Tag: Schooner Adventure

Len Burgess writes-

Ron Gilson of Gloucester lectured Wednesday night at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum’s Waterline Center about working aboard Gloucester’s Schooner ‘Adventure’ back in 1951.

Ron recounted his growing up in Gloucester and personal memories of the fisheries and fishermen of Gloucester and the shipbuilding of Cape Ann. In great detail he described, at 17 years old, working aboard the ‘Adventure’ for 8 days and with slides how the fish were caught by the crew. The trip brought home 80,000 pounds of fish.

Ron has a book out which any true Gloucester FOB should have.  
‘An Island No More’–A Memoir, The Gloucester I Knew
http://www.anislandnomore.com/

"GLOUCESTER in the 1940s was a self-contained "city", an island, literally, the ocean separated us from the outside world. We were a complete entity, supported mainly by our anchor industry — fishing. United and focused on a common goal, harvesting the sea, our workforce was akin to an army marching to a deafening cadence. As a young boy, I thought this fantasy would go on forever; it was a magical time!" –Ron Gilson

Ronald Gilson was born into a Gloucester working class family in the depths of the “Great Depression.” He was raised in Ward II’s Dog Hill neighborhood and introduced to the waterfront while still a boy. Gilson operated the harbor’s only freshwater boat (delivering fresh water to the Schooners), learning the ways of the waterfront, from the bottom up. He has fished the vessels, worked the wharves, and insured the fleet. Considered an authority on the great fleet buildup of the 1940s and 1950s, his blog relates many personal experiences of his life on the Gloucester waterfront. He graphically writes of a bygone era, spiced with personal anecdotes that takes his readers into the heart of Gloucester’s historic anchor industry.
Ron’s blog… http://www.thegloucesterilove.blogspot.com/