Throughout the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries, fleets of fishing vessels 20 to 35 ft in length sailed daily, weather permitting, from the South Carolina port of Charleston to coastal offshore waters. Sailing out of sight of land with no navigational aids, the fishermen's reputation as skilled navigators, and a source of high‐quality fresh fish during periods when refrigeration was unavailable, won them the respect and admiration of the community. Known as the “mosquito fleet”; and sailing as a unit, their main objective was the blackfish banks located up to 10 to 15 mi offshore. Depending on season and depth, commonly captured inshore species included whiting(Menticirrhus americanus), summer trout(Cynoscion regalis), croaker(Micropogonias undulatus), and bluefish(Pomatomus saltatrix); deeper‐water species included blackfish (Centropristis striata), porgy (Calamus leucosteus), bastard snapper(Pagrus pagrus), and grunt(Haemulon plumieri). Reports of the fleet fishing blackfish banks 40 mi offshore were probably exaggerated based on today's knowledge of blackfish bank locations. In the 1880s, the fleet consisted of about 50 vessels and over 300 fishermen who organized a union to care for the sick and bury the dead. Storms posed the most serious threat with a single squall in 1901 resulting in the loss of 15 fishermen. A total of 57 died at sea from 1900 to 1935. During the early 1930s, the Charleston fleet continued to enjoy a high community standing and held boat races in Charleston Harbor as part of the Fourth of July festivities. A1940 hurricane damaged nearly the entire fleet, an event from which it never recovered. World War II and new opportunities aboard larger commercial fishing vessels with refrigeration lured younger fishermen away from the mosquito fleet lifestyle. Those who remained used speedboats and began to fish singly, more often focusing their attention on crabs and other inshore species. Mr. Arthur Wright, the last “commodore”; of the mosquito fleet, died in 1973.