A Boatload of Anderson History
By Ken Anderson:
The Anderson’s have been in this part of Florida since its pioneer days. Thomas Anderson moved his family here in 1855 from North Carolina. His son, Steven West Anderson, married and had two sons, John and Charles, who was born in 1872. In the 1890s Charles married Sarah Elizabeth Gainer. The Gainer family came here even earlier. Her grandfather, William
Gainer, was a surveyor with Andrew Jackson and his troops when they marched through North Florida in 1818. He later returned with his family and settled in 1824 near the beautiful springs that feed Econfina Creek north of here. Captain Charlie and his wife had eight children, six of whom survived to adulthood. The two daughters were successful businesspeople in Panama City. Captain Charlie was a fisherman, and all his kids were raised around boats and fishing. In his first 50 years, Captain Charlie did most of his fishing with large seine nets. There was no reliable source of ice or refrigeration at that time so the catch, mostly mullet and mackerel, was split and salted down in barrels. Back before there were trucks, fish haulers would come down from Alabama in mule or horse drawn wagons and purchase the barrels of fish to take back north and sell. It has been said that the haulers preferred Captain Charlie’s fish because of the better quality due to his care and handling of his catch. After Panama City got an ice plant and red snapper prices to rose up to five cents per pound, Captain Charlie decided to head offshore and fish for snapper. in 1935, he got his first boat to carry customers fishing, the Miss Panama. Soon after, his four sons Walter, Max, Lambert, and Virgil, followed him into the business. The first boats had names like Speedway, Champion, and Winner, which was Captain Max’s first boat. Captain Charlie had a boat
named Betty Jean probably named after his first two granddaughters. The party boat business, as it is called, grew steadily until World War II when the government stopped allowing customers to be taken offshore. This was due to the danger from enemy submarines lurking in the gulf. However, the captains were allowed to take their crews offshore and fish
commercially for the market. They were doing their part to support the war effort by helping supply the nation with protein. After the war, business was growing Captain Charlie got the idea to put the family name on the boats. The first Capt. Anderson was built in 1946. Subsequent boats had Roman numerals after that name. Captain Max had the first number
three (III) built in his dad’s side yard in 1947, and number five (V) built in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1950. Early boats were all built of wood, usually Cypress or Juniper planking often with pine keels. Over the next 20 years many of the local party boats were built by the Covacevich Brothers in Biloxi. In the early years, the Anderson boats operated from Panama City’s city dock, which was at the end of Harrison Avenue (Main Street). After a few years the Anderson’s built their own dock in front of Captain Charlie’s property just west of the city dock. This was in the late 1940s. At that time, there were six boats in the fleet owned by the four sons. All had kids growing up on the dock fishing on the boats and becoming deckhands
when they were old enough. Several of Captain Charlie’s grandsons became Captains as soon as they reached the minimum age. Captain Charlie built many boats in his 96 years. His last one was intended to be a party fishing boat. He and 2 house carpenters built the 60’ C.S. Anderson II when he was in his mid-eighties in the side yard of his home. Shortly after
completion it was made into a sightseeing boat carrying many thousands of vacationers across the bay to Shell Island for the next 25 summers. In 1984 the C.S. Anderson II was replaced with a modern all aluminum boat able to carry 214 passengers. It was Captain Max’s second boat named Capt. Anderson III and is still in operation here. By the mid 1950s, the
city fathers decided that the town needed to replace the wooden city dock with a huge modern concrete Marina. To do this the city needed Captain Charlie’s waterfront property where his home and dock were. the Anderson’s found out the old saying to be true, “You can’t fight City Hall.” The case went all the way to Florida’s Supreme Court, and the family lost.
Fortunately, the two oldest brothers, Captain Max and Captain Walter were able to purchase a piece of raw land on Grand Lagoon. They put in a small amount of seawall, a wooden dock, a red Clay parking lot, and moved their three boats out from downtown. Captain Max and one of his deckhands labored in the hot sun building the forms for the concrete slabs that became the marina’s first section of seawall. Captain Walter & Curtis Billings, and industrious African- American man, dredged the channel in the shallow Lagoon up to the dock. Curtis was a permanent fixture at the Anderson marina until retirement nearly 40 years later. Boat tickets,
soft drinks, and snacks were sold from a small building, a little more than a shack. The other two brothers, Virgil and Lambert, were able to stay at the old Anderson Dock in town one more season. The next year they moved to Treasure Island Marina, which had been built just across the lagoon. Of course, all the boats that were still at the city dock had to move out
during construction of the marina. The city fathers probably thought the fishing fleet would return downtown when the new marina was completed, but it did not happen. It turned out Grand Lagoon was a much better location for a fishing business. An early slogan here was, “Nearest the beaches, nearest the fishing grounds.” Each year in the off-season, the Marina was expanded little by little, adding more seawall, docks, and slips for charter boats to rent.
