HISTORIC

The river played an even greater role in Thunderbolt’s history in the 20^th century as a connection to the coastal fishing grounds. Fishing had always been engaged in for pleasure and profit, but no one could predict the fishing explosion brought on by the growth of shrimping. As early as the 1850s, P. Gallagher had maintained a saltwater fish pond in Thunderbolt. He kept the pond stocked with Black Fish to supply his fish stall in City Market in Savannah. In 1860, George W. Lowden built an oyster cannery of tabby construction along Thunderbolt’s bluff. The Lowden packing plant had an unloading room, cold storage room, raw room and steam room. There were several smaller oyster packing houses along the bluff, including that of Earl Toomer and Dewey Ambos. Lowden’s plant was converted during World War One to can peaches. At the turn of the century, fishermen in Thunderbolt were successful but worked on a small scale, supplying Thunderbolt and Savannah primarily.

Early businesses in Thunderbolt which catered to the fishermen included Adams Boat Works, B. T. Elmgren's boat works and machine shop and L. G. Ambos Boat Works, where boats were painted and repaired.

The new century brought a rebirth of the community and a transition from a small resort dependent on the patronage of Savannahians and outsiders to a thriving town bringing in an increasing income from the sea. There were three major events in Thunderbolt during the 20^th century that greatly impacted the fishing industry locally and nationally. The first was Paul Cannarella’s initial success shrimping out of Thunderbolt, the second was L. P. Maggioni & Company’s cannery and glass jar process and finally Trade Winds’ development of pan-ready shrimp.

Maggioni Employees Canning in Glass Jars

Cordray-Foltz Collection VM 1360 PH, Box 17, Folder 3, Item 6

Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia

Each event increased the demand for shrimp and helped put Thunderbolt on the map as an important seafood center. These events and the efforts of numerous unnamed local fishermen created the special community of Thunderbolt, a small fishing village with a unique ethnic heritage.

š Commercial Shrimping in Thunderbolt ›

Commercial shrimping in Thunderbolt began full scale in the early 1920s spurred on by the success of Paul Cannarella and by 1925 Thunderbolt was generating approximately 5,000,000 pounds of shrimp a year.

Savannah was the major distribution point of the fishing industry in the South and in 1925 the annual gross sale of fish, oysters and shrimp leaving Savannah was over two million dollars. The shrimp export alone brought in $800,000 in revenue through canned and fresh shrimp. In 1926, the city hosted the 6^th Annual Convention of the Southern Fisheries Association at the old DeSoto Hotel on Bull Street on June 15^th and 16^th. Several seafood companies in Thunderbolt were highlighted by the association for their success and importance to the local economy, including L. P. Maggioni & Company, the Thunderbolt Fisheriers, Cannarella Brothers, and the prawn fisheries of Thunderbolt.

Several canneries were located along the bluff in Thunderbolt, canning oysters, terrapin and clam, but most importantly shrimp. In 1925, there were eleven plants canning shrimp along the Georgia coast, including those at Thunderbolt.

The following is a list of several of the local families involved in Thunderbolt’s shrimping industry, however there were many more, including individuals who ran their own boats:

Aiotta

Louis G. Ambos & Henry Ambos

J. S. Cafiero & Son

Joseph Canas

Paul and Vincent Cannarella

Michael J. Cesaroni & Joseph P. Cesaroni

Joe DeGracia

Charles DeShocka

Ricupero

Earl J. Toomer Seafood Company

Washington

Thorpe

Murray

Many of the local fishermen were descendents of

Italian, Portugese and even Scandinavian families with a history of fishing. For instance, Joseph Canas came to Georgia from Portugal at the age of fifteen and in the 1950s owned the shrimp trawlers G. Philip Maggioni and the Santa Maria. The attraction of fishermen to Thunderbolt contributed to the unique ethnic blend of Thunderbolt today with a high concentration of Italian-American families.

The shrimp boats or trawlers would venture out as early as two or three o’clock in the morning and head out to Wassaw Sound. The trawlers would wait for the tide to be right for shrimping, when the water was low and the tide was on its way out. The storage pits below deck would be stocked with ice. “Otter trawls” or shrimp nets were towed by cables behind the trawlers. The nets were made by locals in Thunderbolt and a “net man” would hang around the docks in case their services were needed. The nets were lowered to drag the floor of the ocean or sound, gathering shrimp and other sea life. When the nets were hauled in the shrimp and other seafood were packed in the ice to keep fresh while the nets were thrown back out.

