Day: September 19, 2018

Who knew?

Replica schooner COLUMBIA off Beauport Hotel 9/2/2018

[photo by Phyllis Bezanson]

In 1927 the original schooner COLUMBIA was lost with all 22 hands near Sable Island. COLUMBIA had been launched in 1923 in Essex and was on a salt cod trip, likely for Gorton’s, for her previous trip was taken out there. Gorton’s was canning fish cakes – ‘Ready to Fry’, they were called, and there was great demand for such a convenience food. When I went to work for Gorton’s in 1964 ‘Ready to Fry’ was still popular but fish sticks were gaining fast in popularity.

There is a movie at the Cape Ann Museum showing the smiling crew of COLUMBIA as she departs on her fatal trip to the banks.

Also in 1927, at the site of this new hotel, Clarence Birdseye, who came to Gloucester the year COLUMBIA was launched, patented a process for rapid ‘indirect freezing’ of fish. His patents led to the birth of the frozen food industry and to the creation of fish sticks. His company, then General Seafoods, was purchased by Marjorie Merriweather Post, aided by E F Hutton and Goldman Sachs, becoming General Foods. The Birdseye brand today is known worldwide.

Birdseye’s plant stood here until just a few years ago when it was replaced by Beauport. The plant had a distinctive tower that housed an elevator to carry salt cod to the roof for drying in the sun.

Al Bezanson

Traveling home after work yesterday post storms to find a sundog/rainbow glowing around the Boulevard so I took a minute to take some “His and Hers” pics!  

The dark and rainy morning has put me in a reflective mood.  Given the historic damage done by Hurricane Florence and the uncertainty following the gas disaster in Andover and Lawrence, my mind turns to other monumental disasters.  One hundred years ago the Flu Pandemic reached into Gloucester and the surrounding areas.  Each day in late September and through mid October, the newspaper reported on the growing number of flu deaths.  While I do not know the final numbers, the highest number I saw reported was 180 people within about month as of October 14 1918. It must have been very frightening for all but it seems the city handled the pandemic admirably.

This is an example from the Gloucester Daily Times Sept 17 1918 of the precautions taken.  The microfilm quality isn’t great, but it gets the idea across.

As we see from Florence and in Andover/Lawrence, disasters tend to bring out the best in people and I imagine this did the same at the time.  Disasters past and present remind us to be kind, take good care and stay vigilant.