Captain Richard Brackett: a lifetime on the water
By Ford Walpole
“I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t on the water. I guess that in one way or another, I have been affixed to a boat since before I even knew anything else,” Captain Richard Brackett reflects. “It’s obviously in my blood,” he says, noting that in 1627 his 10th great-grandfather, Captain Richard Brackett, sailed from England to Boston as a 17-year-old.
Having grown up on The Battery, Richard was daily influenced by the water. When he was a toddler, he wandered from his parents’ home. A neighbor found him on The Battery, where the boy was mesmerized by the fishing boats.
Throughout his childhood Brackett spent weekends and summers in Rockville where his parents rented Captain Sandy Bee’s house on the Bohicket. “When you’re in Rockville, if you aren’t on the water, then you are out to lunch!” he laughs.
By the time he was four years old, Richard was joining his cousin Daniel LaRoche on the Billy Boy, a commercial shrimp boat owned by Daniel’s father Micah; at five he was sailing his own sunfish. When the tide from Hurricane David delivered four johnboats to the yard of a family friend, Richard was given one of the craft, to which his father mounted a four-horse Johnson outboard. The future captain had his first boat and motor — many years before he legally would be able to operate an automobile.
In those early years, Brackett was not permitted to venture towards the North Edisto; rather, he was confined to the waters of the Bohicket so if he did find himself in trouble, he could likely make it to Cherry Point Seafood, the LaRoche’s shrimp dock. He graduated to a series of improved (albeit makeshift) project boats, the horsepower of which steadily increased.
As a high school student, Richard began working as a dockhand at Ripley Light Marina, where he declared to Captain Dennis Brookshire his dream of becoming a charter boat captain. Years later, Brookshire “… admitted he was surprised that I stuck to my guns, but that is what I do — at least any time boats are involved!” he says. Richard began fishing offshore as a teenager and often accompanied his friends Mark Smith and Michael Ray on their fathers’ boats.
Brackett began college at Clemson University, but at that distance from salt water, he soon discovered himself a fish out of water. The College of Charleston afforded him the opportunity to work as a mate on boats while completing a degree in marine biology. Even so, “I hated school and being stuck inside,” he recalls, realizing, “I am just an outside guy!” Fishing and hunting are Richard’s true passions, although he also enjoys golf and tennis — sports also played outdoors.
During college Richard began working as a mate on the Sea Fix for the Johnson family and had earned his captain’s license by the age of 22. “Robbie Johnson soon told me: “Richard, I want you to run the boat; you already know it better than anybody else.” So, I guess I moved up the ladder a little faster than I wanted, but here we sit!” he says.
When he wasn’t running charters on the Sea Fix, then a 42-foot Hatteras, Richard fished the Petrel as a mate with Capt. Harry Johnson. He accompanied the Johnson family on angling trips to such places as Beaufort, North Carolina, Jupiter, Florida and the Bahamas.
From 1999-2004, Brackett ran the Mistress, aboard which he led charter trips and fished tournaments. In this role he developed a healthy clientele, due in part to his efforts in creating a website that advertised offshore charters. He jokes that building websites might have proven a smarter career path than running boats.
For the next few years, Richard worked as a captain of Due Course. On this boat, he led private charters, trips to the Bahamas with the owner’s family, and bluefin tuna trips out of Beaufort, North Carolina. “Every winter from 1995-2008, I fished for bluefin in North Carolina. That bluefin fishery blew up in 1994, and pretty much from the beginning, we were there, too,” he says.
Eventually, Richard diversified beyond delivering and running boats. In 2016, he began marine surveying, which “is similar to completing inspections and appraisals for a house,” he explains. Friends encouraged him to try his hand at the craft “because of the way I take care of my boats. I am very meticulous,” he says.
For the past four years, Richard has been running the Mac Daddy out of Toler’s Cove. During the build, he assisted the owner in choosing the proper equipment for the 72-foot Viking. Richard has taken the boat to fishing waters that include Nantucket, Mexico and the Bahamas. The Mac Daddy is also outfitted with a Hell’s Bay flats boat, which allows inshore fishing opportunities. From November 1 through June 1, the sportfisher “lives in Key Largo. We just follow the fish, so to speak,” he explains.
Brackett’s life at sea is replete with amazing experiences and great fishing stories. Among them involves one day in 1994 while fishing on Dinner Time, his first full-time job as a mate. The crew caught the South Carolina state record dolphinfish, or mahi-mahi; the fish weighed 74.6 pounds, a record that stood for 14 years.
Another interesting tale includes a 2013 interaction with a baby blue marlin. He and Joey Cagle, owner of Chasin’ Bills, left the dock at midday for an afternoon swordfish trip. Richard relays the tale, which the Billfish Foundation published on their website.
“Once the sun started to set, we set up for a drift. After an hour or so, I saw what we thought to be a juvenile sailfish in the transom lights. Being such a last-minute trip, I forgot the dip net, so I had to resort to option two: I filled the bucket with water, opened the transom door, scooped him up with my hands and set him in the bucket. I have to say that even at this small size, they are crazy aggressive. I got him in my hands in the bucket to snap a quick picture, so we could release it as quickly as possible,” Brackett says.
This past February, Richard was fishing with friends out of Key Largo. Amazingly, the crew caught 50 sailfish in a single day. The group was fishing among other boats in crowded waters. “We got hooked up next to another boat that was also hooked up. When I saw that our lines were crossed, I went back to the motors to clear their line. We passed rods between the two boats to get untangled, and I even ended up knowing the captain of the other boat. Just as the sun was going down, they caught their fish, and we caught our 50th sailfish of the day. It wasn’t a tournament or a charter — just a bunch of captains and mates fishing with friends. That was an amazing day!” Brackett says.
“There is never a dull moment, that’s for sure!” Captain Richard says of the fisherman’s life. “I get to meet people from all over. It is an interesting, super-network and even though you might fish all over the world, you realize how much of a small world the fishing community actually is. After more than 30 years of being in the industry, I can reach out to friends and people I have met in all sorts of different places.”
Brackett explains that being a good captain requires the forethought necessary to act quickly when on the water. “All of the time traveling allows you to think and ponder what may arise, so I am always preparing for unseen situations. I am a natural problem-solver and as a captain, you need to learn how to do anything and everything. Things break when conditions are bad, and you must be able to respond to and handle any given situation,” he says.
Being a boat captain “gives me the freedom and flexibility to do what I want,” Richard says. “It ensures that I stay outdoors and spend plenty of time on the water and fishing. And I love to travel — running boats offers you a way to bounce around and fish and get paid to do what you love,” he says. “This was never a super-lucrative industry, but it’s fun. And nowadays, you actually can do well in it if you are up for a lot of fishing and travel, both of which I love!
“This industry keeps me outdoors and on the water,” Captain Richard says. “But it puts a lot of wear and tear on your body; for example, my back is wrecked,” he says, but with no regret for having embraced the call of the sea. “They tell you that if you do what you love, you will never work another day in your life, and being a captain proves that to be true — at least most of the time.”
Ford Walpole lives and writes on John’s Island and is the author of many articles on the outdoors. He teaches English at James Island Charter High School and the College of Charleston and may be reached at fordwalpole@gmail.com.