The boats would return to Thunderbolt in the late afternoon to unload the day’s catch. When the weather was cooler they could stay out overnight or even for several days because the ice would remain solid longer maintaining the freshness of the shrimp in the storage pits. The returning trawlers unloaded their catch at the docks along Thunderbolt’s bluff. Some of the docks would have a fish house on them to take in the incoming shrimp. After unloading, the boats would move out of the way to a holding deck where they would be repacked with ice and prepared for the next trip out. Some of the fishermen were part of a fleet bringing in shrimp to be processed at the canneries or shipped fresh all over the country. Several independent trawlers would sell their catch locally. Fishermen, as well as those who processed the shrimp, “were paid by piecework, for instance by the bucket or pound.”

When the shrimp came into the Thunderbolt docks they went through one of two processes, either canning or packing for shipment. The shrimp were scooped out of the trawlers in wire baskets, and after the ice was washed out, the baskets were weighed. At this point, with the shrimp no longer packed on ice, speed and efficiency became crucial to maintain the freshness of the seafood. The fresh shrimp for shipping were packed into large wooden boxes in alternating layers of shrimp and ice. When packed the boxes held one-hundred pounds of shrimp each and were loaded onto trucks, and later airplanes, to go all over the country. The majority of the shrimp were shipped north, most to Fulton Market in New York City where they were sold to wholesale seafood dealers.

For shrimp that were going to be canned the process after weighing included heading the shrimp (removing the heads of the shrimp), peeling their shells, and blanching them in timed baths of steaming hot water. After blanching, the shrimp were put through a grader to sort them by size into small, medium, large or jumbo. They were then canned with either saltwater or a salt tablet in the can to ensure sea freshness for the customer. Finally the cans were cooled, labeled and shipped out. During the 1920s, the Savannah Morning News published a series on Savannah’s industries, including an issue on the fishing industry exclaiming Thunderbolt’s success in sending shrimp as far as Los Angeles.

Canning the Shrimp

Cordray-Foltz Collection VM 1360 PH, Box 17, Folder 3, Item 15

Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia

During the 1930s and 1940s there were about one-hundred shrimp boats in Thunderbolt. The boats were smaller than those used today and dragged only one net, about forty feet long. As refrigeration technology improved, the fishermen had the capability of storing the shrimp for longer periods of time while they continued to throw out their nets. Boats became much larger operating more than one net at a time. The larger a catch the better their income since they were being paid by the pound for their hauls. The older smaller trawlers generally had a crew of two men while larger trawlers would take on a crew of at least three men.

The shrimping season was initially from May to January, with the best months from September through December. Shrimp spawn in the ocean and then the new shrimp move into the saltwater inlets where they mature into full-grown shrimp. When the weather gets colder, the grown shrimp migrate back out into the ocean in search of warmer waters. As the demand for shrimp increased and refrigeration improved, Thunderbolt fishermen extended the shrimping season by broadening their fishing area. Prior to this most of the trawlers stayed between Charleston, South Carolina and St. Augustine, Florida. In order to extend the season, fishermen began venturing further south into Florida waters near Key West.

By 1974, when the industry peaked, Thunderbolt had one-hundred and fifty trawlers at its docks. When the boats came in at the end of the season, the break was used to make any necessary repairs to the trawlers, paint the boats, repair the nets for the next season, and catch up on much needed rest.

š The Cannarella Fleet ›

The Cannarella family has been involved in the fishing business in Savannah since the 1800s. Joseph Cannarella’s (1852-1920), a native of Sicily, Italy, children included Paul and Vincent Canarella. One of his daughters married Antonio Cannarella Mathews, Sr. who was the largest seafood dealer in the City of Savannah at one time. Paul and Vincent came to Savannah from New York circa 1915-1920 and opened a booth in City Market selling seafood. The two later moved to Fernandina, Florida and became involved in the shrimping industry with the Versaggi family.

In Fernandina, Paul bought his own fleet of shrimp boats and began shrimping off the Florida coast. He only stayed about one and a half years and in 1923 he conducted a survey of the inland waters and coastal offshore waters in the area of Tybee Island to determine if he could move his fleet into Georgia. The survey was conducted at the wrong time of year giving Paul poor results. He returned to Fernandina. In 1924, John Hardee, of Fernandina, made a second survey with his fleet in the spring and discovered a large run of shrimp off the Georgia coast.

Encouraged, Paul returned to Georgia in 1925 and approached Louis G. Ambos, of Thunderbolt, about renting land along the Thunderbolt bluff as a base for his shrimp fleet. In 1949, Ambos told the story to a Savannah reporter:

A fellow named Paul Cannarella came up from Fernandina around 1925. Wanted to rent a 50 foot front on the river from me to run a shrimp house-you know, boil them up in a pot and sell them. I didn’t think too much of the idea, although individual fishermen had done the same thing at home for their own use for years, of course. But I let him have the place he wanted. Charged him $8 a month, I remember and my conscience hurt me a little bit at that. But, you know, it wasn’t long till folks were standing in line to carry off his boiled shrimp.

