My View of Life on the Dock
Toby Burnham, also known as The Seagull Whisperer, and his lobster boat the Jupiter II, spotted along the Back Shore.
Toby Burnham The Seagull Whisperer
This is called a Gudgeon, it attaches to the wooden rudder and attaches through the hole to the pintle.
Brought in by Toby Burnham Aboard The Jupiter II
To get an idea where this would reside on a Schooner or Brig check out our friend Tugster‘s Post here-
Vessel designer Gerald de Weerdt here takes measurements today to attach rudder to hull via pintles and gudgeons.
and this from-
http://www.archaehistoria.org/new-zealand-sites/32-union
The 158 ton brig Union would have been very similar to this one. This is the 162 ton, 90 feet long, wooden brig Annie Brown, which trading around South Australia from 1875. Source: p. 136 of “Sail in the South” by Ronald Parsons, Wellington, AH & Aw Reed, 1975
A bronze pintle with three through bolts from the 1823 wreck of the 432 ton sailing ship Brampton. The item was recovered by Kelly Tarlton from the wreck site in the Bay of Islands. This item was sold at Webb’s auction no. 862 in November 2002. Note as photographed the pintle is upside down. The Waimahana Bay trademe pintle did not have through bolts but was fastened by rudder nails and lag bolts instead.
More Reading about Gudgeon and Pintles- whats interesting here is this one from
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~maav/maid.htm
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| A Snow Brig. The Mountain Maid was a strongly built wooden snow brig. She had two square rigged masts and a smaller sail called a spanker, behind the main mast. (Based on a line drawing from Ships Rigs & Rigging, H. A. Underhill. Nautical Press, Glasgow. Colorised by EFL.) |
So I contacted my friend Will (Tugster) and he had a more intriguing information and photos to add to this-
Hi Joey–
Wow! My filing system works, and I located these photos about 5 minutes after I started looking.
The story is this: after a storm in spring (?) 1988, Mike Magnifico–then manager of Salisbury Beach State Reservation/Beach saw this as he was surveying beach erosion. He thought–he said later–those were gold, and the color is not exactly true in the photos. He called the Newburyport Maritime Museum, who called me, because I was Mr. Shipwreck before I was Tugster. I wet to Salisbury Beach, took the photos. A friend is standing in photo 1 to show scale.
I pursued it a while; a maritime archeologist up at Plymouth State (NH) looked it over carefully and declared the pintles made of “yellow metal” but further identification would likely not be possible. Last I knew, almost 30 years ago, Salisbury Beach Reservation kept them rather than donate to the N Maritime Museum.
Exciting. Feel free to post on GMG any text and photos.
Cheers
When you coming down to NYC?
Will
So this youngster aboard the Connemara Bay thinks he can out gross the master- Toby Burnham?
How will Toby respond to such disrespect for the gross out game that this youngster has shown? Has the elder statesman of gross not earned a little more respect than to be called out in a 11 second YouTube video? Stay tuned for Toby’s response.
From the website of Connemara Bay Fishing Charters–
It is not the first time and probably will not be the last time we see an angler kick back a striper heart like a shot of whiskey.
Dana Wensberg was sure to get all the taste from this one as he chewed before swallowing. He also called out a local lobsterman, Toby Burnham, who frequently entertains tourists by biting the heads off of rotten herring
This back from 2009 when the youngster was probably still wearing diapers.
So yesterday this Homie was on the roof of Toby Burnham’s lobster boat The Jupiter II with a striper plug with it’s treble hooks stuck in its leg and abdomen. it was stuck hobbling around and in obvious pain.
Toby was inside the cabin oblivious to the condition of the seagull and when he popped his head out the seagull flew off the roof of the boat and onto the roof of our dock here at Captain Joe and Sons.
Toby grabbed a piece of herring and lured the injured seagull back down off the roof of the dock and just as the seagull got within striking range he snatched it by the tail and held it by it’s neck.
Then grabbing a pair of metal cutters he snipped the treble hooks to remove them from the feet and abdomen without tearing the belly out of the seagull.
Moments later he was on the deck eating a piece of fish scraps Toby fed him.
A job well done just a week after his 50th birthday.
Nice work Toby!
Nice work Toby!
Toby is one of the funniest, nicest guys you’d ever want to meet. Salt of the earth lobsterman. We’re lucky to get to deal with him every day- always entertaining!
Click pic below to watch the video-
Toby is a good egg. He walks to his own beat but is a super nice guy. For some interesting posts featuring Toby (and they’re all interesting if they feature him) click this text.
Toby has lots of bait ready to go. The trail of seagulls that chase the boat down the harbor is wild.
Deck Of The Jupiter II, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
Interview with Toby Burnham, Lobsterman at 8PM.
We’re gonna play matchmaker. Surely there is some wonderful woman out there looking for a hard working lobsterman, no?
Toby Burnham- Lobsterman, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
Salmon Racks Aboard The Jupiter II, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
I took this picture juxtaposed against a bunch of regular lobsters so you could see just how different they are. Toby Burnham on the Jupiter II caught this marbled lobster a couple years ago and landed it at our dock.
Peter Prypot has a wonderful article today in the Gloucester Daily Times about another one that was caught by John Symonds of Essex. You can read the article by clicking this text
Marbled Lobster Landed By Toby Burnham Aboard The Jupiter II, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
Skatewing Ghosties, originally uploaded by captjoe06.
Good Morning Gloucester 