Page 22. MAINE COASTAL NEWS July 2010 LOBSTERS: A 1950s Trip in a Lobster Smack Continued from Page 21.


door on deck many times during the night, just to check to see if everything is OK. We go out past Southern Head and head westerly for Moose Peak Light, which is on Mistake Island off Beals.


We turn on the running lights as night settles down. The smack looks pretty at night with her regulation navigation lights and a few other lights we have on. There is a 180 degree white bow light high on the foremast, a white 360 degree light on top of the mainmast and higher than the bow light, and 90 degree red (port) and green (starboard) sidelights on the sides of the top of the pilothouse. Coming from the doghouse door- way you can see a soft glow from the light we keep on down in the cabin. There’s a dim glow in the pilothouse from the binnacle light over the compass, and light shows from the port- hole in the engine room and from the engine room door. It is the prettiest kind of a night. We can see Moose Peak Light for many miles, long before we get to it. We cross the inter- national line into American waters. I steer much of the way from Southern Head to Moose Peak. I read Psalm 93 for my devo- tional reading about midnight as we’re out- side of Moose Peak and home.


We’re continuing westerly, and pass outside of Petit Manan Light and on past Schoodic. We are going to go “up through the land” rather than staying off shore, since it is a clear night.. This means we’re going along the coast among the islands, passing Baker’s Island Light, Bass Harbor Head Light, Stonington, and on through Fox Island Thoroughfare between North Haven and Vinalhaven. Dad and I go down for’ard and turn in to get a little sleep, and Stevie and Ami have the watch. The diesel is singing her


familiar song, and Dad and I drop off to sleep. Any sudden change of sound or motion would bring Dad instantly awake. Shortly before we would have shifted fuel tanks, as we approach Fox Island Thoroughfare, the engine starts to slow down! Dad wakes up immediately, and I do, too. He jumps out of his bunk, hurries up the gangway, and runs down aft to the engine room, rushes down the companionway and quickly turns on the other fuel tank. I am right behind him. The diesel picks up the new supply of fuel and resumes her 1750 RPM. Thank the Lord, the engine is not air bound. Had she gotten air bound by running out of fuel we could have been disabled for quite a while. We would have been stopped with a full load of lobsters, and that could have been disastrous for the trip. We proceed across Penobscot Bay, and then we pass outside of Rockland and by Owl’s Head Light and go through Mussel Ridge Channel (where you have to watch out because the “red right returning” rule seems to be reversed in the Channel).


It is a beautiful morning as we pass Pemaquid Point Light and then the Boothbay Harbor area. On such days it is fun to “watch her go.” Watching her go means standing down aft or in the engine room doorway and watching the interesting wake of the smack as she makes her 10 knots. We look at Seguin Light ahead of us. It’s the highest light on the coast because it is set on top of the high island. Dad thinks it is time to notify the dealer in Portland of our arrival time. Dad calls the Boston Marine Operator on the radio, and has the operator call Mom on the telephone. They patch us through and we chat with Mom. Dad asks her to call the dealer in Port- land and tell him when we expect to be in. As we get into the area off the mouth of the Kennebec River Dad points out the brown


appearance of the water surface. That is fresh water from the Kennebec floating on the sea water. We swing farther off shore to get away from the fresh water that would kill our lob- sters. We pass Halfway Rock Light and are nearing Portland. We go in through the Pas- sage, with Portland Head Light off our port side as we turn into Portland Harbor. Our smack doesn’t look very big compared to the ocean going tankers in South Portland. We go in to the dealer’s wharf and tie up. We are near a big coalier that is unloading coal. The engine is shut off and the dory goes overboard and is tied to the stern of the smack. The sheets of the furled fores’le are undone and the sail is swung over to the starboard side and tied to a shroud, so it is out of the way when we are bailing lobsters. It’s swung to the side opposite from where we’ll bail one side of the well. The hatch covers are removed and carefully placed aft beside the engine room. We untie the two big dip nets from the port fore rigging where they are kept. Each dip net will hold 100 pounds of lobsters. Dad takes one big dip net and I take the other. We stand on the port side and start bailing the lobsters from the starboard side of the well. We bring up those full nets and Ami and Stevie reach down and help us lift the nets to the deck on the starboard side of the hatch where the nets are dumped and the lobsters are picked over and taken off the smack for weighing and storage. The first half of the unloading is completed in about half an hour. Dad and I have bailed about 8,000 pounds of lobsters in that short time. It is important to work quickly because half of our load has been in the stopped smack for that period of time. We start the engine, cast off, back out, sound the whistle because we are leaving a dock, and go out into the harbor to “sail the lobsters”. Sailing the lobsters is getting up to


a good speed and doing circles, figure eights, etc., and going through your wake to give the lobsters good circulation. After a few min- utes we go back in to the wharf, and tie up the other way so that we can bail the port side. The fores’le is tied off on the other side, and we reverse the positions of bailing. We finish bailing the port side of the well, and clean out both sides with the little net. The smack now has a coating of coal dust from the coalier. Dad and the dealer complete their transac- tion. We had a good trip of lobsters and they “came out good.” Since we came in from a foreign port we must enter U. S. Customs. Dad and I walk up to the Customs House and take care of the Customs details. When we get back down to the smack we are delighted to see that Stevie and Ami have washed her down and cleaned up the coal dust. The hatch covers are back on the hatch. The fores’l is sheeted home. The dip nets are lashed back to the rigging. Since it has been a full day we will stay in Portland overnight. We get fuel. The weather looks good for tomorrow. We tie up at a dock away from the coal dust, and have some supper.


When you think of good smells aboard of a lobster smack, those that come from the cabin when a meal is being cooked are de- lightful. Smelling bacon frying, beef, pota- toes, carrots, and onions boiling, biscuits baking, steak, hamburger, ham frying, lob- sters boiling, lobster stew simmering. or toast being made in the oven (the bread is buttered before it goes into the oven), will make you ready to eat. When you are underway the protocol is that the skipper eats first and the cook goes up and takes the wheel. When I cooked on the smack I’d get the meal ready and I’d go up and steer while Dad would go down for’ard and eat. No matter what I’d made, he’d always say it was good. Then I’d


Work Continues on Painting the Hull


SATURN sitting at a dock in Bangor fall 2008.


Spring is coming fast and the crew is getting ready to get back to work. Last year Rob Crone and Jon Johansen got a lot done, namely the bow, some of the main deck and engineering systems. Our major concern this year will be the hull, above and below the waterline, main and boat decks, stack, stern and engineering work. We are now sitting at Kustom Steel in Brewer where work has been progressing very well. SATURN is a 117-foot railroad tug built as the BERN for the Reading Railroad in 1907. She is one of the last railroad tugs in existence and is being saved for future generations to enjoy. For further information : (207) 223-8846 or to join the Friends of SATURN, send a check for $25 or more to P.O. Box 710, Winterport, ME 04496.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32