Tag Archives: PROVINCETOWN
Lifting Up the Patron Saint of Netmakers, Shipbuilders, and Fishermen
The 28th Provincetown Portuguese Festival begins Friday, June 28 with live music and dancing in Portuguese Square on Ryder Street. During the three-day-long celebration, Capt. Kenny Silva will lead a fishing derby on MacMillan Pier, fishermen will tell stories on Ryder Street where there will also be a crafts fair and poetry, and the Knights of Columbus will hold a soup tasting under a tent at the Bas Relief Park behind Provincetown Town Hall. But for at least some people, none of this will compare to the event happening for the 77th time, the Blessing of the Fleet at MacMillan Pier. “Everyone confuses the festival for the blessing,” says Provincetown fisherman Alex Brown. “The festival leads into the blessing, but the blessing is a separate event — it’s always the last Sunday of the month.” Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 13:14
A Master Fisherman with a Big Heart, Peter Cabral Dies at 70
Described as “saltier than a Scully Joe” by his daughter, Ashley, master fisherman Peter Cabral, who earned his first full share on a commercial fishing boat when he was eight years old, died on May 13, 2024. The son of Anna (Corea) Cabral and Louis Cabral, his adoptive father, Peter was born on July 17, 1953 in Gloucester. He grew up on Pearl Street in Provincetown, surrounded by the extended Corea family: his grandparents, Joseph and Virginia Corea; cousins Frank Domingos, Bruce, Joey, and Donna; his aunt Florence; and especially his uncle Joseph Corea, who was like a father to him. When he was a boy, fishing was as natural to Peter as riding a bike. He started commercial fishing at eight. “He earned his full share of the catch, the same as the men on the boat,” Ashley said. “He worked on Papa Joe and on Miss Sandy with Louis Rivers. He was a fishing prodigy.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:19
Third-Generation Provincetown Fisherman Kenneth Macara, has passed away
Kenneth Roland Macara of Provincetown and Delray Beach, Fla. died at home on Aug. 16, 2023 after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 91. The grandson of Joseph Macara, who emigrated from Portugal to Provincetown in 1899 and captained four draggers, including one named Victory, and the son of fisherman Manuel Macara and his wife, Inez, Kenneth was born on Dec. 9, 1931 in Provincetown and grew up here. When he was nine, he said in a 2021 interview for the Provincetown Portuguese Festival, he “forced” his father to “let me go fishing.” That desire to go to sea dominated his life. He was known as a “highliner,” a fisherman whose boats produced high yields of fish and thus high profits. As his grandfather and father had done, he captained draggers, taking over Victory II from his father. After years of fishing, Kenneth built a new boat, the Ruthie L, named after his wife, and passed Victory II on to his son Kenneth II. In his 2021 interview, Kenneth described the fate of the latter. >>click to read<< 10:06
Peter Cook Tells Stories to Remember
Fishing hundreds of miles off the coast of Provincetown in1979, the F/V Little Infant was caught in a raging tempest. Peter Cook, a crewman on the 90-foot scalloper, could see only one other boat out there, the F/V Leland J. “That boat got in trouble,” says Cook, “and started taking on water.” The Little Infant’s crew watched the other boat sink, “and then,” Cook continues, “we picked six guys out of the life raft. Once the six men were on board our boat, I walked into the wheelhouse and Captain Adams said, ‘Well, Pedro, that went well. How are those men?’ He always called me Pedro. And I said, ‘They are shaken up but lucky to be alive, thanks to you.’ He pointed out the window and said, ‘Take a look out there. I’ll bet you never saw anything like that before.’ And the other boat had turned bottoms up and was upside down, drifting away. And I said, ‘No, I never did, George.’ And he said, ‘Well, that’s a story you can tell your grandchildren someday.’ So, I wrote the story.” >click to read< 11:34
Louie Rivers
Louie Rivers was among the finest men I’ve known, and times spent aboard the Miss Sandy are my best memories on the water. Our days began before the sun, walking dark Provincetown streets to the pier. This was the 1980s. Young men ending their adventures, as we were starting ours, made lewd comments about this odd pair, a young long-haired bearded guy alongside a squat older man with arms like thick oak limbs. Louie would just laugh. In all our years I never saw him get into an argument or fight, a rare thing among fishermen. Miss Sandy was tied up at MacMillan Wharf like a dog waiting to get off leash. >click to continue reading< 16:17
Blessing of the Fleet an important tradition for Provincetown fishermen
Captains and crew of lobster boats and mobile gear boats, including scallopers, sea clammers and draggers were readying their boats for the procession Sunday morning. A lobster boat crew used a crane to lower lobster pots with onto the deck of their boat. Antonio Dias was squid fishing off the family boat, Berco De Jesus while waiting for his brother, Jorge. They were planning to take their 45-foot scalloper out to line up for the procession. The Dias family grew up in Provincetown, one of hundreds of Portuguese families that have made their living from the sea. Photos, >click to read< 08:01
Blessing the Fleet. A tradition that still has meaning in this town
This weekend is the Portuguese Festival and the Blessing of the Fleet. I have written before about the historical importance of the Portuguese in Provincetown, and there is an aspect of their character that still defines this town. The Blessing, too, is an artifact of a centuries-old tradition. It has been going on for decades here in town, but, where once dozens of draggers lined up to pass the wharf and be blessed, now there is a much smaller number, along with lobster boats, charter fishing and whale-watch boats,,, >click to read< 11:25
Demolition nears for old codfish processing plant – what a story it has to tell!
