September 14, 1966: I had just come in the door from working in the yard when the phone rang. It was Ken and he needed a boat puller, (deck hand), on the Dora H and would I be interested? This offer came right out of the blue because even though Ken knows how much I enjoyed the water, it had never been suggested that I work for him.
It’s mid September and the crab season had started on the inside waters on the first, but the fellow that was with him didn’t work out and he needed someone right away. I told him that it was short notice and that I would have to talk it over with my wife before making a decision. You have to understand that I am a small town boy and I’m not into major changes in my life and to me this would be a big change! But after all, hadn’t my Dad done the same thing 23 years ago? With this in mind we decided that because of the unstable situation in the mill and the fact that we were actually going backwards financially that maybe I should try it out. After all I would be back with Ken in Anacortes so it shouldn’t be that bad! So I called Ken back and told him that I would be up there as soon as I could quit my job and pack some clothes.
If I was able to handle the work and liked the job I would be able to go with him to the coast for the winter crab season at LaPush, Washington and then the big trip would be to Kodiak, Alaska, next spring. It was an adventure to look forward to!
My wife, Rose, and the three kids drove me to Anacortes and my new job would begin the next morning. It was real hard seeing my family leave but I’m sure the work will keep my mind occupied!
We were up before daylight that first morning and after having breakfast we drove the seven miles from Similk Bay to the 13th Street dock in Anacortes where the Dora H was moored. I have to admit that I was apprehensive to say the least! All sorts of questions were racing through my mind. I had to learn this new job and please the skipper, could I handle it? It wouldn’t be anything like sawing shingles, the only type of work that I had done since we built Ken’s home in 1955. Would I get sea sick? This was a bigger boat and maybe the motion would be different than the smaller boats that I was use to, not to mention the smell of rotten bait! And the big question, would we make any money? There will be all these changes that are in store for me, and more I’m sure, but at least I will be staying at Ken’s home until the ocean season starts so the adjustment will be gradual.
The Dora H, as I stated earlier, is a 52 foot wooden boat that was built in 1912 or 1914 and was converted into a crab boat by Ken when he and his partner bought her. She has a live tank to hold the crab and a hydraulic power block to bring the pots up from the bottom. She can hold up to 150 pots on the back deck and will hold up to18 to 20 thousand pounds of crab in the live tank. The live tank is simply a water tight hold in the forward part of the boats deck, below the water line. Sea water is circulated through the tank when ever there is crab in it! Also a larger cabin and wheel house was built after Ken bought her for more room and convenience.
My first chore this morning was to make coffee while Ken warmed up the boats engine. This will become a daily ritual and I’m told the coffee pot will to be on at all times. I will become the boats cook and operate the power block, but for now I will do all of the things that’s needed to be done in able to bring the crab aboard. When the boat fishes on the ocean and in Alaska we will have one more "boat puller", but here I will do all of the back deck work. Also, I will have to learn how to steer the boat, hold a compass course and read the radar and depth sounder. The San Juan Islands is a good place for me to learn all of these things because it is familiar water and most of the running between gear will be in the day time. At first, all night time running will be done by Ken.
The first day running gear was probably a nightmare for Ken! For me it was pure hell! I have never worked so hard in my life and the only rest is between strings of pots. The time between strings of pots vary, but believe me it’s never enough!
When we are running gear I catch the buoy as we passed by with a buoy hook, (a pole about 8-10 feet long with a curved end to catch the line), and then I put the line into the power block. When the pot reaches the surface I swing it aboard and proceed to empty the crab and sort the small and female crab from the legal sized males. The keepers go into the live tank and the others go overboard. Then I re-bait the pot and wait for the next pot to come and the process would repeat itself until we get done. I thought I was in good shape before coming on the boat but during the first week or so I was so tired that I thought I would collapse, but after awhile it got easier and the routine became quite pleasant. It looked like I would be able to handle the job! I do have to say that even though Ken and I are first cousins he didn’t give me any slack, he worked my butt off every day. We would start before daylight and never get in before dark. Sometimes we would stay tied to a dock in the islands or drop anchor someplace to save the running time the next day.
This daily routine went on until the middle of November. We would get a load of crab and run the boat to the cannery in Seattle and we would start over again, but suddenly the crab were getting scarce so Ken decided it was time to pick up all of the pots and get ready to transport them to LaPush. This was going to happen anyway but this made it easier to take the pots out. Not only was crabbing slowing down but we have had problems with some residents of the bays that we crabbed in. Some of them don’t think we have a right to be there so they mess with the gear. Sometimes they take crab and not re-bait the pot, but more likely they will also leave the pot lid open so no crab can be caught. This didn’t happen in every bay but it happened often enough to cut into the profits. This we won’t miss!
We have been making wages since I got on the boat and I’ve got conditioned to the work so my decision is made. I will stay on the boat and go to LaPush with Ken. We are anxious to get out there because we are hoping for a lot of crab and big pay checks! But first we have to transport about 450 pot there. To do this we will use a truck with a 40 foot flat bed trailer to transport all the pots that we can’t put on the boat. The truck belongs the cannery that Ken fishes for in Seattle.
We made two trips with the truck to LaPush and I have to tell you that my first impression wasn’t good! We pulled into this small Indian village right on the ocean, which in itself was a nice setting, but the wind was blowing so hard that the heavy rain was literally coming at us side ways. On the second trip I meet two natives, that Ken met last summer. One was Porky Payne a local crab and salmon fisherman and Earl Penn who will truck our crab to Seattle when we start fishing. Ken says that Porky is a good fisherman but that he doesn’t seem to too dedicated to his work. He just goes out when the mood hits him.
The date is now November 24, and we are ready to run the boat westward up Juan de Fuca strait. The only thing left is to find another man to work the back deck with me. We would like to have all of the gear in the water by December first.
The Dora H is docked at the Coronet Bay marina, located just inside of Deception Pass on Whidbey Island. LaPush would be roughly 150 miles from here! We will run the boat west on the strait to Cape Flattery where we will meet the ocean, from there it will be another 45 miles or so.
11/25/66 *** Starting today I will be keeping a daily journal of our experiences at LaPush. Ken’s dad, Melvin and I were talking about this trip last night and he showed interest in reading a daily account of this adventure when we get back, so this will be mainly for his benefit. *** We were scheduled to leave this morning but Ken hasn’t been able to find a new crew member yet.
11/26/66 *** Ken found someone yesterday afternoon but it was too late to leave. His name is Tom Parker, he is married and is 25 years old. We left Coronet Bay at 1:15 P.M. We shot through Deception Pass on the ebb tide and the water is calm on the outside. We were about an hour out when I made our lunch. Tom couldn’t eat, he said his stomach was a little upset. He said he has to get use to the water and then he will be all right. Hell, the water is calm! It just occurred to us that he may have never been on salt water before! He said that he had, but he may have said it just to get the job. *** 6:00 P.M. We are starting to get the effect of the oceans swell, not bad but Tom is now quite sick! Ken called the Umatilla Lightship for a weather report. The lightship is anchored outside of Umitilla Reef on the ocean about ten miles or so south of Cape Flattery. The report was a 50 mile wind out of the south east. We reached Neah Bay at 11:15 P.M. and decided to pull in there until the wind lets up. As soon as we tied up to the fish dock in Neah Bay, Tom started feeling better. A classic example of seasickness!
11/27/66 *** Still in Neah Bay and its still blowing hard and raining like hell! Tom spent such a miserable day yesterday coming up the strait that he went up town to find some seasick pills. I have to admit that I have some pills and intend to take some when we get on the ocean. You see, the only time that I was on the ocean I got pretty sick. When I was about seventeen my dad and a friend of his, Guy, took Guy’s son and myself to Westport, Washington to salmon fish off a charter boat. I got sick both days. The water was calm and no one else got sick so this is certainly on my mind. So Tom’s and my ability to handle the ocean will soon be put to the test. I never get sick on the inside waters and Tom got sicker than hell yesterday indicates that I have the edge on him! *** A fellow that Ken met when he was out here before, Gene Erwin, came down to the boat to visit. He took us for a drive around the area. He seems to be a pleasant sort of guy about Ken’s age. He is married with four small children. Even though he and his family are white, they live in Neah Bay which is on the reservation. He is out of work and told Ken that if Tom doesn’t work out that he would like to try the job.*** Well, Tom found some Dramamine so he is ready to face the ocean! There’s just one thing holding us back, the weather, as it’s still nasty out there. Even in the protection of the breakwater the water is not good. We can see big swells breaking over the jetty.