After five years at Treasure Island Marina, Captain Virgil Anderson brought his Capt. Anderson VI over to Capt. Anderson’s Marina. Capt. Lambert and his two sons took his boats to the city marina, but they gradually phased out of party boat fishing into commercial snapper fishing and shrimping. In July 1959, Capt. Anderson’s Restaurant was open. The Anderson
Brothers believed in a hearty breakfast before a fishing trip, so the restaurant opened at 4 AM for this purpose. It stayed open until 10 PM serving lunch and dinner. Captain Walter managed the restaurant. After 9 years, the brothers decided to sell the restaurant. There were two brothers of Greek ancestry who had a very highly regarded restaurant downtown called The Seven Seas. Max and Walter agreed that Jimmy and Johnny Patronis would be the best choice to carry on the restaurant’s fine reputation. They took possession in the fall of 1967. They have expanded and upgraded it to the famous landmark is today. Jimmy and Johnny
have passed away, but four sons & many grandchildren are carrying on the tradition of the award-winning restaurant. Captain Walter passed in 1969 about one and a half years after the restaurant was sold. His newest boat, the 85-foot Capt. Anderson IX was being built in Biloxi, but he did not live to see it completed. His widow and daughter did carry on his business for some years after. By the mid-1980s his daughter, Judy Beth and family, were ready to get out of the boat business and sold the late Captain Walter‘s half of the marina to the Davis Brothers. They were friendly competitors who also had successful party boats operating from
the Saint Andrews Marina over in town. They brought their four Queen Fleet boats over and operated here for over 20 years.
Max had always loved music, especially swing and big band style. In the 1920s he played saxophone in a local combo entertaining at dances & private parties. around 1970, He heard
of a new aspect of the marine industry, the dinner cruise. in July 1973 the 95-foot steel hull dinner boat, Capt. Anderson was launched here in Panama City. The vessel was captained by Captain Max‘s youngest son, Ken. His new bride of 11 months, Pam became hostess and co-manager. Business was great in summer in Panama City Beach but dead in winter in the 1970s. Since 1936, Captain Max had always taken his fishing boats south for the winter for this reason. South Florida’s busy season is in winter. Capt. Anderson Dinner Cruise operated in St. Pete Beach in winter in Panama City Beach in summer. Seeing the success of the operation, Captain Max ‘s daughter, Sue Henderson and husband Phil, moved down from Colorado and got into the business. A new 100-foot boat was built for them in 1981 by the Davis brothers Queen Craft Shipyard located in Panama City, the same yard that later built the above mentioned Capt. Anderson III. It cruised in Fort Walton Beach in summer and Clearwater in the winter, eventually staying in Clearwater year-round. Ken and Pam operated the original dinner boat for 20 years then in 1993 it was replaced with a new custom-built boat designed by Captain Ken. The Lady Anderson, named in memory of Captain Ken’s mother, Sue, is 135 feet long USCG certified for 500, seating over 300 for dinner. After graduating
FSU in 1998, Ken and Pam‘s daughter, Suzie came to work full-time in the family business eventually becoming operations manager of the Lady Anderson. After Captain Max passed in 1997, Ken and Pam decided to stay in PCB year-round selling their St. Pete location to Ken’s sister‘s family who had their boats in nearby Clearwater. At the time of Captain Max’s death at
age 91, Ken took over management of his two boats, Capt. Anderson III for Shell Island and dolphin Tours and Capt. Anderson X for fishing trips. Lady Anderson was sold in 2013 and now operates in Gloucester, Massachusetts as the Beauport. When the Davis Brothers retired
from fishing, they kept their half of the marina, but sold two of their boats to Jerry Anderson, one of Captain Virgil’s sons, Captain Charlie’s grandson. When Ken‘s cousin Jerry retired in 2018, Ken, Pam, and Suzie bought his two fishing boats. Unfortunately, one, the former Gemini Queen named Capt. Anderson II was damaged beyond repair seventh months later
by Hurricane Michael. It was replaced by an all-aluminum catamaran, which was renamed Capt. Anderson V. All the Anderson boats are now aluminum construction, and all but one powered by caterpillar diesel engines. In 2021, The Davis’s sold their portion of Capt. Anderson’s Marina to the Anderson family. Pam now manages the marina office operations
and keeps the books. Capt. Ken still spends a good bit of time on the water, running 8-hour night fishing trips during the summer. He also co-manages the 4 boats with Suzie and oversees maintenance of them. Suzie is the co-manager of the boat operations as well as assisting with the land-side operations as needed. Suzie‘s husband Joe Laymon is now the
property manager. He has opened Capt. Max’s Dockside Grill & the Upper Deck Bar. He has made the former Capt. Davis Dockside Restaurant into Capt. Anderson’s Event Center available for weddings, concerts, business meetings, and private parties. Also, as of 2025, Joe and Suzie‘s five kids, now in their teens, work part-time in the family business when not in
school. We hope to carry on the family business for generations to come.
