Lewis Voorhis Langlinais was born in 1916, in Youngsville, Louisiana, to Jules and Livie Langlinais. At the age of nine years, the family moved to “The Point” in Biloxi and thus began his life in the seafood industry.
Lewis began his career as a teenager working in DeJean’s Packing Co. warehouse. At seventeen, he worked on the WONDER, a sailing schooner with this marking the last year sailing vessels would be used for harvesting oysters. For many years thereafter, he would work aboard and captain many boats for local factories. One of these was the Leckich and Fayard factory that gave him his own boat to captain. In 1958, he purchased the IRIS BEVERLY and renamed it CAPTAIN HOOKS, thus gaining the same as his own nickname. Later, he would purchase a forty-two-foot lugger which would bear the same name. Occasionally Lewis would hire a deck hand, but more often he captained the boats, and work the nets and dredges alone along the Mississippi Sound in their season or the waters of South Louisiana when out of season.
In 1940, Lewis married Mandeline Skrmetta with whom he made his home on Crawford Street and raised two children, Lewis “Louie” and Frances.
Lewis had a drive to serve and assist others. At the young age of eighteen, he was the youngest to join the Fleu des Lis Society and remained a member most of his life. He and Manda cooked many meals of shrimp spaghetti for the members and participated in the weekend dances. With his experience on boats, Lewis joined the Army/Air Force Corps in 1942 and served as a boatswain mate on a crash boat in the Caribbean Sea, rescuing downed aviators and planes.
Captain Hooks was known for his sense of humor and his hospitality. He would often welcome city officials into his modest home, sit and have a cup of coffee and discuss the needs of the community. While not inclined to hold a political position, he supported Trent Lott in his early campaigns by holding shrimp boils in his own yard then later in his son, Louie’s. He even had the honor of dining with President Gerald Ford at the Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant during his visit to Biloxi.
Lewis never completed his formal education, but rather left school in the sixth grade to help his father support his six sisters and mother. But with his knowledge of the Gulf Coast, the seafood industry and strong work ethic, he made a name for himself on “The Point” and was well respected. He was honored as “Shrimp King” in 1991, after his retirement, only agreeing to receive the crown in his later years as he felt the honor should be bestowed upon the other, more senior fishermen. His reign was featured in “National Geographic” magazine’s coverage of the Shrimp Festival, where he and “Queen Jennifer Sekul” had their photo published.
Lewis Langlinais participated in virtually all aspects of the seafood industry, working as captain, cook, deckhand, ferry boat engineer, and oyster shucker for Factory Restaurant where he would regale customers with stories of life on the water while opening.
The Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum is happy to honor this proud Biloxian in the Heritage Hall of Fame.
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