11/28/66 *** We are still tied up at the Bay Fish Co. dock this morning and it doesn’t look like we will be going any where. Gale warning flag is still up and the big draggers that are anchored in the bay are still here. It doesn’t take too much of this to make a person restless! The wind has actually let up but the ocean will still be sloppy as it takes awhile for it to settle down after a good blow. *** 9:30 A.M. Ken wants to run out to see how bad the water is, he is anxious to get the gear in the water. We had hoped to have it all in the water when the season opens on the first. That won’t happen whether we get out today or not! The Coast Guard took the gale flag down but the draggers are still here! It is about 8 miles to where the strait meets the ocean and this stretch of water isn’t that bad, however we are partly protected by Tatoosh Island. Tatoosh sticks out from the point of Cape Flattery and there is navigable water in between, so we will run through there and then we will officially be on the ocean. It’s not too bad running through here in the daytime but at night it could risky because there are a couple of wash rocks that are close to the main channel. By going through this slot we save some time because otherwise we would have to run around Duncan Rock and Tatoosh Island. *** 12:40 P.M. Well we made it through the slot and even though the water is pretty sloppy we decided to push on. We are between Umitilla Reef and the Lightship. (Ken was just telling me about last year when they were running by the reef, the fellow that was on watch got off course and they hit the reef a bit. The basket around the propeller got bent into the flukesof it and left them disabled. He called the Coast Guard and the boat from Neah Bay came out to tow them in. In the mean time Ken rocked the wheel back and forth by putting the boat into forward and reverse a whole bunch of times. Finally he worked the basket from the prop and they were able to move. They had a bad vibration but they were able to go under their own power. The C.G. came and escorted them back to Neah Bay.) The swells are about 8-10 feet with a light wind. We have our stabilizers out so we are getting a good ride. (The stabilizers are heavy fins that hang at the end of about 20 feet of chain that suspend from either side of the boat from long poles. When they are in the water and the boat is moving forward they work against each other and this helps keep the boat from rolling as much. There is a down side to the stabilizers though, because every time we go into port to dock they have to be brought in, and they are pretty heavy! There is no problem putting them out though.) Well, the pills didn’t help Tom! He is sicker today than when we came up the strait. I feel all right but it is definitely on my mind! *** 4:00 P.M. We approached the mouth of the Quillayute River with a 12-15 foot swell on our stern and a 10 foot ebb tide combined with the current of the river. We were on the bridge so we could get a better view and Ken told me to tell him if the top of the swells crossing the river were green. That would mean that they are breaking and its not a good idea to cross the bar. I told him that I was just as color blind as he was and couldn’t tell green from pink. We decided that the swells wasn’t green and started across the bar. Well they must have been green because they were breaking clear across the river entrance! We all had our life jackets on! Ken told me to go down into the wheel house and when he banged on the floor to push the throttle as far forward as I could because he can’t get all of the throttle from the bridge. He figured with the current of the river and the big ebb tide that we would need all that the old girl could put out. We were committed to crossing the bar now and there was no turning back. When we passed the wash rock and got the full force of the river and tide he banged on the floor and I gave her full throttle and that Jimmy diesel was screaming. Now the scary part, because the swells were hitting us from the stern and the rivers current that we were bucking into made us just sit there and we didn’t seem to be going any where. After a few moments though we noticed that every time a swell hit the stern of the boat we would surge forward a little and stay there. So this is how we gained ground until there were no swells to help us, but by now the boats engine was able to slowly take us up the river where we tied up to the fuel dock. While all of this was taking place, Tom was laying on the galley bench, sicker than a dog!
We hadn’t been tied to the dock very long when a bunch of the Coast Guard (C.G.)came down to greet us. They told us that they all were watching us cross the bar from the C.G. station. In fact they all thought we wouldn’t make it but Chief Dixon, their superior officer, said that we would, and he was so sure that he would bet them a quarter each! I’m sure glad he won!
***We just found out that San Juan cannery in Seattle didn’t send out any bait for us so we couldn’t go out even if the water wasn’t rough. Ken called home and Carolyn will bring us bait tomorrow in their pickup.
***Ken talked to a native a little while ago and he said that the Rustler, a crab boat that fishes the Kodiak area, had just pulled out this morning. It sounded like the skipper isn’t one of Ken’s favorite people so I don’t think he is sorry that he missed him.
11/29/66 *** We are tied up to the fuel dock this morning. We probably will stay here rather than use one of the docking spaces because there is only a couple of other boats that will be fueling up here this winter. One will be Porky’s, "Sea Pal", and the other a double end-er that will be bottom fishing out of here.
We are waiting for Carolyn to get here with some bait. I hope she gets here in time for us to get the load of gear that we have aboard in the water. Tom took a walk down to the mouth of the river and reports that the water looks real good, little swell and no wind! *** Carolyn got here at 1:00 P.M. with 1500 pounds of squid and clams. We will mix a little of each in the bait cans. The squid fishes faster than the clams, but the clams will last longer, so the two will make a good combination. *** We had trouble making arrangements for a freezer to hold the excess bait so we didn’t get out because it got too late. Its probably just as well as the wind came up this afternoon. Carolyn will stay the night rather than make the long trip back this late in the afternoon. Its at least a four drive back to Anacortes! ***10:00 P.M. The wind died down again, so maybe we will finally get some gear in the water tomorrow! We will also have to keep a closer watch on the tides and the condition of the bar at the mouth of the river so we don’t get caught like we did the other day! A big swell and low water in the river isn’t a good combination!
11/30/66 ***Carolyn left this morning and we left the dock at 7:00 A.M. We went south to about six miles north of Destruction Island (D.I.) to start dumping the first load of pots. There’s no wind but its raining hard and the swell is pretty big. We started in at 8:30 A.M. and only got 48 pots in when Ken decided it wasn’t safe to have me on the back deck dumping the pots alone. Tom is sick again and he can’t seem to do anything. He was so sick this time that he was literally laying on the deck unable to get up. He would throw up and a wave would come over the side and flush him off. It was handy for him but not my idea of fun. He has been sick practically every minute he has been on the boat while we are untied from the dock. As soon as we get tied up he is fine, he hasn’t been well long enough for him to do one thing let alone stand wheel watch. ***Before we got in the wind came up and the ocean got real rough. We kept on our life jackets while crossing the bar and the Coast Guard came out and escorted us in. It wasn’t nearly as bad as when we came in the first day! Gale warnings are up! *** Ken is coming down with the flu tonight! So far I haven’t had any problem with getting seasick! *** We have only been here two days but we have learned two things. One that the wind can come up hard and fast, the other thing is it rains a lot. In fact I’m beginning to think that rain here is like sunshine is to people in Florida, a way of life!
12/1/66 *** Well the coastal crab season started this morning and here we are, tied up to the dock! Heavy rain and the wind is blowing 40 M.P.H. Tom decided to walk to the store but there is a big puddle of rain water he had to wade through, so to be safe he took a sea sick pill, ha!!! The C.G. sent word down that they would be showing some movies this evening, if we were interested in joining them. That will be good for us to get off the boat for a while. I’m a little disappointed anyway, the sun came out this afternoon and I missed it. I was in my bunk and couldn’t get out in time to see it. That could be my last chance until spring! ***11:15 P.M. We just got back from the movies, it was fun. They seem, to be a nice bunch of fellows. There was a note on our door from Gene Erwin. He and Joanne were here earlier. Too bad we missed them because it is a long drive from Neah Bay!
12/2/66 *** Winds still blowing hard so we are still tied to the dock. The only satisfaction we have is that weather is bad all up and down the coast and the boats from Westport can’t get out either! I’m tired of this damned weather already, but at least we will be well rested whenever the weather decides to straighten up. Ken can use the rest because he still isn’t feeling too good, but I’m getting restless. I just don’t like sitting here waiting, patience has never been my strong quality. I haven’t asked, but my guess is that Tom isn’t nearly as anxious to go out again as Ken and I are! *** 10:00 P.M. Now it’s thundering with lightning to go with the wind and rain. We wanted a change but that wasn’t what we had in mind. The weather is suppose to get better by Sunday, I hope they meant this coming Sunday!
