INTRODUCTION TO THE 1988 EDITION OF "THE LIVING DOCK"
Where there is a seashore, there is a Living Dock. When this book was first published it was called The Living Dock at Panacea, but it could almost have been called the Living Dock at Cape Cod, or Hilton Head Island, Key West or even San Francisco. A dock is always a place where people can step out, stand over the water and satisfy an inherent need for serenity as they watch the currents sweep by, mesmerized at the ebb of tide and the flow of life.
The composition of species changes subtly from place to place, but the
essence and wonders of aquatic life remain the same. North of New
Jersey there will be blue mussels with a matrix of creatures living in the
tangle of byssus threads. In the Florida Keys one might find encrusting
corals and brightly colored tropical fish darting among the pilings.
Along a northern coast it might be a striped bass that snatches your
float under, or a codfish might take your hook. In the South it could be a
spotted weakfish, whiting or Spanish mackerel. But in any of these
areas, kids dangle chicken necks and victoriously pull in crabs. Docks are
places where earliest childhood memories are made, mine being the big
pier in Coney Island.
Since this book was first written, the original dock at Panacea,
Florida, has been rebuilt three times. First after Hurricane Agnes in 1972,
then after Hurricane Elena in 1985, and again six weeks after Hurricane
Kate. The last time, the living dock was shattered to splinters,
totally bent beyond repair. Looking at the twisted wreckage the storm left
behind, I knew that I could scarcely stand the expense of putting
another dock back down. You can't insure a dock, and I was still making
payments to the Small Business Administration from the first hurricane. But
I had to have a dock. So now there is a new dock, financially
encumbered but there. The barnacles and shipworms don't mind the debt.
A generation ago another man had a similar dock, which he used to
explore the world of the Gulf coast in a different way. And thanks to his
family, I have been able to use drawings and paintings from the works of
Walter Inglis Anderson to illustrate this edition of The Living Dock.
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