My View of Life on the Dock
He had to tie it off to the side of the boat because it was too heavy to get aboard with his lobster trap hauler and davit.
So he brought it to the State Fish Pier where he hooked it up to the industrial sized boom and lifted it enough to get aboard the deck.
Bidding starts at $500. Who wants it?
George hardy sold out. Traps, buoys, permit and all to a nice fellow from Marblehead.
Weird seeing Marblehead across her stern but life goes on and at least she will continue lobstering.
This shot was taken just minutes before her final moments in the port of Gloucester after dozens of years in our fair port.
Here is a a story we documented about George Hardy and the Hard Bottom a couple of years ago in these pages which unfolded over the course of a week.-
July 23, 2008
So George Hardy set out to go lobstering yesterday afternoon and within hauling of the first couple of trawls he busted his davit.
A davit is the boom that hangs out over the boat with a pulley that the line goes through to pull the traps up onto the boat. It hangs out away from the boat so the traps dont gouge the boat on their way up over the rail.
The reason his davit broke was because when he went to haul his traps up from the ocean floor there were four other lobstermen’s trawls set over his. so when he went to lift his trawl up, the entanglement of four other lobstermen’s gear was being lifted at the same time. Apparently it was too much strain for his old wooden davit and it snapped.
This time of year the lobsters are in close to shore so all of the lobster gear is concentrated in a much smaller geographic area. It creates much tension among lobstermen fighting for prime lobster bottom.
The result for George was a davit that snapped in half. Not good.
Here’s half of the broken davit on George Hardy’s boat The Hard Bottom.
George’s davit snapped from the strain of trying to get his lobster gear up from the bottom of the ocean floor while being entangled with the traps of four other fishermen. This is the second davit that has snapped in three days.
When the first one snapped he went and replaced it with a piece of pine (shown below). So he saved himself a few bucks by using the cheap scrap pine, but cost himself two days fishing due to the mechanical failure of the soft knotty pine used as a davit.
Adding to George’s frustrations on this particular day was the fact that his backman overslept so he had to go fishing alone.
 Here’s a picture from two days ago of broken Davit #1
Hear George’s choice words as he disassembles the second broken davit aboard his boat in three days in the upcoming video at 9:00AM.
I’m hoping the next one he replaces the broken with is made out of something stronger than untreated pine.
Hey George, you have no idea how happy I am that you decided to make the new davit out of steel instead of knotty pine. It was painful watching the frustration as you disassembled that second one. Video coming soon! Looks like the third time is a charm.
If anyone has been following the George Hardy Broken Davit debacle, there is hope. Watch the video.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about click this text for the background
This process happened over the course of 10 minutes. I captured it on video and here are the pictures.
The Lobster Molting In Real Time Video Can Be Seen Here
Watch this lobster pull away from its old shell in real time at our dock in Gloucester
There’s not much worse feeling than waking up and realizing you are that horrible son or daughter that forgot to get your dad a present.
If you are THAT person, fear not. We will be open at the dock to bail your ass out.
Give us a call at (978) 283-1454 and order your dad the easiest most no-brainer gift ever and watch him smile when you deliver them. We open at 5AM 7 days a week but it’s best to call ahead so we can put exactly what you need aside for you.
I can tell you personally that lobsters as a gift have a huge impact which people do not forget. There isn’t anything where you make as much impact for as little money as lobster.
Bottom line.
We will be open Father’s Day, best to call ahead and put in your order and we will put exactly what you want aside for your morning pick-up.
Here’s the Captain Joe and Sons Website
Mark Ring found the bottle floating 200 yards directly in front of Hammond Castle two days after the girls released it from Good Harbor Beach. When I asked him how he knew it was special, he simply replied- “It’s experience Joe. It’s experience”
Alyssa and Lauren just happened to have taken pictures with the bottle before it was released!
Click the map below for an interactive map which tells you the exact distance and more
Part IV- Pictures from the Girls who cast off the bottle tomorrow at 11
Pete took these photos on Easter morning of our dock through the fog from his dock at the State Fish Pier.
Peter writes-
here they are…taken from the stern of my lobster boat restless, state fish pier easter sunday 2011
pete seminara
We break open the bottle to find out what it says inside
Look for Part III tomorrow where Mark contacts the people who cast off the bottle
view Part I here-
Message In A Bottle Found Yesterday At Sea Part I
I took this and slowed the video to one quarter actual time so you could see the strikes. About a third of the way through you can see a seagull gliding across the screen. I’ll have to do more of these. Feel free to forward to friends or family who may be out of town.
