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Photographer: Barry Swackhamer
Taken: March 27, 2017
Caption: The San Francisco Bay Shrimp Junks: Shallow-water Workboats in a Pacific Rim Fishery
Additional Description: San Francisco Bay Shrimp Junks like the Grace Quon were well-suited to working big nets in shallow water. They were long and wide for stability, and the top edge of their planks, or sheer, was low and close to the water. The open flat deck arrangement, with side decks close to the rail, created a safe and efficient work platform. A barrel windlass helped the fishermen to pull large, waterlogged nets full of hundreds of pounds of shrimp on board.
Most of the San Francisco Bay Shrimp Junks carried a single, five-batten lugsail, typical of vessels from southern Guangdong Province in China. The junks also featured rudders that could be raised, and a daggerboard forward of the mast which could have its depth adjusted. When wind was calm, the fishermen could use oars, rowed from the bow, and a long sculling oar, called a "yuloh," worked from the stern. Combined with their relatively shallow hulls, these features let the junk be sailed and worked in waters as shallow as four feet!

BASIC FACTS: Width of Nets at Mouth: 30-40 ft.
Depth of Water Fished: 5 - 15 ft.
Typical Day's Catch, One Junk: 1,150 lbs.
Number of Junks Fishing 1900 @ 30
Submitted: April 4, 2017, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.
Database Locator Identification Number: p379202
File Size: 3.241 Megabytes

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