The building is all that remains of what was, at its founding, the first codfish processing plant north of San Francisco. Many of the untreated pilings, eroded by time, tide and critters were driven by Capt. J.A. Matheson when he built the processing plant in September 1891. By October, the former Provincetown, Massachusetts, sea captain’s schooner, Lizzie Colby, arrived from the Bering Sea with its holds full of cod, ushering in an era of fish curing and fish canning that would provide jobs for hundreds and fuel the economy of an infant city, according to news stories at the time in the Anacortes American. >10 photos, click to read< 15:15
Provincetown’s Blessing of Fleet to be private event in response to Coronavirus
“The Festival, the Pier Corporation, Harbormaster, Fishermen and St. Peter’s parish are working together to arrange a psalm private blessing of the boats,” festival organizers said in a statement. The change was in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and the bishop of the Fall River Diocese likely will be on the water in a boat to give the blessing. There won’t be the big party that people are used to, MacMillan Pier manager Doug Boulanger said. “There’ll be nothing really to see,” he said. This quiet period is a good opportunity to pause and honor the past and remember the crews lost at sea, as well as pray for safe voyages of the town’s commercial fishing fleet. >click to read< 09:16
Photo’s: Fishing in Provincetown 40 years ago
Provincetown 1979, Culling the catch–discarding the anemones and crabs and other bottom life that came up in the net-always drew a crowd of gulls. Here the crew of Pat Sea, skippered by Manuel Macara, culls near Race Point. Cape Cod Times photographer Milton Moore captured these Provincetown fishing images 40-plus years ago. 37 photo’s >click to review< 09:15
On This Day: October 27,1660, Cape Cod’s first whaler was persecuted “for his evil ways”
The New York Times in October of 1894 reported on the first whaler from Cape Cod. Unfortunately, he was persecuted for “his evil ways” by the Puritans, which delayed the further development of whaling for another half century when it then flourished for the next century on Nantucket and Provincetown where in May 11, 1843 the Provincetown whaling schooner Cordelia took the largest whale ever known to be captured on this coast, southeast of Chatham. The earliest records indicate that one William Hamilton was the first person who killed whales on the New-England coast. >click to read< 08:49
Provincetown: The women behind the fishermen
Fishing has changed, but being the wife of a fisherman has not. The wives keep the books, paint buoys, and make sure permits are up to date. They give pep talks, and sometimes fish alongside their husbands when a crewman doesn’t show up. These women are the shore captains, the homemakers, and the mates on and off the boats. They encourage, support and value their husbands and the work they do. “Fishermen’s wives also support each other,” says Tasia Rego, whose husband, Mike, fishes off the Miss Lilly. “We are like families. We help each other. We understand the ups and downs of the business.” >click to read<11:24
The Richard & Arnold’s final voyage out of Provincetown
With my family on board, the Richard & Arnold sailed from Provincetown Harbor for the last time on Memorial Day. The Richard & Arnold holds an important place in the town and nation’s history as one of the oldest continually fishing vessels left in the U.S. For 36 years, it was ours. She was built in 1934 by Casey Boat Yard in Fairhaven. History tells us that the harbor was once filled with boats like the Richard & Arnold, the wheelhouse in the stern, constructed of wood, with fishing nets hanging from the rigging. In a perfect world the Richard & Arnold would have stayed in Provincetown forever. >click to read<08:57
Provincetown targets “attractive nuisance”
The breakwater has had an added attraction latley that may require legal action; the Artemis, a 42-long defunct fishing vessel, has been grounded agaist the breakwater since early March. The ship broke its mooring in a storm and doesn’t seem to be leaving anytime soon. Another boat, the My Yot also broke its mooring, and is stranded nearby.,, the town is looking at legal options to get Artemis removed.>click to read<09:14
Provincetown commercial fishermen find ways to survive in a struggling industry
They may not be cut from the same cloth, but they are bound by a common thread.Chris King, Mike Packard and Beau Gribbin are commercial fishermen who fish out of Provincetown. Even as the number of fishermen here has fallen off steeply, they have survived. And they go on seeking better ways of making a living.“We represent three different roles in the spectrum,” says Gribbin. “We employ different strategies.” Read the rest here 12:11
Provincetown Portuguese Festival and fleet blessing draw raves
Sunday’s clear blue skies made a striking backdrop for the many flapping red, green and gold flags lining the town streets during the Portuguese Festival and 67th annual Blessing of the Fleet. Read more here 07:29
Fisherman’s head was lodged between boat, pier
A commercial fisherman was injured attempting to tie the fishing vessel “Sao Jacinto””Due to the severity” of the man’s injuries,MedFlight was called read more.
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120902/NEWS/209020328/-1/NEWSLETTER100
