Recovered from the muddy bottom of the Cashie River in 2004, this herring fishing boat is the type once used by commercial fishermen on local sounds and rivers. Robert "Bob" Smithwick, a farmer and owner of a country store at Sans Souci who also fished commercially during the herring run with his sons, cut cypress trees, had them milled to his specifications, and made boats like this. It was built to hold 6,000 herrings, though on one occasion his son dumped 6,800 fish into it and nearly sank it. The boat could be loaded as many as eight times a day, for 48,000 herrings, which were trucked to Perry-Wynn Fish Company in Colerain, then the largest fresh water fish processor in the world. Herrings sold for $.08 apiece at the beginning of the harvest, but abundant supply sometimes dropped the price to a penny each, and at times oversupply led to their use as fertilizer and hog feed. At least 30 years old, the boat represents a vanished era in which many families depended much of the year on salted, pickled, and smoked herring.