The streetcar ran in front of Cannarella’s dock and he had a steady flow of customers coming in from Savannah for boiled shrimp on Sundays. During the week, Cannarella packed his shrimp for shipment to Fulton Market, receiving about 60 cents to $1.00 a bushel wholesale.

With Cannarella’s success, local fishermen started shrimping out of Thunderbolt and the new industry quickly grew bringing a new period of prosperity to the small community and giving birth to Thunderbolt, the Fishing Village.

š L.P. Maggioni & Company, Plant No. 4 ›

Lewis Paul Maggioni was originally from Monza in the Treviglio province of Italy. After running away from home, Maggioni became a cabin boy and ended up on a ship damaged by a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. He settled on the Gulf Coast and married Natalie, a native of Switzerland. In 1870, Maggioni and his wife moved to Savannah and opened a general store on the southwest corner of Bull Street and Gordon Street. From this small store, L. P. Maggioni & Company grew and expanded into the fresh fish business. L. P. Maggioni died in 1897 and his son, Gilbert Philip Maggioni, took over the family business.

Under G. P. Maggioni, the company continued to grow and started shipping fresh fish and oysters. With increased demand for seafood, G. P. Maggioni began experimenting with canning seafood and the company evolved into five canneries by the 1920s. The largest cannery was at Ladies Island, which had facilities to steam 3,000 bushels of oysters for canning under the Daufuski brand name. Maggioni became the largest supplier of cove oysters in the United States. Oyster production peaked between 1930 and 1935, as shrimp production was steadily increasing.

G. P. Maggioni opened Plant No. 4 at Thunderbolt for canning shrimp. At Thunderbolt, L. P. Maggioni & Company had been the first to use a power trawler, circa 1910, while Paul Cannarella was the first to operate a power drawn net. Maggioni had their own fleet of trawlers and oyster vessels to supply them with the seafood for their canneries. By 1950, when the company celebrated its eightieth year, they had at least twenty-five hundred employees spread among their plants and fleets in Thunderbolt, Brunswick, Fernandina, St. Augustine, and South Carolina. Maggioni products were shipped all over the country and had a healthy national market.

L. P. Maggioni & Company, Advertisement 1926

The Fish and Oyster Reporter (May 1926), 25

Fish and Shellfish Vertical File

Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia

After G. P. Maggioni died in 1935, L. P. Maggioni & Company was run by family members. By 1950, the company was a partnership between J. O. Maggioni, L. Paul Maggioni, and J. C. Cafiero.

L. P. Maggioni & Company, Plant No. 4, Thunderbolt

Cordray-Foltz Collection VM 1360 PH, Box 17, Folder 3, Item 9

Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia

Maggioni Seafood Plant No. 4, established in 1928, in Thunderbolt was most notable for its support of the shrimping industry and the introduction of canning shrimp in glass jars. L. P. Maggioni & Company was the first packer to “preserve boiled shrimp in a glass container in the United States.” The Thunderbolt plant averaged 50,000 pounds of canned shrimp a day. The plant comprised several buildings along the Thunderbolt bluff with a pier extending over the river. There were separate facilities for peeling, cooking and canning.

The shrimp trawlers would unload the catch at the pier in the afternoon and the shrimp were stored in a large refrigerated room until they could be processed the next day. After the two-minute blanching process, described earlier, the shrimp were boiled and canned in glass jars. About three-hundred workers were employed at the Thunderbolt factory. Black workers headed the shrimp, while white women cleaned the shrimp for cooking and then canned the boiled shrimp and labeled the containers. The jars were cooled to ensure a proper seal before they were packed for shipment. During the Depression, the majority of the teenage girls of the local Thunderbolt families worked in the factory. One native of Thunderbolt’s mother worked there as a teenager for fifteen cents an hour.

Cooling & Packing the Jars

Cordray-Foltz Collection VM 1360 PH, Box 17, Folder 3, Item 17

Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia

L. P. Maggioni & Company’s local impact was further felt in 1947 after the New York manufacturer of their oyster grabs, a device used to harvest the oysters, discontinued production. Maggioni made an arrangement with the blacksmith of Georgia State Industrial College to produce the new oyster grabs for the company, demonstrating the continuing pleasant relationship between the fishing community of Thunderbolt and the college.

