Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1906-10-31
FAMOUS FISHING SKIPPER.

/ spread through the good old village OF
Bucksport early this month. Every Bucks
porter knew exactly what those few words
meant. Il mean that one OF the fishing
| feet which had left port early In June
had brsyed all the persls OF the vast area
Of the sea of Newfoundland known as the
Grand Banks. had rode ont oil the gales,
had been ProvidentiaIly spared from be-
ing sent 70 the bottom by the iccbergs, by
the great ocean liners which sweep across
the outer edge OF the fishing grounds, or
/ hy the dreaded collision with other craft
/ gone adrift. Ii meant world OF relief 20
aiwavs-anxious wives and mothers, sons
and daughters and swecthcarts. II meant
/ something to the owner who had stsksd
thousands OF dollars on the siaunchness
| OF bis c-aft, on the Judgment Of his skip
per and ON lack generally. It's something
| Of a gamble, the fishing business.
"fun fare meant that the vessel bad
/ brought home all tho codhsh that she
could carry; that her hold was packed full
OF split and ssited fish packed like figs in
| box and nowadays fish are fish In quick
aud ready demand at high prices and as
good as gold. Sometimes iishin. vessels
20 to the Banks and stay from Jane until
| November andi do not get a full fare.
| There may be weeks and weeks Of rough
weather when the men cannot fish. there
may be q scarcity of fish, or something
may happen that the vessel may be Obliged
to lose much time in running in to land.
| But the men, eighteen. twenty or more,
must have their wages and they must be
| fed and the hundred and one expenses Of
the trip are the same as IL she
| alied her hold, or SWEET all her salt, as
they say. Vessels have come in which
they mad been tied up at the wharf all
summer-much more so.
when q vessel halls "full fare" IL
means much. II means money in the
pocket of the owner, money in the pocket
OF the skipper. Ii means great Aatisfsc-
ton for everybody concerned and much
to the prosperity of the town.
II So IL was that when the sisanch fishing
! schooner NJ. b. stetson, Capt. Joseph Pet
erson, poked her cutter bow around the
| bend in Bueksport narrows, loaded to the
| scuppcrs, her eoiors flying, that ali Bucks
| port fastened to the water front " bile a
salute Of thirteen guns banged out noisy
welcome to Capn. Joe Peterson and his
| ius1y crew, the first banker home.
The stetson sailed from Bueksport on
June and arrived Oct. with 2.soo quin-
tails Of cod, two-third. 'big'' iish-onc of
the best fares ever hrough; into port.
Capt Peterson's thtrty-sighth voyage TO
the Grand Banks had ended. Thirty-eight
times he has babe farewell to his family
and friends and sailed for the region OF
| fogs and gales after fish and got them
| first as a mere boy eleven years old and
then as ''handn then s'iirst hand" and
finally skipper. Thirty summers spent in
the chase of the ficsIe cod on Bapqucreau.
on the Eastern shoals, the Western shoals
on lie Hsyre, on Green hanks, round the
Virgin rocks and ''to the southard.n
Many season he has chased the elusive
cod in company with the We're Here,
Carrie pitman, Amy knight and other
craft made famous in Rndysrd kipiing's,
Captains Courageous; with the Rate
snake, White foam, Mary Lowe, Juno,
William Tell, Black Hawk, Harper, Ben
Franklin, Robert Byron, Daniel Webster,
Eurotus, sqGsntum, Marblchead, snow
Squall, Flying Cloud and hundreds Of
OF hers, the most OF which are ssdead''--
dead years ago.
Capt. Joseph +. Peterson, OF South Pc
nobscot, is probably the oldest Grand
Banks fishing captain now In the business.
Although he was born in Castine sixty
seven years ago, he don't look II, and a
casual observer would say that he was
perhaps little past fifty. He WAS left
fatheriess when ten years old, and his
father, Peter Peterson, who was mate OF q
ship, was drowned at New Orleans.
When eleven years old he went to the
Grand Banks in the schooner Albert. He
was no tone tripper", and although boys
on the Grand Banks in those days got very
little beef-steak and peanuts, he went TO
the Banks until he was ten years old.
For the next two years he went to the
West Indies, and when nineteen years old
was mate with Capt. Rafus Ames in the
schooner Sea Ranger. When twenty-one
years old he went 10 the Grand Banks
again, this time as skipper of the schooner
Diana, and continued every year until the
outbreak OF the Civil war, when he and
most OF his crew entered the navy. He
was soon promoted to masters mate and
saw much service in the blocksding
squadron and participated in the bonn
b3rdmenf of Fort Fisher.
After the war Capt. Peterson returned to
the more peaccfurtimes OF the penobscot
and sailed from Bueksport in the schooner
Albatross, Capt Angus Nicholson, one
trip, and the next two years sailed as mas
ter of the sehooners Telegraph and Daniel
Webster.
Capt. Peterson made several trips from
Deer Isle, and went fourteen years out OF
IzmoiBe. During that time the three
master, r. ID. Hodgkins, was built for him.
For the past eleven years he has sailed out
Of Bueksport in the T. 81. Nicholson fleet.
| a. s.a. IN 4ha achanuer Aatffe Il fnr t,.so