Tag Archives: Christmas

CHRISTMAS CRACKER CREWS

Christmas was a time of conflict within Hull’s trawling industry. The clash was between love and money. Trawlermen loved to be at home over the festive season, living it up with their family and friends. The trawler owners, however, wanted their vessels at sea in order to land fish on the market for early January. The price of fish was always extremely high around 1 January, because all Scottish fishing ports were closed for the Hogmanay celebrations north of the border. The ships’ runners bore the brunt of this conflict of interests. They were employed to crew the ships (each firm had its own runner). It was a difficult job at the best of times, but especially during the run-up to Christmas. They did their job by fair means or foul. Different strategies were used to get the ships away. One was to sign men who had been on a ‘walkabout’ or were ‘blackballed’. A man who had been disciplined by the owners would be keen to ‘get shipped up’ and work his way back into the industry. Christmas was his best chance. Another devious method, when scraping the bottom of the barrel,,, photos, more, >>click to read<< 15:18

A New Rod For Gramps

Young Cris had been going fishing since he was old enough to walk. Gramps, as he had called him, was raising Chris as best he could, living on a fixed income. Cris’ parents were taken from him in a car crash wen he was only six months old, and his Gramps was just like a dad to him. Gramps had lost his wife to cancer a year before Cris was born, so the two of them needed each other very much. Living within a mile of one of Texas’ largest bays, Cris enjoyed the time he and his grandfather spent on its shores. Gramps had spent many hours schooling him in the finer art of angling for redfish and he always admired the pretty copper-colored battlers that his gramps caught and later cooked for dinner. more, >>click to read<< 08:39

Plymouth lobster pot tree honors lobsterman Mike Furlong

Plymouth lobster fishermen have turned their popular annual Christmas tradition into a tribute to one of their own. The lobster pot tree that the group assembles on Town Wharf every Christmas season is dedicated this year to Michael Furlong, a 65-year-old lobster fisherman who died after an accident on the water in November. Furlong, or ‘Furley,’ as he was known to fellow fishermen, was a Plymouth native and Kingston resident who had been working out of the harbor for decades. Photos, >click to read< 10:33

A Christmas Eve Tale – Loss of ring nearly cost his life. He found it in the belly of a codfish, arrived in Gloucester to marry his Mollie

With a headline sounding like a poem or song, this memorable Gloucester Christmas eve tale by Tom Herbert was published in the Boston Globe in 1893 – Christmas Eve. Boston Globe 1893, He kept his promise. Loss of ring nearly cost his life. He found it in the belly of a codfish, arrived in Gloucester to marry his Mollie! “Such a dread as I have of your going away so late in the fall,” said pretty Mollie MacDonald to her lover. “And remember we are to be married Christmas eve.” “Why it’s only a three weeks’ trip, Mollie, to the Western banks,” said McAchen, “Then you know, too, I am shipped in the famous Star of the East and we will sail at daybreak.”,, “But what about the engagement ring, Angus?  >click to read< 09:20

Tales a tree tells: Murray Harbour’s Christmas monument remembers fishermen lost at sea

On a stormy afternoon in August of 1940, three fishermen were returning to the harbour when their boat capsized about a mile off of Beach Point. It’s said that the waves were high that day. The boat – which had relatives Vernon Jordan, John White and Bobby Nelson on board ¬– was overturned after being swept away by a strong wind. Today, the impact of the tragedy is remembered as part of Murray Harbour’s history. This year, residents of eastern P.E.I are honouring those tragedies with Murray Harbour’s new Christmas monument. Video, photos, >click to read< 09:35

December 25, 1939: Flying Santa “bombs” our lighthouses

On this day in 1939, as reported in The Lowell Sun: New England’s flying Santa Claus tuned up the reindeer under the hood of his airplane today, readying Blitzen and Vixen and the others for renewal of his annual Christmas visit to the lonely lighthouse keepers along the bleak northern coast. Santa, who in real life is William Wincapaw, will take off at dawn tomorrow to begin his 126 Yuletide calls upon the isolated posts which watch and wait for him eagerly. >click to read< Read about the origins and the history of Flying Santa >click to read<  08:01

An original song by Paul “Sasquatch” Cohan, Christmas In Gloucester

An original song by Paul “Sasquatch” Cohan celebrating America’s Oldest Seaport, Gloucester Massachusetts. Sasquatch covers the vocals and guitar, John Hicks plays mandolin and bass, Ev Harlow did the video. Special thanks to Joey at Good Morning Gloucester for some of the images. Merry Christmas Cape Ann! Posted by Everett Harlow, Dec 11, 2011, >click to watch video<, and listen! Merry Christmas to all! 08:25

Be merry and bright with 20th annual Port de Grave boat lights

It’s become a Christmas tradition in Port de Grave: lighting up the boats in the harbour, and wading through the thousands of people who come to see them. “We figure between 30 to 40,000,” Joyce Morgan, co-chair of the Port de Grave Annual Boat Lighting, says of the number of visitors each Christmas season. This year’s lighting happened on Dec. 7, with crowds of people showing up to watch the harbour light up. >click to read<18:38

Why Greeks traditionally decorate a boat instead of a Christmas tree

The most traditional symbol you will find in Greece during the holidays is a small boat decorated with lights, usually placed in the main square of a town and close to the more international Christmas tree. To karavaki, or small boat is rooted in the traditions of a country with a symbiotic relationship with the sea. In fact on the many Greek islands the Christmas boats remain the most popular ornament of the holiday season. click here to read the story 15:19