L. P. Maggioni & Company Canned Shrimp

Cordray-Foltz Collection VM 1360 PH, Box 17, Folder 3, Item 8

Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia

š The Ambos Family & Trade Winds ›

The seafood processing company Trade Winds brought about a revolutionary change in not only the seafood industry but the grocery business in 1948 with their development of frozen pan-ready shrimp. The partnership between Henry Ambos and William Mullis became almost instantly a nationally famous company.

Ambos came from a prominent fishing family in Thunderbolt. His father, Louis Gete Ambos was born on 20 February 1886 in Thunderbolt. After renting the river frontage that started the shrimping business in Thunderbolt to Paul Cannarella in 1925, L. G. Ambos was the first native of Thunderbolt to begin shrimping in 1927. His first two trawlers were the boats Sweet Pickle and Lindbergh. By 1949, Ambos owned a fleet of ten trawlers. Ambos, as well as other shrimpers like DeShocka, would sell his catch to seafood dealers in Savannah and City Market. Ambos had a marine railway to pull the boats out of the water and into his repair yard.

Louis G. Ambos was very active in local politics in Thunderbolt, serving on town council for forty-years before retiring in 1956. In 1949, as part of the first Blessing of the Fleet, Ambos was honored as “Mr. Thunderbolt,” Dean of the Fishermen. After his death in December 1966, the town honored his role as citizen and fishermen by dedicating the 1967 Blessing of the Fleet to him.

William Mullis was a grocer in Savannah for many years and thought that housewives would purchase more shrimp if they required less preparation to cook. Mullis came up with the concept of pan-ready shrimp and approached Henry Ambos in 1948 with the idea. Together the two experimented with methods of preparation and batters, freezing them at their homes to see how they would hold up being frozen and then cooked.

Once they were satisfied with the process, they prepared five pounds of frozen shrimp for Mullis to market in his Savannah grocery store. Mullis sold the samples to his friends who assured him it was a quality product. Mullis and Ambos prepared fifty more pounds and then one-hundred pounds. It was obvious they had a success on their hands and they began distributing to five Savannah grocery stores.

Mullis and Ambos formed a partnership under the brand name of Trade Winds. L. G. Ambos & Sons’ fleet of trawlers supplied the fresh shrimp to be prepared and frozen. Within a year, Trade Winds was being distributed all over the east coast, especially to New York. As demand increased the shrimp supply was supplemented with shrimp from Mexico, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and even California.

Trade Winds opened their seafood packing plant on River Drive in Thunderbolt. The shrimp trawlers unloaded their catches at the dock and the shrimp began an assembly line process, during which they were washed, weighed, cleaned and split, leaving the popular fan tails on. The cleaned shrimp were then dipped in an egg batter and rolled in cracker meal. After being packed in retail boxes and weighed, they were wrapped in plastic film and frozen. By 1950, 35,000 boxes were produced each day and the Trade Winds line had grown to include scallops, perch and oysters.

With the fast growth of the business in its first two years, Trade Winds opened a second packing plant and increased its employees from two-hundred and fifty to four-hundred, making it an important source of local jobs. At this time Trade Winds was bringing in $5,000,000 a year.

William Mullis later sold his interest in the business to Henry Ambos and opened Neptunalia packing plant on Victory Drive, marketing his line under the brand name Gold King. He later expanded into the retail business with the Neptunalia Restaurant.

The development of the frozen pan-ready shrimp changed the seafood industry, expanding the market drastically. The less expensive seafood products were carried in grocery stores, eliminating to a certain degree separate fish retailers and expanding the frozen prepared foods industry which is such a large part of our society today. Locally, Trade Winds encouraged shrimping and provided jobs for fishermen and factory workers, as well as making Thunderbolt well known as the home of Trade Winds.

š The Cesaroni Fleet ›

The Cesaroni Fleet was started by brothers Joseph Adrio Cesaroni and Michael John Cesaroni. In the mid-1920s or early 1930s, the Ceasaroni Brothers came to Thunderbolt from Apalachicola, Florida to join in the new shrimping industry. After working for L. P. Maggioni & Company managing their Thunderbolt cannery, The Cesaronis saved enough money to buy their first boat. In the late 1930s, the Angelina was the first trawler of what would become the Cesaroni fleet. The Cesaronis had continued success and bought the old Doyle Race Track in 1948. They developed the land as a subdivision, Cesaroni Homes, and most of the houses were built in the 1950s.

