Solicito "Mike" Salvador, originally Salvadore Sollecito (1869–1924), was a leader and innovator in the Florida shrimping industry in Fernandina Beach, Florida.[1] He is listed as a Great Floridian.

Born in 1869, Sollecito Salvatore came from Syracuse, Sicily, as a merchant seaman aboard an Italian freighter forced by a hurricane to lay over at the Port of Fernandina in Fernandina, Florida.[1]

Salvador came to New Orleans in 1895 on a banana boat. He traveled to Cedar Key and then Fernandina in 1898 by train.[2] He first worked as an interpreter, fishing part-time. Then he got into shrimping.[1] He experimented with preservatives so shrimp could be shipped and tried canning.[1] He used large shrimp shipments to secure refrigerated car lots and used haul seines to increase catch size.[1] As others copied his innovations, the local industry expanded and corollary businesses such as boat building prospered.[1] He used modified otter trawl nets to greatly expand the catch and make use of deeper waters.[1] He and his brother-in-law, Salvatore Versaggi, expanded operations to St. Augustine, Florida.[2] Salvador founded the Salvador Fish Company in 1906 and by 1921 was shipping across the U.S. and internationally to countries including Canada and Denmark. He died in 1924.[2]

A blue plaque commemorating Salvador is located at the site of his family residence at 20 South 4th Street in Fernandina Beach.[2]

References

Further reading

  • Sollecito 'Mike' Salvador Story; Birthplace of the Modern Shrimping Industry by Helen Gordon Litrico
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