12/3/66 *** Another uneventful day at the dock. Wind and rain! We borrowed a pick-up and took most of our bait to the town of Forks. They have freezer lockers there for rent. It’s a help but also an inconvenience because Forks is about a 30 mile round trip and we would have to borrow a rig every time we need bait. The rate we are going this bait will last all season! *** 10:00 P.M. Weather report calls for continued wind to 40 M.P.H. through Monday. This is getting tiresome, the days are very long!
12/4/66 *** Can’t get out this morning either. The glass (barometer) has dropped to 29.12. Rain continues to pour down along with the wind. I think that horizontal rain is normal here! *** Ken talked to the owner of the fuel dock this morning and he has a freezer that he will let us use. That will at least solve the travel problem to Forks whenever we need bait! You see the San Juan cannery in Seattle was suppose to take care of our bait and storage situation but they didn’t do either. They haven’t been very co-operative at all!*** 3:00 P.M. Ken just left for home to get his pick-up. Two fellows that he knows stopped by and said that they were going to Seattle so he rode with them. Carolyn will meet him at the Edmonds ferry. I will call him this evening after I get an up-dated weather forecast and if it isn’t favorable then he will come back tomorrow. The weather forecast was okay but I wasn’t able to call Ken because the phone lines are down.
12/5 66 *** Still can’t get through to Ken and the water is pretty good. We could have gotten out! I went up to the C.G. station to see if they could get through for me. They got a connection but it was so bad that I couldn’t understand a word that was said so I will give up for now! The glass is rising slowly and just the small craft flag is up flying. ***9:30 A.M. I tried to make contact with the Seattle Marine operator on the boats radio but I couldn’t get through. I went back to the C.G. station and they got a better connection this time. Ken will leave there at noon so we won’t get out today either. *** Ken got here at 4:00 P.M. with the pick-up and the freezer he has on the back of it for when he sells crab at home. This will be real handy as it will be plugged in about 100 feet from the boat and we won’t have to get anyone up for bait when we need it. ***The weather was good all day with little wind and sunshine. At 10:00 P.M. The glass is dropping again and the wind is back!
12/6/66 *** Another nasty day! Wind, rain, hail and just plain dreary. This is what we call another "inside day!" The glass continues to stay low, it needs to rise before we can expect better weather. *** To break the boredom we took a drive south on highway 101 towards D.I. On the way back we saw a sign for the Hoh Rain Forest So we decided to drive up it a ways. The Hoh, a glacier fed river coming from the Olympic mountains, flow down this valley through the rain forest that has been created be the heavy rains brought in from the Pacific ocean.
We hadn’t gone but a few miles when came upon an old fellow herding some cattle. We asked him what the chances were to run across a herd of elk. He told us that chances were slim because of the increase in cougar population and where you use to see ten elk you will only find one now! He said that if we were interested he could take us to a recent elk kill that was near by. We agreed and we followed him through the forest with him giving us information of himself and the area as we went. He seemed tireless and went through the timber like a young man.
As we stood by the remainder of the dead elk he told us that his name was Charlie Lewis and that he was 77 years old. He homesteaded this area fifty years ago and has been a farmer hunting guide, cougar hunter and according to him has had many arguments with the game department. They don’t seem to see eye to eye I guess!
We stood there in the forest for about 15 minutes while he recounted some of the stories of his past. And of course he had to mention that the cougar could be near by watching us, but was quick to add that there wasn’t any danger because there were four of us. I don’t know how much of that I believed but at the same time I had feeling that something was watching us. A vivid imagination I’m sure!12/7/66 *** A beautiful morning, clear and cold! It froze last night. The water was nice and we had no trouble getting out. We dropped the 92 pot that we had aboard, next to the ones we dropped before. We didn’t even check one pot for crab because Tom was so sick that Ken just came in. ***The ocean was what we call "lumpy", meaning the waves have no set pattern, they just seem to bunch up. The wind was starting to come up just as we dropped the last of the pots.
6:30 P.M. *** We loaded 77 pots this evening and just as we got through it started to snow. This morning the glass was set at 29.20 and this evening it came up to 29.63. Maybe we will have some better weather.
Tom is still sick even after being on the beach for several hours. His future on the boat looks pretty bad. We can’t keep going on this way because he isn’t able to do anything but get sick and I don’t think it will change!
12/8/66 *** 6:40 A.M. Ready to shove off! The glass is up to 29.95 and it is cold and snowing. The water is flat calm! We lifted 50 pots and got a grand total of 27 crab. What a disappointment, nine days soak and no crab! We will have to move some pots to try and find out where the crab are at. But it won’t be today because Tom got so sick that we afraid that he would start throwing up blood. On our way in Ken told me that he was going to let him go. It’s hard for Ken to do because Tom is a nice guy, but we are afraid that he will get real sick because today he just laid on the deck and was so weak from dry heaving that he couldn’t even hold his head up. The crazy thing about this is that every day when we are ready to go out he is ready and eager to go as if he hadn’t ever been seasick before!
Ken told Tom that he was afraid for his health and that he would have to replace him. He took the news good and went up town to call his wife so she can drive out here to get him. Ken called the Bay Fish Co. in Neah Bay to try and reach Gene to see if he still was serious about working on the boat. *** The glass is set at 30.10 and it is real cold.
12/9/66 *** Gene came this morning and we loaded the rest of the gear and took off. Tom’s wife will be here this morning to get him. *** We got half way to D.I. and the wind came up so we just dumped the pots to get them off the boat and then we came in. Gene didn’t get sick and he worked with me dumping pots and it looks like he will be a fast learner and will fit in just fine. It was so nice not having someone puking all of the time! *** This afternoon we took Gene’s car back to Neah Bay for Joanne to use and we stayed for dinner. He has a nice family! We got back at 9:30 P.M. and the glass is set at 29.65
12/10/66 *** Gale warnings so we will stay here. We are having trouble with the fresh water pump and the wind blew out the fire in the stove in the galley last night. What a mess! Something is always happening, except catching crab! The conditions here are sure worse than they were in Anacortes. The ocean is boss and it doesn’t pass up any chance to prove it! *** Ken went home this morning to get some lines for the pots. If we have to move the pots into deeper water we will have to extend the lines. Also, considering the heavy currents and big swells, we have to have plenty of excess line so the buoys don’t get pulled under! The glass up to 30.05 this afternoon. *** One of the G.G. fellows came down and invited us up to play pinochle. We went and when we left they said they would call us on the boats radio when the movies will start. They are spoiling us!
12/11/66 *** Gale warning still up along with heavy rain. A couple of Indians came down to the boat this morning to buy some crab, which we didn’t have. Boy, were they drunk! I don’t know how in hell they can get so drunk so early in the morning, unless they never sobered up in the first place. They probably know that the best way to avoid a hangover, other than not drinking, is to stay drunk! *** Gene and I went up to play pinochle at the C.G. station. We got back at 5:00 P.M. Ken got back at 1:30 P.M. The wind is blowing hard. This is really getting to me, it’s almost like serving out a prison sentence. If it wasn’t for the fellows at the C.G. station it would really be bad!
12/12/66 *** 50 mile winds this A.M. Glass dropping again and here we sit! There is an extremely high tide this morning and along with the wind the water is so high that it is almost up to the pick-up and into the parking lot. The weather report is now full gale warnings through tomorrow! Will this ever settle down or is this how it always is here in December?
12/13/66 The weather report still calls for a full gale and guess what, there isn’t any wind! However the tide is higher than it was yesterday. It flooded the parking lot and even got into one of the natives yard! *** They took the full gale flags down and there is only the small craft flag out. Still no wind! Believe it or not, the sun is shining and there isn’t any rain. Maybe I’m hallucinating! If I’m not maybe we will get out tomorrow!
12/14/66 *** Got up at 5:00 A.M. and no wind so we are going to try it. *** We took off and got to the mouth of the river and the swells were breaking clear across the entrance. You see when we leave it is dark so we can only go by what we can see with the spotlight. So we are going down the river and it is calm and suddenly we get to the bar and there’s a huge wall of water waiting for us. If we didn’t have the spotlight on we would have gotten a hell of a surprise. You see where the river flows into the ocean there is an island, James Island, and it provides protection from the ocean, but when you get to the mouth of the river you turn slightly to the left and your on the ocean, right now! *** Today Gene started to teach me how to play cribbage. This should be interesting! It seems like he has done a lot of things and been to a lot of places. On the other hand he could just be a master Bull Shitter! We seem to get along okay, so I don’t know what that says for me!
