Parker Conrad was born near Jefferson Island, but moved to Morgan City as a boy. His father came from a wealthy family, but Conrad struck out on his own in the Great Depression. He rode a train across the country as a hobo, and tried numerous ventures before he finally got into boatbuilding. While he started out building shrimpboats, the oil companies began to lease boats for their seismographic work, and eventually he made the transition to building in steel. He built mostly crewboats and barges.