This week we received confirmation that New Bedford, Massachusetts, for the 19^th consecutive year is the most valuable fishing port in the United States, based on the revenue of the catch landed at our docks. All of us here in New Bedford are very proud of this accomplishment.

I also noticed today when updating my calendar, that this week is the date of a terrible fishing tragedy that occurred on Georges Bank on the night of February 24, 1862. On this night, a gale descended onto the fishing grounds and pummeled the Gloucester fleet of approximately 70 schooners. These schooners were dory fishing, so they were all anchored up for the night. As the storm intensified, the vessels began to drag their anchors and crash into one another. The result was 15 schooners with a total of 120 Gloucester fishermen lost on this one night.

The fishermen of Gloucester paid a heavy price to open the Georges Bank fishery, an area that is primarily responsible for New Bedford’s current success. In the 1800s, Gloucester lost more than 3,000 men while dory fishing, while New Bedford was losing men pursuing whales in every ocean of the world. Both of these maritime Massachusetts cities know well the risk of putting to sea. During the Civil War years of 1861-1865, a young man from Gloucester was statistically safer if he joined the Union Army than if he became a Georges Bank fisherman.

As we celebrate our current success as America’s Most Valuable Fishing Port, we recognize the sacrifice and the efforts of all who paved the way to today; our New Bedford fishermen past and present, the men of Gloucester, the fishermen of the Canadian Maritimes, and the fishing fleets from Europe that opened the Grand Banks. It is all linked, it is all of our history and our legacy!

It is with a heavy heart that I must report that my constant companion and friend, Lily, a Golden Retriever dog, passed away on November 27th at the age of 13-years and 8-months. I rescued Lily when she was seven, and we have been inseparable since that day. For those of you who have purchased Neptune’s Nor’easter in paperback, you have seen her picture on the back cover of the book, as she and I were sitting on Pier #3 in New Bedford. Lily was by my side during the four years that I spent researching and writing Neptune’s Nor’easter. We had many adventures together including riding out a hurricane in Georgia, and multiple car trips between Massachusetts and Georgia.

I have written this post not to elicit sympathy, but rather to honor the memory of a great dog. Lily came to me abandoned, afraid, unsure, and she blossomed into the greatest dog I have ever known.

In Memorium

Lilly “Billie” Doucette

March 30, 2006 – November 27, 2019

In this urn are deposited the Remains of one who possessed Beauty without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, and all the virtues of Man without his Vices.

This praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery if inscribed over Human Ashes, is but a tribute to the Memory of Lily, a Golden Retriever Dog who was born in Budapest, Hungary on March 30, 2006, and died at Fairhaven, Massachusetts, United States of America, November 27, 2019.

This Dog, in life, my firmest friend, The first to welcome, foremost to defend, Whose honest heart is still her Master’s own, Who labors, fights, lives, breathes for her Master alone, Unhonored falls, unnoticed for all her worth.

Ye, who behold perchance this simple urn, carry it with respect, it marks my loyal friend’s remains.

Until we meet again, Boo Boo!

(with respect to Lord Byron’s Epitaph to Boatswain, his Newfoundland dog in 1880)

Please find below a short (50 seconds) slide show of the F/V Comber swordfishing in the summer of 1962. The swordfish is being taken by harpoon.

 

 

 

Al and I are working through my father’s collection of photo’s and here’s one from 1930 that I especially like. Grandpa must have been a good teacher because most, if not all, of these four young men later in their careers became captains themselves.

 

The Crew of the F/V Addie Mae working on gear in New Bedford – July 1930

Left to Right;

Louis Doucette, Jr.  –  Bill Rose  –  Captain Louis Doucette, Sr.  –  Eli Pothier  –  Louis Sears