12/15/66 *** This is getting ridiculous! The wind is blowing hard and raining as well. What a hell of a place to spend the winter! The weather report is the same for the next couple of days. It seems to me that they could just issue one report and play it over all winter long! *** I called home this evening. I talked to everyone, but hated to tell my wife that there wasn’t any money to send. Lets hope that changes soon! The phone call boosted my spirits for awhile anyway!
12/16/66 *** Well, two months ago today, I started to work on the Dora H! At 6:00 A.M. we drove to Port Angeles, about 70 miles away, on the route to Anacortes. I went there to sign up for unemployment. I was denied because even though I haven’t had any wages for the past month, commercial fishermen come under different rules. They take the season as a whole and average your wages after the season is over. Then they determine your eligibility. Not good news but I have to live with it! *** We were back to LaPush by 10:30 and was on the ocean by 11:00 A.M. There were big swells crossing the bar and it turned the galley into a mess. It got better as we got further out! Foggy and visibility about ½ mile. ***Our bad luck continues! We started lifting gear and a lot of them were sanded in. This happens when the pots aren’t lifted often enough. It helps when there are crab in them to keep the sand from building up. Anyway we busted off two and had put 27 aboard when we got a hold of a pot that was really sanded in. Before I could get the line out of the power block and wrapped around a cleat, a big swell tightened so hard and fast that it shattered the spool of the power block. Gene and I were lucky to not get hit by flying pieces because they went everywhere. This is an example of the problems you can run into with sanded pots and big swells. This happened so fast that there wasn’t any time to wrap the line around the cleat like we had been doing earlier. But now the bigger problem becomes further gear loss, because we have to go to Seattle or where ever else we can find another power block and in the mean time the pots will continue to get sanded in deeper!*** Our immediate problem becomes whether or not we will get into the river. We hadn’t planned on coming in until this evening and right now the tide is ebbing and the swell is big! *** 3:00 P.M. We made it in but it wasn’t any fun! Ken is calling around trying to find a block.*** 4:00 P.M. Ken can’t find one and the manager of the cannery in Seattle is trying also. He did find out that to get a new Marco power block will take 3-4 weeks. That won’t work because every pot would be lost by then! What next, I wonder. It isn’t suppose to go this way! We never even got one crab today, just an octopus. We brought it in and gave it to an old native, Bill Penn.*** 7:00 P.M. We decided to head for Anacortes and continue our search from there. I started driving and nearly wrecked the pick-up on the Elwah River bridge, so Ken took over the driving and drove into a speeding ticket for $17.50. Oh well! It seems like this black cloud that is hanging over us just isn’t going to leave.*** We caught the Kingston ferry and got home at midnight.
12/17/66 *** After calling all over the place Ken finally located a block in Bellingham. We went up there but wasn’t able to find anyone who knew anything about it so we came home. (On the way back to Anacortes we stopped at the Sehome - Anacortes high schools wrestling matches and watched Ken Jr’s match. He won 9-1.) When we got back home Ken remembered a fellow crabber in Anacortes and gave him a call. He had a spare block, so we got that one from him and when the new block arrives then he will get it! *** We called the C.G. in LaPush and they told us that the wind was blowing hard so we decided to stay the night and leave in the morning.
12/18/66 *** We left at 9:15 A.M. and caught the ferry at Keystone, at the southern part of Whidbey Island. We got to LaPush at 1:00 P.M. We walked in on Gene, dressed only in his shorts, cooking a pot of beans. I bet he would have put a move on if we were a couple of young girls! *** We got the new block in place and are ready to go. I sure hope the weather will co-operate now because not only aren’t we making any money, but about $15,000.00 worth of pot are at risk of being lost.
*** We tried out some of Gene’s beans and went to the C.G station to shoot some pool and watch the evenings movies. We sure are thankful for their hospitality otherwise we would probably go stir crazy. There are some that might think we are crazy anyway just for being here!*** Glass set at 30.00 at 10:00 P.M.
12/19/66 *** 9:30 A.M. Wind blowing hard and gale warnings are up! Rain but mild temperature. Forecast for tomorrow is for "decreasing winds". We have heard that story before. Ken is getting pretty concerned about his gear sitting out there. With no crab they just sand in that much quicker! Most of the pots haven’t been checked for almost two weeks.*** The morale isn’t real good at the moment so in order to perk us up, Gene has been peddling us some of his Bull Pucky. Example: It seems that when he was a boy he had a cat, and it always did its mess on the floor. Every time Gene would catch it he would throw the cat out of the window. But he said that the cat was a fast learner, because after a few times of this the cat would crap and then jump out of the window on its own. (It was such a dumb joke that we had to laugh anyway!) I wouldn’t dare print some of the other jokes he told!
12/20/66 *** Up at 7:00 A.M. No wind and the ocean has calmed down! We were real lucky today, actually I should say Ken was lucky because we lifted about 150 pots and after two weeks we only lost one pot. We got 615 crab from these pots. 450 of them came from the last 50 pots that we lifted. Unfortunately they are south and west of D.I. in 7-10 fathoms of water. (That a long run!) If the weather holds for tomorrow we will move more gear there. We put 48 more there today! Our best pot gave up 23 crab. That sounds good but you have to remember the two week soak!*** Even though the fishing part of our day went okay that’s not to say we were problem free! We have water in the fuel and we had no fire in the stove, translates into no coffee or hot food. Ken had to work on the small engine below deck this A.M. and has felt rotten all day. I worked on the stove on the way in, trying to get it going and I got a bit sick also. We got everything squared away by 10:00 P.M. and finally got to bed. It’s a good tired today because we actually did a days work doing what we came down here for! Glass set at 30.15.
12/21/66 *** 6:15 A.M. Beautiful morning and the ocean is flat as a pancake! We moved 77 pots to the spot south of D.I. We lifted 100 pots and got 281 crab. We had hoped to get in early and get squared away so we could leave for home, but just as we started back a bolt broke in the steering system. Gene went into the lazerette, a sealed compartment on the back deck where the steering gears and bearings are, to put a temporary fix on it. We were lucky that it is calm enough to allow us to get in there because normally there is water going over the back deck and with the water being calm there shouldn’t be too much of a strain on the steering! We did okay until we got close to the mouth of the river and it gave way again. We called the C.G. and told them our problem and asked them to stand by. Gene crawled back down there and put another quick fix on it but it only lasted a few minutes this time. I then called the C.G boat and asked for a tow. They were right there and towed us into the harbor. They were very efficient and deserve a lot of credit! The engineer from the C.G is getting us a bolt for the repair. We are still having a problem with the stove and small engine for the live tank but we are working on them at the dock this time! Well to top off everything else that happened today, Ken called the cannery and they won’t take any crab until the 27th, so here we sit with 800 crab and nowhere to take them! So a beautiful day on the ocean sure turned into one hell-of-a chain of events!
12/22/66 *** Another beautiful day and we will be going the other direction! We got the steering fixed and the crab loaded into the pick-up and we left at noon. We took the freezer off the back of the pick-up and have it plugged into the fuel docks electricity. This way we can transport the crab and keep our bait frozen. Ken will drop me off at the Hood Canal floating bridge where my wife will meet me and Ken will sell the crab at a cannery in Anacortes. We stopped in to the unemployment office in Port Angles to check on my claim and they told me that I would probably have to appeal after the season is over, providing I continue not make any money. Seems like a hassle to me, but what can I do but go along with them! To add insult to injury, Ken got another speeding ticket today. When it rains it pours, they say! We will stay home for Christmas and return on Christmas day. *** I got home at 7:30 P.M. it was sure good seeing my family!