After his brother’s death, Michael Cesaroni continued the family business and by 1956 M. J. Cesaroni Fish Company was operating out of both Thunderbolt and St. Augustine, Florida. Cesaroni’s daughter, Joan Cesaroni-Counsil, described the preparation the shrimp underwent when they came off of her father’s trawlers. When the shrimp were unloaded, black families would head the shrimp in a trough with a tin bottom. The trough had running water on either side which washed the removed shrimp heads back into the river. The “headers,” as they were called, were paid by the bucket for their work. The shrimp were then washed and drained before being packed in the wooden boxes. The boxes were loaded into trailers which left at night, headed for Fulton Market in New York City. Cesaroni also packed whiting and flounder for shipment and had a fish house in Thunderbolt from which he sold wholesale.

š Thunderbolt's Italian Community ›

As Thunderbolt grew as a fishing village it attracted many Italian families whose ancestors had been fishermen. As a result, today Thunderbolt has a large community of Italian-Americans compared to the rest of the Savannah area.

The Savannah Italian Club was organized in the early 1950s to celebrate the heritage of the community. In the words of one club member the “purpose of our club is to uphold the dignity of the word ‘Italian.’” The club bought the Bona Bella Point property just north of Thunderbolt for their activities.

In 1971, when Thunderbolt’s Old Town Hall on River Drive was razed, the four Roman Tuscan columns were salvaged and donated by Hendrix Southern Salvage & Wrecking Company to the Savannah Italian Club. The club erected the columns at the entrance of a new park named Town Hall Park in honor of the historic building the columns came from. Porter Huggins Construction Company helped to place the eight-hundred pound columns in a foundation of eleven tons of concrete according to the design of one of the club’s members.

The entrance, which took two months to complete, preserves a remnant of Thunderbolt’s history and serves as a symbol of the Italian-American’s contribution to Thunderbolt during the 20^th century:

Italians pioneered the shrimp and seafood business in Thunderbolt, we felt it is a fitting tribute to them.

Thunderbolt Shrimp Trawlers

GHS Photograph Collection VM 1361 PH, Box 17, Folder 11, Item 3558

Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia

š The Blessing of the Fleet ›

The first Blessing of the Fleet at Thunderbolt was held in April of 1949 on Palm Sunday. The Blessing of the Fleet was a religious ceremony and festival celebrating the fishermen and preparing them for the new season. The religious aspect of the festival came from the Blessings in the Roman Ritual of the Catholic Church. The Catholic religion provided numerous blessings asking God to guide one through life. Special blessings for different occupations included the fishermen.

The Tiller of the soil, the herdsman, the shepherd and the fisherman are the producers of wealth; and the prosperity—even the existence—of the human race depends upon the success of their labor.

Father John A. Morris, of the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord in Thunderbolt, proposed the idea of holding a blessing for Thunderbolt’s fishermen, the lifeblood of the community. Father Morris recognized that the fishermen were dependent upon the forces of nature for their safety and a successful fishing season.

The seaman and fisherman of all men, lives close, depends most completely on the elements of God's creation. His life and his livelihood are almost inseparably tied to the fancies of wind and sea and rain and tide. He realizes more fully than others his own inability to resist the powers of nature. He and his little ship are often at the mercy of forces over which he has no control.

The seaman knows how puny are his efforts when pitted against the might of the sea. So, before venturing forth to the open sea for the year’s fishing, he first seeks the protection of God for his ship and his crew.

During the first blessing, a mass was held at the Chapel of the Nativity, after which a procession made its way to the Thunderbolt Yacht Basin, where local shrimp trawlers were waiting to be blessed by Father Morris with holy water. After the boats had been blessed, a memorial wreath was laid on the river to remember those who had died recently or lost the life while performing their duties. Starting in 1951, the religious service was held as a field mass.

The first Blessing drew about three-thousand spectators and sixty boats. In addition to the mass and Catholic Blessing, the Blessing of the Fleet was a chance for the town to celebrate their success and display their pride. In preparation for the contest of the prettiest boat, the trawlers were painted and decorated. The event gave “shrimpers a feeling of pride in their work, and their boats.”

From 1949 until 1955, the festival included a parade of floats. During the first year a replica of a shrimp boat complete with a net was built. The float was invited to participate in the Glenville Tomato Festival, as well as the Hampton, South Carolina Watermelon Festival. Local teenagers competed for the honor of King and Queen of the festival. The very first King and Queen, J. J. Keatin, Jr. and Frieda Hill, were crowned on 9 April 1949 at a Coronation Ball, held at the Club Royale.

After awhile the Blessing of the Fleet with the field mass died out and it was revived as a seafood festival sponsored by the Thunderbolt Men’s Club and the Jaycees in the month of June. The new festival lacked the religious aspect that the Blessing was based on and became a four-day event. In 1976, Reuben Ware wrote a song about the activities of the Blessing of the Fleet simply called “Thunderbolt.”