Fisherman’s Knife
date: label: date made
content: ca 2007
name: label: maker
content: Victorinox Swiss Army
notes: label: Description
content: A good, sharp knife is an essential tool for fishermen working on the fish deck of a catcher-processor. Aboard the <I>Alaska Ocean</I>, each deckhand carries a “Vicky,” shorthand for a Victorinox knife. This example is 7.5 inches long, including the handle. It is used for mending nets, cutting lines, and for general duties like cutting up cardboard for the on-board incinerator. The holder for this knife has weathered a lot of use, evidenced by the tape repairs.
label: Description
content: In a June 2007 interview with deck boss Brent Walter (who was in his twelfth year working on the <I>Alaska Ocean</I>) and deckhands Ben Boyok and Matt Prebezac (who had been with the <I>Alaska Ocean</I> for seven years and two years, respectively), they agreed that net repair was the hardest part of the job. The main difficulty involves learning to conceptualize the repair. Because the net mesh is so huge, it takes time and experience to understand how to make the repair correctly. At the time, the <I>Alaska Ocean</I> was fishing in waters about 50 miles off the coast of Washington State and using a mid-water trawl. Repairs to the nets were minimal. The deckhands expected to do more net repair later in the season when the vessel moved to the Bering Sea, where the nets get torn from bottom-fishing.
label: Description
content: The <I>Alaska Ocean</I> is a 376-foot-long vessel in the Seattle-based catcher-processor fleet. Workers catch, process, package, and freeze groundfish—mostly pollock and Pacific whiting—in the Bering Sea and in the waters off the coast of the Pacific Northwest.
topic: label: Subject
content: Fishing
label: Subject
content: Fishing
label: related event
content: Contemporary United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
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content: Clothing & Accessories
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content: Work
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Natural Resources
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Alaska Ocean through Jeff Hendricks
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2007.0178.03
label: catalog number
content: 2007.0178.03
label: accession number
content: 2007.0178
objectType: label: Object Name
content: knife
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: knife: 7 1/2 in x 3/4 in x 3/8 in; 19.05 cm x 1.905 cm x .9525 cm