Tag Archives: A life on the water
Don Mathews – Reflections of a life on the water
The Newport waterfront is less rich today for the passing of a man who’s determined spirit exemplified the fishing life. A Springfield native who helped pioneer and innovate the Alaska fisheries in the 1970s, Don Mathews was best known on the central coast for piloting crab boats through winter seas and for launching Marine Discovery Tours to help share his knowledge and love of the ocean. Don died at age 69 on Nov. 9 after a battle with cancer. His determination to carve a niche in a brutal world, the struggle to balance family with his own craving for the next fishing season, and his sense of humor and willingness to lend his neighbor a hand are stories that go to the very bone of this harbor. As the surf pounded restlessly in the view from the Mathews home this week, his wife Fran remembered a shared life stretching back three and half decades — to the Alaska port of Kodiak where it all started. >click to read<18:09
Fisherman Jack Troake recalls a life on the water
Jack Troake acknowledges the work was gruesome, but said it had to be done. “No, I don’t miss seal hunting,” the veteran sealer based in Twillingate said. “Turns me stomach there when I talk about it. That’s how much I hates it. But you do it because it is part of your culture and your way of life.” The isolation of rural outports in Newfoundland made life difficult. For the most part, the communities living there had to be self-reliant by growing their own vegetables, and turned to fishing for their livelihoods. “It’s the way of life you know, b’y,,, >click to read<10:33
A life on the water – Newburyport’s Bob Yeomans feted for 45 years at sea
NEWBURYPORT — Veteran boat captain Bob Yeomans has a saying about life on the Atlantic: There are no 401(k) plans to be had by fishing Jeffrey’s Ledge. So Captain Bob continues on, taking out the Erica Lee II on fishing trips and coastal discoveries as he has for decades. more@newburyportnews 12:05