12/25/66 *** We had a nice stay at home and we managed to have a Christmas even though we are broke. I hated to leave. I’m sure it would have easier to leave if things had been going better at LaPush!*** We met Ken at the floating bridge at 5:30 P.M. and we got here at 8:15 P.M. We had 1186 pounds of crab and there wasn’t enough to bother paying us this time so Ken will add it to the next batch, assuming of course that there will be more! *** When we got here Gene had a visitor, Chris. How do you describe Chris? Well he is one of the C.G. boys about 26 years old and is a big guy, about 250 pounds. The bad thing is he has a mouth to match and he is so full of B.S. that he floats in it! Aside from that he is a pretty friendly fellow. I think he would do anything for you! ( A quick story about him: I can’t verify this because it is only related to us by some of the other C.G. But on D.I. is a manned lighthouse station and the C.G. from LaPush make regular trips down there to deliver mail, groceries and whatever else they might need. Anyway coming back last summer from D.I. Chris was going to show off for the younger recruits on the boat by running the 44 foot C.G. boat between the Needles and the beach. The Needles are a bunch of rugged pointed rocks that are just off shore just south of the beach at LaPush. The problem is that it isn’t recommended to run a big boat through there because of the wash rocks. Well you guessed it, he put the boat up on a wash rock and did enough damage to have to be towed in.)
12/26/66 *** Today is one of the nicest days you could hope for! Ken and Gene got up at 3:15 A.M. and went to Forks to get the rest of the bait to put in the pick-up freezer. They couldn’t get in so we went out with enough bait for about 100 pots. The water is flat calm and it even got warm in the early afternoon. The bad thing is we only got 122 crab! We moved about 40 pots south of D.I. and added them to another string of pots. It seems that the crab fisherman is always trying to second guess the crab and this time Ken thinks that because so many of the female are full of eggs that the male crab just aren’t ready to come in yet. It would be nice just to know where in hell they are hiding! *** When we came in this evening the tide was so low that we got hung up on the bottom just before we got to the entrance to the boat harbor. We backed off and went back to the fish buying dock that is right on the river. 7:00 P.M. we got tide up to the fuel dock, it’s still clear with no wind. Glass set at 30.30
12/27/66 *** Ken got up at 3:15 A.M. and went to town and he got the bait this time so now we have it all in the trucks freezer! We left at 5:30 A.M. and it is overcast and cold and the ocean is choppy with a small swell. We lifted 175 pots and moved about 50 more south of D.I. We got a total of 242 crab today. Not good! Some of the pots were sanded in also, but not real bad.(Something that I haven’t mentioned is catching the buoys while we are running gear. Its easy when the water is smooth with no swell. But imagine a big swell and we are approaching a buoy. I spot it when it is at the bow of the boat but by the time it gets to me it could be anywhere from on top of the next swell or several feet under water. The amazing thing is that we rarely miss a buoy, maybe one or two a day. Sometimes I have to make a stab under water for it and generally I come up with it. Its kind of a game, really! [ Ken kids me by telling me that I can’t do much else but I can catch the buoys well.] Another thing is, we have to approach the buoys going into the current because you need all of the slack in the line that we can get in order to get the line into the power block easier. If you try to pick one up with the current it is next to impossible! When we do miss a buoy we have to circle around and try again and that wastes time.) *** We got in at 7:30 P.M. and had to tie up to the fish dock again because of the low tide. Glass set at 30.01 and raining!
12/28/66 *** We wasn’t going to go out today but we couldn’t have anyway because another blow came in over night. We spent a couple of hours cleaning up the boat and then Gene and I went up to visit the guys at the C.G. station. Ken stayed on the boat because we put the word out that we have crab aboard and we will try to sell them off the boat. *** We got back pretty late, Ken said that he only sold a few of the crab. He’s asking $.50 a crab, a bargain I would say! It rained hard all day and is still windy.
12/29/66 *** Pretty nasty out so we will stay at the dock today too. We didn’t do anything except sell a few crab and play cribbage and pool. The weather report is favorable for tomorrow.
12/30/66 *** We left at 5:30 A.M. The water is nice but there is a big swell, however they are so far apart they are no problem for us to run the gear! Raining off and on! We lifted 160 pots and got 245 crab. We moved 58 more pots south of D.I. Now we have about a 4 hour run from the end of our last line of gear to LaPush. That takes a lot out of the day! We pulled our last pot at 5:00 P.M. at dark. We was abreast of D.I. and we didn’t get in until 8:00 P.M. There is a minus tide tonight so we tied up to the fish dock and will spend the night here.
12/31/66 *** The water is choppy with a 6-8 foot swell but we decided to try it anyway. It was real nasty to work in! We only had 125 pots that we wanted to pull so that wasn’t too bad. We only got 175 crab. We took 38 of the pots from the north end of the string and put them at the south end of the string. There doesn’t seem to be anything north of D.I! We got done at 12:50 P.M. and the weather switched from the west to S-S.W and that blows right into the mouth of the river. I must say that by time we got to the mouth it was very rough. We didn’t have any problem but it was real sloppy as it was starting to break across the bar. Fortunately the tide was in and that helped. We got in at 3:45 P.M. Ken took the fuel filter up to the C.G. station to blow it out with their air hose and Chief Dixon told him that he was glad to see us come in early because there is a big blow coming this afternoon. *** Well tonight is New Years eve! Ken and I will stay here but Joanne is coming to get Gene and they will probably go to the Air Force base near Neah Bay and party tonight. ***7:30 P.M. Glass set at 29.04. The wind hasn’t came yet but I’m sure it will. That’s the one thing that we can rely on!
1/1/67 *** Happy New Year!!!!!!! I’ll bet I feel better this morning than Gene does. Of course he probably had more fun too!*** It was pretty windy and wet this A.M. but at 3:00 P.M. the sun is out and the glass is set at 30.25. *** 6:00 P.M. Ken and I were sitting at the galley table, visiting over a cup of coffee when a spotlight flashed into the side window. At first we thought it was some kids playing around with us, but then we noticed that it was coming from the tower of the C.G. station. Ken went to the marine radio and turned it on and sure enough they were trying to get us on the radio. They had a message from Carolyn and thought this was easier than walking down here. She called to tell Ken that her sister Gina was in the Army hospital in Tacoma. The doctors have found a brain tumor and will probably do surgery on her. It sure is nice having the C.G connection, they make us feel like we aren’t quite so alone out here!*** 9:30 P.M. Gene hasn’t showed up yet. We are hoping to get out in the A.M. as the weather is still okay, raining but little wind! Glass set at 30.07.
1/2/67 *** We were up and ready at 5:00 A.M. but Gene wasn’t here yet. At 5:30 he showed up and said that he stopped at the C.G. on the way in and they said a blow is on the way so we decided to stay in. We loaded the crab in the pick-up and Ken headed for home at 7:30 A.M. He wants to get more information on Gina. *** Gene had his car here so we went to Neah Bay. We spent a couple of hours at the Air base at the N.C.O. club and had a few drinks. We decided to stay the night at Gene’s place because we knew that Ken wasn’t planning on coming back until tomorrow.
1/3/67 *** We got back at 1:30 P.M. and Ken had also just got back. The crab weighed 1130 pounds and he told us that Gina was still in the hospital but he didn’t know anything more about what was going to happen. *** The wind is still light this evening but its real cold. Glass set at 30.05.
1/4/67 *** We left at 5:30 A.M. Cold with 20 mile wind and 8 foot swell. We lifted 153 pots and got 609 crab. This is more crab than we got going through the gear twice! Maybe things will start getting better now. *** We finished a string of gear at 3:20 P.M. and the wind started building so we decided to call it quits for the day. By this time the swells had built to about 12 feet and the wind was up to about 35- 40. The weather was hitting us quarter to our port bow and we were getting hit hard by the waves and swells. Every so often we could hear a cracking sound and the boat would shudder, so we assumed that the swells were breaking right under the boat. We wasn’t rolling around because of the stabilizers but we were getting a beating just the same! We were also bucking the current so it took us 3 ½ hours to make it to the rivers entrance. We took one wave so hard that were surprised that it didn’t take out the wheel house windows. As we got closer to LaPush and we changed course for the river we had the swell nearly on our stern. This was quite a feeling because as we would climb a swell we could see all of the lights, and the village looked like a city, then we would go the bottom of the trough and we couldn’t see anything but darkness. Because the tide was right and the wind was from the west we didn’t have a problem crossing the bar but he sure had a mess cleaning up the scattered mess in the boat! I think it was lucky for us that it was dark out because if we could have seen the water I’m sure it would have scared the hell out of us! All of this just for a few crab!
