Shrimp Boat Captain Woody Collins Visits Colleton Museum

Captain Collins and Replica Shrimp Boat

 Captain Woody Collins is retired from the shrimping industry after a lifetime at sea. He has written down his wealth of knowledge and teamed up with publisher Steve Plummer to produce a coffee table book. Where Have All The Shrimp Boats Gone is on sale now at the Colleton Museum for $50 and Capt. Collins came to town at 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 24 for a presentation. The Farmers Market going on outside helped draw people’s attention to the book tour talk, and afterward the author signed books for avid readers.

Book Tour Poster

The subtitle of the book is A 100-Year History of the Shrimping Industry in the Lowcountry, but the dozen or so folks in attendance heard shrimping history going back much further. Captain Collins is an animated speaker, and has a strong grasp on the history of shrimping. “I ran five different shrimp boats during my career,” said Captain Collins. “My book tells the story of how the shrimping industry started, and offers my conclusions about how we got to present day.”

“By the way, I asked the Colleton Museum if we could stop here because Walterboro has the best museum of any town around here,” said Capt. Collins. “My book is also for sale at Twigs on Washington Street. It took me six years to write down everything I wanted to say, which was something like 120,000-words. I worked with the publisher to help organize sections of the book with subtitles and to layout the photos. That process took about a year and a half, and I’m probably the least likely guy to write a book.”

To read the entire feature article in the newspaper click on Press and Standard.

To view past book reviews click on Barns, Barbecue and Cotton - Turkey Men - Edisto River - Tall Timbers - Red Knot - Audubon's Aviary - Lefty Kreh - Guy Harvey - Year of the Pig- Shrimp, Collards and Grits - Passion of the Wild - Kayak Fishing - Longleaf Alliance - Old Friends (Barns) - The Narrow Edge - The Sporting Life - Wildlands Philanthropy