The show which was made possible by a seARTS grant and lots of hard work by Abby was a smashing success. Even though there was an incredible amount of things happening around town there were a ton of people who came to check it out.
Abby is really going places. The talent she has for boiling down incredible amounts of data into such an engaging and easy to understand handbook is nothing short of remarkable. She did it with her Biomes Project and she’s done it yet again with the Gloucester Fishing Handbook. People gobbled up all the copies of the twenty or so books she had printed and there was some exciting talk of possibilities for publishing it.
Rachel Carver-Brown did a fantastic job with the refreshments. It was just a great great Gloucester Day!
You can check out Abby’s website here for updates as to her next step with the book.
Click the picture for just one page from Abby’s Gloucester Fishing 101 book which she produced for seARTS Partner With an Artist Program. there will be many panels on eth walls here at our Dock- Captain Joe and Sons 95 East Main St Saturday from 10-2PM
Click on the picture below to see it full sized and learn some interesting facts for yourself. I for one was astounded at the breakdown of how many of each different type of commercial fishing boats there were. 42% of the fleet are lobster boats, I had no idea, but this is just one of the factoids that Abby has broken down. I think if you click on the picture you will get a sense of how easy she made it all to understand even though there is a ton of data in her book and in her exhibit, ANYONE could easily understand it.
-and this is all stuff that anyone that really takes pride in living in Gloucester or loves the fishing industry should know about.
So be sure to stop on by the dock Saturday 10-2PM
Here’s a map-
Map To Captain Joe and Sons 95 East Main St Gloucester MA 01930
Blown away! When you can get Pete Mondello, a fisherman for over 50 years excited about a Gloucester fishing industry exhibit you know you’ve done something special.
The way Abby has broken down such an incredible amount of fisheries statistics into an easily digestible visual/artistic/educational/fun presentation with everything you need to know about where Gloucester’s fishing industry has been with data and visuals bringing you right up to the present is nothing short of astounding.
This is an uncomplicated 101 guidebook to Gloucester’s fishing industry which has distilled all the data and will give any person a good basic understanding of what is going on around the Gloucester waterfront. The way it is broken down there is info for people 7 years old to 70 and it is all incredibly interesting. Every person who considers themselves a real “Gloucesterite” NEEDS to come see this exhibit.
The Who What When Where-
Who- Abbyy Ytzen Partnering With Captain Joe and Sons
What- seARTS Partner With an Artist Gloucester Fishing 1626-2011 Exhibit
When- Saturday May 21,2011 10AM-2:00PM
Where- Captain Joe and Sons 95 East Main St Gloucester MA 01930
Refreshments provided by Rachel Carver-Brown including Coffee & Tea
Click here to play or save the podcast 
In this episode- Patty Knaggs on WBUR, Abby Ytzen/Captain Joe and Sons seARTS Partner With An Artist Exhibit May 21st, Kenny’s Strange Footwear, community garden at Burnham field, tomato release day is coming up at Goose Cove, Gloucester reads poetry and Sawyer Free Library, Khan Studio/ Good Morning Gloucester Gallery on Rocky Neck, Kenny’s Real Estate Segment
Patty Knaggs on WBUR http://radioboston.wbur.org/2011/05/11/home-selling-market
Kenny’s Strange Footwear, community garden at Burnham field,
tomato release day is coming up at Goose Cove may 25 http://www.goosecovegardens.com/
Gloucester reads poetry and Sawyer Free Library- Joey’s Poem Here
Khan Studio/ Good Morning Gloucester Gallery on Rocky Neck
, Kenny’s Real Estate Segment
Please leave comments or questions on which topics you would like to hear more about on The GloucesterCast or how we could improve. Thanks for listening.
Check Out Kenny’s Blog- TheCutBridge.com
The GloucesterCast Theme Song Gloucester Til The End Music is from Earl and Arch- you can download it for free at GimmeSound here-http://www.gimmesound.com/EarlAndArch-1/
Once at iTunes if you feel like rating the podcast that would help it get recognized in the iTunes searches.
Good Morning Gloucester 