Commissioned in 1932 by Nikola Hire and built in 1933 by Jules Galle on Back Bay Biloxi, the cypress Biloxi lugger, JOYCE MARIE (previously named President Roosevelt), measured: length 50.7 feet, breadth 16.2 feet and depth 4.1 feet. It weighed 24 gross tons and was powered by a 165-horsepower engine. Nikola Hire captained the President Roosevelt from 1933 until 1944, when he fell on the boat and was seriously injured.
The vessel was in service to DeJean Packing Company, Sea Coast Packing Company, Pass Christian Company, Waveland Cannery and Southern Shell Seafood.
President Roosevelt was sold and purchased by Anthony D. “Breezy” Gruich. He renamed the boat JOYCE MARIE after his wife Joyce Marie Miller Gruich.
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