The Legacy of the N.H.-Maine Lobster War and Why It May Wage On

“That’s the line we’d use. We probably used it a century or so, between the New Hampshire and fishermen.” That’s Jack Newick, a lifelong lobsterman from Dover. Newick says in the old days, if you were out at sea, all you had to do was imagine a straight line connecting the lighthouses– and that was the border. They called it the “lights on range.” Newick, the New Hampshire lobsterman, remembers how it started. “For some reason, one particular Maine fisherman, he was a mean, ornery son-of-a-gun and he called the state of Maine down to establish a line.”Maine game wardens responding to the call found a New Hampshire lobsterman named Ed Heaphy with lobsters in his boat that were illegal in Maine. But Heaphy, using the “lights on range” said he wasn’t in Maine, he was in New Hampshire. The wardens disagreed. Things escalated. Ed Heaphy’s shipmate, Brockie, had a loaded pistol. Audio report, read the story here 14:26

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