Tag Archives: F/V Phyllis A.
Effort to save Gloucester’s oldest gillnetter sinks
During Gloucester’s celebration of its 400+ anniversary this year, America’s oldest seaport will say farewell to its oldest fishing vessel, the Phyllis A., a 59-foot gillnetter built in 1925. The 98-year-old vessel will not see its centennial. Efforts to raise enough money for its restoration and preservation were sunk in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and a slow trickle of money to support the educational nonprofit doing the work, the Phyllis A. Marine Association. “She fished out of Gloucester for 75 years, never anywhere else, and she was owned by the same family — the Arnold family,” said Gloria Parsons, a long-time member of the association. 12 photos, >click to read< 08:52
Help us learn more about the “Michigan Bears” and the men who fished aboard Gloucester’s oldest fishing vessel, the Phyllis A.
On September 6, 1920 five small vessels arrived in Gloucester Harbor and tied up in Smith Cove near Rocky Neck. The little boats and the 20 men who crewed them, had spent 24 days traveling 2,200 miles from Charlevoix, Michigan to start a new life for them selves and their families, doing a method of fishing that had been introduced, but not welcomed, by the fishing industry on the east coast of the Atlantic in the late 1800’s,,, gill net fishing, used here in Gloucester and the East coast to this day. >click to read<21:21
Gloucester’s oldest fishing vessel is entering its next stage of restoration, and we need your help to see it through.
We are the Phyllis A. Marine Association (PAMA), Inc., a non-profit corporation established in 2006, to promote the history of gillnetting in Gloucester, Massachusetts through the display and preservation of the fishing vessel Phyllis A. PAMA is setting out to raise $20,000 via Indiegogo and direct, tax-deductible donations to our 501(c)3. Read more here 21:04