1/5/67 *** We got up at 4:30 A.M. and the wind was still blowing so we went back to bed. At 7:30 A.M. we checked the water and it didn’t look too bad so we decided to try it. We were on the gear by 10:30 A.M. and we ran 130 pots, 50 of which we moved south of D.I. We got 259 crab, not good! There was a big swell all day and the water came over the back deck most of the time The wind blew about 25 all day. We had the same problem as we had the day before, bucking current, big swells and wind. But we didn’t get knocked around as bad as yesterday, apparently something was a little different but running in the dark we can’t tell anything. We got in at 9:30 P.M. *** Today I took what will probably be my last seasick pill!(Knock on wood!) You see every morning when we get up to go work, my first order of business is to take "the pill". Well we went back to bed this A.M. and left on the spur of the moment later so I forgot the pill. Well I worked all day and didn’t think about it, and not until we got half way back to port did I realize that I forgot the pill, and guess what, I got sick! I didn’t puke or anything that drastic, but I felt rotten. So I decided that at least in my case it is all in my head. Time will be the judge!
1/6/67 *** We got up at 3:30 A.M. and loaded the crab in the pick-up and Ken left at 4:30 A.M. He wants to be with Carolyn right now because of Gina. *** We will clean up the boat today and probably go visit the boys at the C.G. station. Its almost like having a second home to go to, so I hope we aren’t wearing out our welcome! *** Its been mild today with little or no wind. Glass set at 30.29! *** Ken called this evening and said that Gina will have surgery and that he wouldn’t be back today.
1/7/67 *** We played pinochle until 3:00 A.M. at the C.G. station. At 9:00 A.M. we haven’t heard from Ken yet. At 1:00 P.M. Joanne came and she and Gene went to Forks. Wind and rain, and the glass is steady at 30.29. *** Ken got back at 3:00 P.M. and was pretty well beat. He had been to Tacoma but it was too soon to know how Gina was. There were 1629 pounds of crab. We went up and watched the movies tonight!
1/8/67 *** The weather is nasty today so we are at the dock yet We spent a lot of time with the C.G. again. I’m starting to feel like a thirty year old recruit! Hopefully we are a distraction for them as well, because there really isn’t much to do here for anyone!
1/9/67 *** We were up at 4:00 A.M. left at 4:45 and was on the first of the gear at 7:45. The water was calm until about 1:00 P.M. Cloudy but no rain! We lifted about 150 pots and got 720 crab. We got through at 2:45 P.M. so we should get in early today. *** We started having problems with the steering just as we got to the river. There is a lot of current in the river so we was real lucky that it held together. With the strong current we could have gotten into trouble real fast. We didn’t call the C.G. but found out a little later that with their boat in the harbor they couldn’t have gotten out anyway, because another boat had come in and got stuck on the sand bar just outside of the entrance to the boat harbor. He just has to sit there until the tide comes in enough to float him. We tied up to the fish dock to wait. We don’t want to stayed tied up to this dock over night because of the strong current in the river!*** The boat got off the sand bar at 9:00 P.M. and we were both tide up at 9:45. It will be late again before we have everything squared away so we can go to bed! Oh yeah, I didn’t get seasick!
1/10/67 *** Blowing hard this A.M. but it makes no difference because we have to fix the steering. We went to Forks later to buy some new steering cable. So while we were there we got the word out that we had crab for sale. This should help the boredom problem and to give us a few bucks to carry around! *** Well it worked as we had quite a few customers today. The people came out even though the wind blew about 40 all day! But by dark the wind was gone and it had quit raining. Maybe we can get out tomorrow!
1/11/67 *** We went out at 4:45 A.M. Windy but no rain. We lifted about 60 pots and had to quit because the swells were so big and the current so strong that the buoys were being held under water. On the way in Ken decided that we all would go home for a couple of days because of the poor fishing and the constant fight with old "Mother Nature". There’s another big storm in the forecast so we probably wouldn’t get out anyway. I’m just wondering if the thought hasn’t occurred to Ken by now that maybe this winter fishing out here may not be such a good idea! He has a lot of money tied up in gear and the expenses pile up, not to mention the responsibility of the boat. So I would think that there is a lot of stress to go along with everything else! Just think, lousy weather, no crab and the bottom line no money! You know when people go to the market and buy seafood, the majority of them have no idea what a fisherman goes through to put seafood on their plates! We are just talking about one boat here, that’s not catching any crab, but the industry of commercial fishing as a whole looses boats and lives every year for one reason or another, but winter fishing has to be the main reason for boat loss!
1/12/67 *** Well a person never knows, but I would have been better off if I would have stayed on the boat! On the way home, my wife and I were in a wreck in Tacoma. We were hit broad side by a 16 year old kid! No one was seriously injured but our car has a lot of damage so I called Ken and told him what happened and that I would need some extra time to get everything squared away. So instead of getting to relax and spend some time with the family, I got to run around taking care of the arrangements to get the car fixed.
1/14/67 *** Ken and I got back at 8:15 P.M. Gene wasn’t here, he probably got tired of waiting for us because we didn’t call him. Nothing has changed here as it’s still raining and blowing hard! Ken sold the crab in Anacortes and there were 1315 pounds. *** Glass set at 30.08 at 10:00 P.M. and still blowing hard, not much chance in getting out tomorrow!
1/15/67 *** Gene and Chris rolled in after 2:00 A.M. after closing up the bars in Forks. I’ll bet he is glad that we are tied to the dock today! The wind has been blowing about 50 all day. *** Gene brought about 500 pounds of horse clams back from Neah Bay so we spent a big part of the day shucking them. We will freeze them and use them for bait. What a job! Gene also took time to shave off his beard, just as it was getting to look good. He told me that he and Chris raised so much hell in Forks last night that he thought he better shave so no one will recognize him! *** 10:00 P.M. Still blowing hard! We plan on going glass ball hunting at daylight because those who know say that the best time to find them is during or right after a big westerly blow. This qualifies I would think!
1/16/67 *** We got up early and each took a beach. Gene found two glass balls and Ken and I didn’t get anything except a lot of fresh air! The wind has died down and right now it isn’t raining. Hopefully we will get out tomorrow. The glass is rising and is set at 30.43.
1/17/67 *** We got up and left at 4:15 A.M. and for some reason none of us slept well last night. I was telling Gene on the way to the gear that something was going to happen today and that we all had a pre-monition of it. We both laughed it off as a bad joke! *** We had a nice smooth ride down to the gear and the water was real smooth with a slight swell, what else could we ask for except a lot of crab? Well at about 11:00 A.M. I missed a buoy and instead of making a circle, like we normally do to get it, Ken put the boat into reverse. Because it was so flat and the current wasn’t bad he decided to back up to the buoy instead. When he tried for reverse we heard a noise and the boat didn’t go backwards, she just sat there. The obvious was that we either threw the propeller or we broke the shaft. Regardless, we were dead in the water. Ken put a call in to the C.G. and they will be here about 3:15 P.M. We dropped the anchor to wait. What a bad deal, the only good part is that we are in no danger because the weather is real good today. Ken got a hell of a case of nerves and went to bed while we waited for the C.G. On top of everything else that has happened this season, now this! It looks like our strange feelings this morning meant something after all! *** The C.G. arrived almost when they said they would be here and took us into tow at 3:45 P.M. *** Before we broke down we had 275 crab out of 90 pots. There still isn’t many crab. I wonder if they will ever come in this winter! The tide was real low when we got in at 8:30 P.M. so we are tied to the fish dock. The C.G. will tow us into the harbor in the morning. The C.G. got into the harbor because they draw less water than we do. We need about 6 feet of water! They checked out the shaft and it is okay so I guess we need a new prop. ***We went up to the C.G. for dinner, they really take care of us. Believe me when I say that we really appreciate everything they have done for us!
1/18/67 *** Ken and I left for Seattle at 6:30 A.M. to look for a new wheel. Gene is going to help the C.G. move the boat into the harbor at 7:00 A.M. We took what crab we had and dropped them off at the San Juan cannery in Seattle. There were 534 pounds! We then went to Olympia Prop. We were able to get a 32-32 prop, which was as close as they could match the 40-28 prop that the boat requires. Right now we don’t have the luxury of time to look for the right one. We then went to Weld Craft to have them make up a nut, pin and zinc plate. We then drove to Anacortes to spend the night. We got here at 5:30 P.M. so I went to visit my mom. Mom has been crippled since 1955 and has been in a rest home since 1962. Unfortunately, I don’t get to see her as often as I would like to!
