The resettling of the family in Victoria BC in 1944 was more or less completed in the spring of 1945. Dad became thinner and more sickly. However he never complained, at least when I was around. The lawns were planted and a three feet high rock wall at the back not far from the back door was constructed one stone at a time. Beyond that, extended the long undeveloped lot that begged to be developed, at least in dads opinion. Shrubs were selected and a bit later an extensive cypress hedge was planted on each side of the length of the lot. This grew beautifully for a couple of years until we experienced one very cold winter in 1947 which killed most of it.
The rear lot was designated to be a large Alberta type vegetable garden . In preparation I was handed a spade and told to get to work turning the sod over in preparation for cultivation and planting. It was a lousy job. I was told to come straight home from school and get digging! No rototiller or power tools. It took me weeks.
Dad had a plan. Dick and Noreen had just married and didn’t have a bean to their name. He sold his saxophone for some money to pay for the wedding. He had joined the army in 1944 and undergone basic training but the war ended in may 1945 so he was demobbed. They were back on the Prairies living in Taber with her family,I think, and picking up the odd job.
Don was working as a mechanic in Vauxhall and later qualified as both an electrician, diesel specialist and later in Victoria at the Esquimalt naval base in charge of maintenance and the repair of ship radar and electronics.
Dad decided that, from successful years in the farming industry that he would enter the West Coast fishing industry by having a boat built and move Dick to the Coast to learn to run it and earn a living. At some point he became a qualified electrician but I’m not sure when that happened.
The boat design chosen was a 42 foot 8 inch ice-packing west coast troller of which there were already several of the same type in the fishing fleet. It was designed to carry up to ten tons of crushed ice. The Fisher Boy ll and the Ju Ju I fished out of Bamfield on the West Coast. They were built at Falconers Marine in Victoria so they had the plans and were familiar with the construction. Another boat , with a stern wheelhouse was built there at the same time called the Nipentuck, especially for the developing west coast tuna fishery. Falconers had been busy with war contracts but at the end of hostilities it moved quickly into building for the fishing fleet. Later as orders dwindled they closed up.
Bye and bye the contract was signed and construction begun in early 1946. A new world beckoned.
The Jean B, named by dad for his favourite and only daughter, was launched sometime in late 1946 or early 1947. It was registered at 49 tons just under the 50 ton cut off where it would have come under a higher steamship classification with all sort of regulations. The rigging and equipping took several months. The mast was raised with the traditional lucky silver dollar placed under it. It was considered to be a state of the art for the times. It was powered with a Chrysler Crown marine gas engine. I was told that dad hated the smell of diesel and had struggled with balky diesels on the farm so he went with this one. Top speed 6 or 7 knots.
Electronics included a reliable marine radio with all the channels and a huge Echolite depth sounder with a curious rotating arm on a clock like face that “clunk” with each rotation and registered the depth with a small lighted bar on graduated depth numbers on a big clock like face. There was an “ iron mike” automatic steering device which when engaged kept the boat on course with a loud pulsing grinding sound.
Down below toward the bow was the forecastle with three bunks and right at the very bow through a small door leading into a pump salt water toilet “a head” which was complete luxury. Lots of the older boats just had a deck bucket which was dumped overboard.
The engine room was amidships with the large fuel tanks secured to the hull on each side. On the aft deck was the hatch cover which led to the fish hold down a short ladder, and where the cleaned fish were dropped down in preparation for packing them carefully in deck high bins - gills and guts removed, with the cavities filled with crushed ice. It was necessary to work in a bent over position which was hard on the back as was the tossing around in rough weather.
The stern area was the scene of the actual fishing . A waist deep “cockpit” spanned the beam of the boat so the gear could be reached on each side. Mounted on the railings on each side were a bank of three brass “gurdies” , powered large spools on which were wound lengths of heavy woven metal “main” lines at them end of which were lead balls weighing between approximately 15 to 40 pounds. Just ahead of this were a series of low bins each of which held 200 pounds of fish, called “ checkers” into which hooked fish were landed and dispatched.
On the deck was a removable “ gutting” trough which fitted into a slot on the top of the hatch and protruded over the side. A length of water hose from a small salt water deck pump supplied running water for washing the cleaned fish. I spent many hours up on the pitching deck gutting and cleaning salmon. In heavy fishing, especially in warmer weather the fish couldn’t be left on the deck too long. The cohos were particularly subject to “ belly burn” where very caustic digestive juices would begin leak into the body cavity and auto digest it’s lining. This reduced quality and their sale price.
In heavy fishing you had to develop speed and skill cleaning the fish. One trip on one day in August I cleaned over 600 cohos timed up to three per minute. A very long day ! Then they all had to be packed in ice in the hold .
The boat was taken to Bamfield on the West Coast to complete outfitting. Dad hired an experienced “ skipper” Fred Barber who lived there to fish the boat for a while to show Dick how to fish, navigate etc. Under his supervision large trolling poles were cut and installed, one on each side amidships and two smaller ones on the bow. At the tips of the main poles were two spring loaded lever arms to which a “ tag” lines were attached. These poles were carried in slots in a cross member on the main mast when travelling. For fishing they were dropped with a pulley system out 30-35 degrees. The shorter smaller bow poles angled out from the front deck.
So for fishing there were six main lines with variable lead ball weights which carried them at different depths and angles to prevent tangling. Off each line up to six (usually four) short leaders were attached and on the ends of these were attached various lures ranging from shiny spoons, plugs, flashers, several dozen being trolled at once. In heavy fishing many of these lures would have fish on them. I won’t go into any more detail about these methods. There’s lots more I could say
So.......off to sea
I’m loving your blog, Mr.B! My aunt is also reading it to my grandma, who is just a few years older than you and also grew up on a farm. Thanks for sharing your memories :)
Now I know where Anne got her love for sailing, fishing and médecine, gréât blog.Thought I had seen big salmon at Camp Harmony but yours were just as big...