captain Wayne Mag-
wood has no regrets about where his life has gone. He said
shrimping “helped me buy a couple of dozen cars and put
four kids through college.” And he does relish the fact that
people refer to him as “Captain.”
“After 50 years, I think I earned the title,” he said.
Two days after losing a net, Gil Young, Wayne Magwood and Vinnie Vierra
were back on the water, hauling in around 1,000 pounds of shrimp.
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