1/19/67 *** We left early for Weld Craft but didn’t leave there until 1:00 P.M. because they didn’t have the nut ready. We caught the 2:30 P.M. ferry at Edmonds and got to LaPush at 5:45 P.M. Gene went home after they got the boat tied up so we will have to get in touch with him tonight because we will try to put the boat on the grid at 7:00 A.M. tomorrow at high tide. (The grid is a platform that you can float the boat on for repairs under the water line. You have to tie the boat, tight, on both sides to keep her from tipping on her side, because when the tide goes out the boat is just siting there while you do your repairs. The tides are real important when using the grid. You also want to be sure that the high tide that you go on the grid with is lower than the next tide, otherwise you can get stuck there until another higher tide come around!) *** The wind has been blowing about 50 all day, we can only hope that this isn’t a big storm and that our repair job on the grid goes smoothly. We could loose a lot of pots to sanding in if we can’t get out soon! This whole LaPush experience is slowly leading us to the poor house. Ken stand to loose a lot! *** 9:00 P.M. Full gale warnings are in effect!
1/20/67 *** At 7:00 A.M. the C.G. pulled us over to the grid. We have her tied good from both sides so she won’t tip and we will wait for 2:30 P.M. for the tide to go out so we can put on the new prop. *** Gale warnings still up, blowing 40 or better! *** At 2:30 P.M. Chris put on his wet suit and with Gene’s help they got the wheel put on with no problems but the threads on the nut were wrong so Ken took it to Forks to have it re-threaded. He will get it by low water tomorrow! *** Chief Dixon has retired and the new Chief is taking over today so he bought a keg a beer and we are invited to help empty it. Nooooooooo problem!!!!! Of course Gene and I will have to drink Ken’s share because he doesn’t drink. I don’t think that will be a problem either! *** Well, believe it or not but Gene and I didn’t make pigs of ourselves. We had a good time and watched movies and played cards and had dinner there as well. The wind is still blowing hard tonight.
1/21/67 *** Gene and Ken put the nut and pin on the shaft at 2:30 P.M. at low tide. We are waiting for the tide to come in so we can get her off the grid. *** 10:00 P.M. The tide didn’t come in far enough so we will have to wait for the next high tide in the morning. The wind was lighter today and it has been trying to snow. Glass set at 29.43.
1/22/67 *** We got her off the grid at 7:00 A.M. but the wind came up again so we couldn’t get out! So to kill some time we gave the boat a good scrubbing. We even cleaned up ourselves, and I might say that we even look almost human! Later we are going up to our second home and watch a movie. I’ll bet they will be glad we took a shower too! *** 10:00 P.M. Just got back from the C.G. and the wind is still blowing hard. It isn’t looking good for tomorrow now. Ken’s folks are coming to visit sometimes tomorrow and will bring our aunt and uncle, Clarence and Nina Steffen, with them. They live in Cooperstown, North Dakota and live at the homestead of our maternal grandparents. At least if we don’t get out we will have more time to visit. But what we really need to do is get out and turn them pots over because they haven’t been lifted since January 11.
1/23/67 *** We left at 6:45 A.M. even though the water wasn’t real good. At 9:00 A.M. we turned back because we had only made 9 miles and the wind had built up to about 30 M.P.H. The current that we were bucking plus the new prop made for real slow going. The prop being the wrong diameter and pitch has slowed the boat way down. Also we were listing to some of the boats at Westport that tried it this morning were going in because the buoys were all under because of the current. The wind had let up a lot by the time we got in at 10:15 A.M. There wasn’t much of a swell but there was a hell of a chop! *** The relatives got here this afternoon so we spent the afternoon at their cabin on the beach. We had a nice visit with them and we also stayed for dinner. *** We got back to the boat at 10:00 P.M. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for winds S.W. 35-45. Every day we stay in now becomes critical. The pots needed to be lifted days ago. When we get out we will surely loose some pots!
We got up at 3:00 A.M. and the predicted wind hasn’t shown up yet! At 8:00 A.M. it’s still calm but Ken is concerned about running as far as we have to in order to reach the gear. The forecast still calls for the high winds and the glass has dropped 22 points since 3:00 A.M. Right now it is blowing 5 from the N.E. *** The relatives came down to say good bye and we invited them to have breakfast with us. After breakfast they left about noon. *** 9:30 P.M. Cold, clear and a 15 mile wind from the N.E. Glass set at 29.42.
1/25/67 *** Well our worse nightmare became a reality! We got out at 4:00 A.M. and we got to the grounds at 7:15 A.M. And the gear was scattered all over the ocean. We zig-zagged back and forth until 4:30 P.M. and found only 81 pots. We lost 14 of them because they were sanded in so bad that we broke the lines on them all. After we got through we dumped them all back in because we didn’t know what else to do! I think we were in a daze because it all seemed so unreal even though we knew that this could happen. Even so, we tried to be optimistic. We’re not now! But now we will have to decide on something or we will loose them all! *** On the way back in we did a lot of talking about what we are going to do and we came up with this: We will salvage as many pots that we can and take them back to Anacortes and Ken will fish them in the islands there. Gene and I will try and find work to keep us going until we go to Kodiak on the first of May. Ken will try and replace the lost gear by building as many as he can and buy the rest so we will have plenty of pots to fish up north: This is a hard pill to swallow because we have been here two months and haven’t made any money to speak of and then loose most of the pots on top of that. It is really hard to admit that we have been beaten. But mother nature is a might force and we are just mere mortals! So if we can salvage a load of gear before we leave and come out of this with the boat and our hides then we can say that it could have been worse! *** We got 350 crab out of the 67 pots that we saved. But somehow it doesn’t seem to make any difference how many crab there are because the season is lost. We will wait until we can get out again and start salvaging what pots we can. *** 10:00 P.M. Heavy rain, wind 20 from the S.W. Glass set at 29.77 and falling!
1/26/67 *** Gale warnings and we stayed in again! Gene and I took a ride south towards Queets. The road follows the ocean part of the way so we thought we could spot some pots that we missed yesterday. Well we spotted a lot of them but the bad news is that many of them were just past the surf line and some even in the surf. We won’t be able to get any of those, I’m sure! I guess that if a pot doesn’t have any crab in them and hasn’t become sanded in yet, that the pots can just roll on the ocean floor from the motion of the sea from the high winds. ***We stopped in Forks on the way back and sold some crab that we brought with us and Ken will try and get rid of the rest off the boat. Carolyn came out today and we wanted to leave them alone because I’m sure there is a lot to discuss. *** After we got rid of the crab Gene and I decided to go to the Vagabond restaurant in Forks to have dinner and a couple of drinks. While we were sitting in the bar having a mixed drink, Chris came in and was pretty drunk. He sat down and asked for a sip of Gene’s drink because he was broke and couldn’t buy one for himself. Gene said, "piss on you," so Chris took out his partial plates and plunked them into Gene’s glass thinking that Gene would just give him the drink. Wrong! Gene picked up the glass and with the teeth staring at him drank the rest of the drink. This could have started a fight in most circles but for some reason it didn’t this time. We just sat there and laughed and Chris got up and left.
1/27/67 *** Gale warnings still out and raining hard! Carolyn will stay another day. Gene went home to see his family and took the rest of the crab with him to Neah Bay to sell them there. I’m the only one that doesn’t get to see mama. The wind has been blowing hard all day. We could just end up loosing all of the gear. I think we should have kept the 67 pots that we had aboard. Its easy to look back and second guess!
1/28/67 *** Gale force winds still in effect. Carolyn left at 10:00 A.M. We will probably spend some time with the C.G. today, we are very edgy about this whole situation so probably won’t be the best of company. Ken is just like a caged lion, this waiting is pure hell! We have been lucky in the past because one of us has been able to keep the other two cheered up when we started to get depressed, but this time is different, we are all pretty well down! Gene got back at 2:00 P.M.
1/29/67 *** Gale winds still blowing! Ken went home this A.M. and will go to Seattle to tend to some business tomorrow before coming back. He no more than left and the wind started blowing over 80 M.P.H. The tie-up lines on the boat was straining so bad that we triple tied her to be safe. There was about a two foot chop right in the boat harbor. Fortunately it only lasted about 30 minutes and then dropped back to the normal 40 50. The forecast calls for reduced winds tomorrow to 20-30.
