Remembering Gordie Gore
When an obituary describes the deceased as “our professional blueberry picker, baker of pies, weapon on the dance floor and ruthless card player,” you know this was an interesting person.
When friends describe that person with words like integrity, kindness, honesty, humour, respect, caring and trust, you know this was an awesome person.
Those are words we heard over and over again when we asked Gordie Gore’s friends and former colleagues what word comes to mind when they think ...
Henry Vokey: Man of a Thousand Boats
Henry Vokey was truly a legend in his own time.
He was a quiet, unassuming and humble family man who grew up in the small fishing village of Little Harbour, Trinity Bay — certainly not the kind of person we usually think about in a line that includes the word “legend.”
A master boatbuilder, Henry was known as the man of a thousand boats.
Like many Newfoundland and Labrador men, Henry developed a keen interest in the art of wooden boatbuilding when he was a boy. From a family of ...
The Mysterious Loss of the Sarah Anne – Part II
Above: Doughboy Cove, where Isaac Kettle’s body was found, 11 days after the sinking of the Sarah Anne
When the longliner Sarah Anne, out of St. Lawrence, was overdue from crab fishing on May 25, 2020, a quiet anxiety quickly spread throughout the town. Captain Ed (Eddie Joe) Norman, his son Scott, his nephew Jody Norman, along with a family friend Isaac Kettle were experienced fishermen but the town was no stranger to tragedy at sea and everyone was aware of the deadly ...
The Mysterious Loss of the Sarah Anne – Part I
Above: Jody Norman, Captain Ed Norman (Eddie Joe) and Scott Norman
Monday, May 25, 2020, was just a few minutes old when the fishing longliner Sarah Anne pulled away from the dock in St. Lawrence on Newfoundland’s south coast to head for the snow crab fishing grounds.
Captain Ed Norman, age 67, known to everyone as Eddie Joe, was a meticulous and precise man and if the plan was to depart at midnight, his crew knew they had better be there before then because midnight was when the ...
Port de Grave Peninsula Pays Tribute to John Efford
Above: John Efford accepting a street sign bearing his name from the President of the Port de Grave Harbour Authority, Ross Petten.
To many people, the name John Efford and the fishing industry are synonymous.
But yet, the Port de Grave native who is best known for his 20 years in politics, spent less than five years as Minister of Fisheries. And despite being surrounded by fishermen while he was growing up, including several men in his own family, Efford never fished commercially.
...
The Final Final
This is Final Voyages #264 — the last of a 22-year series that began in the first Navigator Magazine in November 1997.
When I pitched the idea of writing a monthly article called Final Voyages in The Navigator, the magazine itself was only a concept. TriNav Group of Companies directors/owners Paul Pinhorn, Trevor Decker and Rick Yong were considering launching a fishing and marine industries publication and asked my opinion on which direction they might follow.
I thought a magazine ...
Providing No More – Part III
Just before 8 p.m., Tuesday, February 6, 2018, the fishing vessel Fisherman’s Provider II ran hard aground on a shoal nearly three miles from Canso, Nova Scotia. Three crewmembers successfully abandoned ship into a life raft and were taken onboard another fishing boat. However, the Provider’s captain, Roger Stoddard, refused to join his crew and stubbornly ignored repeated calls on VHF Radio, cell phone and even refused to respond to shouts from fellow fishermen near enough to the Provider ...
Providing No More – Part II
On February 6, 2018, the fishing vessel Fisherman’s Provider II left port in Canso, Nova Scotia on a five-day halibut fishing trip. After nearly two hours of erratic steaming behavior, including going around in circles just off Canso, the vessel ran hard aground on a well-known shoal. At first, the skipper and three crewmembers had plenty of time to comfortably get off the vessel, but the captain, Roger Stoddard, was apparently not about to leave his vessel under any circumstances. This is ...
Providing No More
“It was totally bizarre.”
That was the way veteran Canso fisherman Billy Bond described it. And, his sentiments, more or less, sum up the feelings of the fishermen and most other people in Canso, Nova Scotia, when talking about the loss of the Fisherman’s Provider II and especially the death of the vessel’s captain, Roger Stoddard.
Owned by Fishermen’s Market International Inc., the 43-foot fibreglass fishing vessel was docked at the company’s wharf in Canso, located on the ...
It Must Have Been Really Quick – Part II
After refitting his longliner in the winter of 1994/95, Skipper Bob Stacey from St. Lawrence had a brand-new boat ready for the 1995 fishing season on the south coast of Newfoundland.
The Jessie Marie was even five feet longer than before the refit. One of the main reasons for the upgrade was to make the vessel suitable for scallop fishing.
Bob and his two-man crew fished the Jessie Marie for several months after the refit and for the most part, things went fairly well, but during a ...