1/30/67 *** Well the wind has stopped completely and the ocean looks good, the problem is no skipper. Ken will be sick to find out that we could have gotten out this morning. With our luck it will blow again tomorrow. I sound like a skeptic, but if you just come here and spend December and January and try to fish for crab, I’ll guarantee that you will become a skeptic too! *** 5:30 P.M. Its been nice all day and Ken isn’t back yet. I hope everything is okay! *** Ken got back at 7:30 P.M. The weather is favorable for tomorrow so maybe we can get this mess over with and get the hell out of here!
1/31/67 *** We left at 10:00 A.M. and got on what’s left of the gear at 7:30 A.M. East wind at 15 M.P.H. The east wind has knocked the swell down to nothing. We picked up pots all over the place and we even went in to the edge of the surf and tried to get some of the pots that Gene and I saw the other day. We would sneak in and get a buoy and then head out for deeper water. We broke all of them off but at least we got the lines and buoys back. A couple of times we bumped bottom from getting in so close. We have 92 pots aboard and we busted off 35. There will be a lot of buoys that we will never spot. They could be anywhere. We got 130 crab today, big deal!!!! We unloaded the pots onto the dock because we don’t know how many we will get tomorrow if we get out.
2/1/67 *** We left this morning at daylight. The wind was blowing and we wanted to be able to see the mouth of the river. The swell isn’t big but there is quite a chop. We found 38 more pots and couldn’t spot anymore buoys so we brought our search to an end. We didn’t want to fool around too much because we wanted to get the pots loaded this afternoon, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to get out until 2:00 A.M. because of the tide. *** We had no trouble getting the pots loaded and secured and ended up with 130 pots. We expected to loose more but even so this amounts to about 70% of his gear. Considering the lines, buoys and pots the dollar loss is somewhere around $15,000.00. Not to mention Ken’s expenses and no wages. This will be something we will not soon forget, but it will have to be put behind us if we are to continue fishing! *** We left La Push for the last time at 6:15 P.M. There is a 6 foot swell and an 18 mile wind from the S.W. We have the live tank pumped down and the stabilizers out so we are having a good ride. *** Umatilla Lightship at 9:00 P.M. I went to bed and Ken and Gene stayed up. The wind started building and when we got to the slot between Tatoosh Island and Cape Flattery I was awakened by the boat stopping so I got up to see Gene and Ken trying to spot the wash rock. They had the spotlight out searching for it but the rain was blowing sideways and visibility was real poor. The radar was working fine but it won’t pick up something like a wash rock. They finally spotted it and we made our way through with no further problem. Its a bad deal when you know that damn rock is out there and you can’t see it. You have no idea which way to go until you finally see it! That’s a hell of a place during the day let alone at night with the rain and the wind blowing. At least we are back into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We have the weather on our stern now and should have no more problems. *** At 11:45 P.M. we are passing Neah Bay and the water is calm!
2/2/67 *** Now that we are in calmer water we can relax a bit. I went back to bed and Ken gave instructions to Gene for the next watch. He should have no problem, the water is nice and the radar is working fine and visibility is a long ways. *** 3:00 A.M. Well I was wrong, Ken went to bed too and for some reason he woke up, instinct I guess, and he looked at the depth finder and we were in 20 fathom of water and right in front of us on the radar was Vancouver Island. He was 90 degrees off course. Shakes one up, considering all of the rest of the crap we have dealt with the past couple of months! You know I really thought that Gene wouldn’t be a problem on wheel watch at night but I guess I’m wrong. I don’t know if he went to sleep or what happened but I’ll tell you that I won’t sleep well with him behind the wheel at night unless we are far from shore! Its probably just as much our fault because he really hadn’t done night watch alone before, we just assumed that he was capable. According to him, he can do anything, and we believed him! *** 9:00 A.M. We are turning at Discovery Island to start up Haro Strait, the water is smooth as glass. A real treat compared to what we have been in lately! *** At 10:30 A.M. we dropped 25 pots in Wescott Bay on San Juan Island. And then put 50 in Lopez sound at Lopez Island. It got too late to put the remaining pots at Hat Island so we went to the Skyline marina to tie up. Skyline is located west of Anacortes on Fidalgo Island.*** Well our adventure to LaPush is over for this time and we lost the battle to Mother Nature and the crab didn’t do us any favors either. We met a lot of fine people in our venture to LaPush and for that we are grateful! And we came back with our lives and the boat with a deck full of pots. Just enough to give us something to start with for our next battle with the sea! *********************************************************************
I have been wanting to put this journal together for thirty years. When I finally completed the daily entries I re-read it and the realization hit me, that we really went through a lot that winter, and for what? We certainly didn’t make any money! We lost the majority of our pots and experienced a lot of rough water.
Then while I was pondering over what makes up a commercial fisherman there was a news report of a crab fishing boat that had just sunk off Westport, Washington. The skipper was missing and presumed dead, his wife and son were rescued. The wife died from exposure shortly after being rescued. The boat was the same size as the Dora H. It reminded my of our encounters with the ocean at LaPush so many years ago. Then two days later while reading the local newspaper there was an article about another crab boat that ran aground near the Queets River. That is just a stones throw from where we lost our wheel and most of our gear. No lives were lost this time as the four men were safely rescued. One was airlifted by the Coast Guard and the other three made it to shore with the help of another C.G. swimmer who went through the surf with a line. They made it to safety with the aid of the line stretched from the boat to the shoreline.
Now this chilling reality of what commercial fishing is about exposed another factor that all fishermen have to deal with. Your life is often at risk and that lives and boats are lost every year, and the winter fishing is even more risky because of the harsher weather. This happens everywhere, of course, but the waters in Alaska probably produce more loss of life and boats because of bad weather and rough water conditions and more boats because of the fertile fishing opportunities. Looking back I can see that we have a lot to be thankful for!
Now for my answer what makes up a commercial fisherman! He is a person who loves the adventure of the sea and the constant challenge of trying to figure out the habits and location of whatever he is fishing for. He is a hearty person who is also a gambler! He gambles his boat and many times his life that he can out smart his prey and the weather conditions that invariably gets in his way. Most of the time he wins enough to keep him hooked in the business, but other times he looses. He may only loose some gear or he may not make any money, but there all too many times when the loss is even greater, his boat and-or his life! This being said I can now look back and see our two months at LaPush differently. We met some great guys at the C.G. station, got some winter crab fishing experience, but most of all we had our lives and the Dora H so we could fish another day! *********************************************************************
After we got the pots in the water around Anacortes, I went back to Mineral and was fortunate enough to get a job sawing cedar shakes. Gene moved his family to Anacortes and helped Ken build pots for the Kodiak season. We both got our back unemployment compensation after appealing to the state.
The first of May found me back in Anacortes helping with the preparations for the season in Kodiak. I stayed with Ken through the season that ended just before Thanksgiving but Gene quit on the 5th of July. We had a reasonable season in Kodiak. At least we made wages and didn’t loose all of the pots.
I didn’t go back to Kodiak even though Alaska has been in my heart ever since. Ken continued to fish up there and during the next 25 years he sold the Dora H and had built two steel hulled crabbers in Mobile, Alabama. One is the 72 foot Point Omega, now owned and operated by Ken’s oldest son, Ken Jr. The other was the 98 footer, Carolyn Jean, named after his wife. The Carolyn Jean sank in 1985 after icing up and drifting into some rocks. The replacement boat, the Bararossa, another 98 footer was lost at sea in 1991. All six men aboard died! Nothing was ever found, there wasn’t even any debris found in the area that the boat could have been! Neither Ken or any of his family was on either of the boats. In the later years Ken hired someone to run the boat so he could get a break from the daily strain that caught up to him after all of the years he spent fishing. Ken just told me recently that the biggest mistake he make during his fishing career was to hire people to run his boats!
Ken still lives at Similk Bay with his wife, Carolyn. He hasn’t fished commercially since the Bararossa sank. My marriage had gone on the rocks while I was up north so when we came back in the fall I relocated in Forks, Washington. There were good mill jobs there and because I decided not to go back to the boat I needed a good job.
It paid off in more ways than one because after I had been in Forks for about 6 months I met my future wife, Helen. We were married in July of 1969. She and I both enjoy the sea and have had three sport fishing boats during the past 28 years and have fished out of LaPush most of these years as well as other ports on the Olympic Peninsula and Puget Sound.
This story ends here but not the memories because Ken managed to keep me up to date on the fishing activities over the years. The thing that I wish I didn’t have to report is the fact that the Dora H sank somewhere in Alaska about 1980!
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