May your birthday be filled with smiles, good food, good drink, conversation and time spent with those you love!
Dear Jerry,
This post is rather long and you are under no obligation to read the whole thing and look at the pictures taken centuries ago. A birthday greeting has turned into a rambling narrative about four months of each year covering four years – our college years. Reminds me of when Lorelie’s dad would tell navy stories after dinner and after ten minutes or so someone would ask, “What is your point here?” Fred would look a little puzzled and finally say, “My point being . . .” and pause. That’s where I am and maybe you can help me out.
JERRY & TIM IN WATERFALL CANNERY, PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND, ALASKA
There we are, you – skipper on the SABLE – and me – mate on the Rolfy – about 65 years ago. Seems like yesterday, well maybe last week. While my memories of what you and I shared in college are blurred, my memories of summers and what we did in Waterfall Cannery are vivid. Seeing as how you are in Greensboro and we can’t sit down with a bottle of McNaughton’s from sea stores and tell each other lies that are the gospel truth, you’ll just have to make do with this bit of nonsense that somehow seems important to me.
Before we even get to Waterfall, I’ve got to mention our going to Shakeys for pizza and 
beer and driving to the waterfront in Seattle to attend the Alaska Fishermen’s Union meeting. Important stuff to ponder about “ealth and velfare,” “ofertime,” rockin’ chair” and other gripes punctuated with well aimed plugs of chewing tobacco into the spittoons.
Once college finals were over, we could get on with our lives at 
MARITIME SHIPYARDS slapping on black hull paint and polishing the brass in the 
wheel house of the power scows that would be our homes for the June until September.
Once the staples were stored, the scow’s bins were loaded with gear for the cannery, and, most significantly, the sea stores for crew and the supes’ at the cannery were locked up, lines would be thrown off bollards, we’d be dropped to sea level in the locks and set course for Pt. No Point, 
Canada, Southeast Alaska and Waterfall.
Ken says that three days away on a boat and what you left behind doesn’t matter any more. Took me one wheel watch from 6:00PM until 12:00AM. At seven knots with a fair tide, the power scows took more than three days to reach Waterfall. What mattered was not going on the rocks and 
logging the points as we passed them. Passing or failing an exam pales in comparison. No radar in those years, we had charts, compass, dividers, parallels and Captain Farwell Hansen’s Handbook to guide us.
WATERFALL
Jerry, we spent four summers working for NAKAT at Waterfall, but I cannot remember that we ever left the dock on the same boat – not once. All the time we spent together was in Waterfall – on 
the dock or the boat tied to the dock. And that was mostly limited to Mondays or what we called “Cannery Sundays.” The salmon traps didn’t fish on Sundays and so the cannery had no fish to can on Mondays. Everything from 
personal chores, boat maintenance and replacing stores to hanging out at the company store, sitting on the
railing and bullshitting with the seiners, playing dock basket ball, or swilling down whiskey and sitting around the room at the dance in the Philippino bunk house to playing poker on the Sable, or hiking up up to the falls above the cannery. It all happened on the docks.
JULY IN WATERFALL
The whole year in Waterfall boiled down to July and August for those of us working 
on the tenders. Beached in bays the previous September, in July we towed traps to their locations where they would wait for the fish runs of August. Easy overtime virtually around the clock towing traps. The Eigil B brought in the rigging scow
and we would help set the traps with its lead to the beach, install the spiller nets. Life was “easy money” working on a tender in July.
The pace quickened towards the end of July. The tenders made excursions to Hydaburg and Craig to bring the native women cannery workers; Grummond Gooses brought a variety of workers to work in the cannery.
By the first of August what had been an empty cannery when we arrived became a bustling small town.
AUGUST IN WATERFALL
Once the trap season opened and the humpies 
showed up at Granite point and the stack off Adddington, we didn’t see 
much of each other except on Cannery Sundays. Typically we had way too much to do to spend too much time goofing around in Waterfall. The bins needed a good scrubbing, the gurry scow needed to be emptied, fuel needed to be added and the water tanks filled for the coming week.
Since refrigeration was still several years away, each day during the fishing week included a run to the cannery from the fishing 
grounds and a return to the fishing grounds to brail traps and to wait in the bays for the seiners to 
unload the fish they had caught during the day.
WATERFALL SCENES
SEPTEMBER
to view & read Tim’s birthday card to jerry for his 85th birthday – click here
Thank You! All together with the seasons patrolling traps to chase away “fish pirates” with Ken or with Severin on Addington trap Waterfall was home for eleven seasons. The picture of Ingvold is very special. I met him when Ken and i went up to the rope loft to get some line when I was fourteen during my first season. When i arrived at Waterfall for my last season on the Egle B, Ingvold was on board as soon as we tied up for a welcome drink. In between those years there were haircuts from the finest barber on Prince of Wales island which featured his thoughts on life in general at Waterfall. Those seasons we were there at waterfall with so many common memories were great years. Thank you!!
What an awesome post, Tim. I’ve not seen many (perhaps none) of these images. Hope y’all are well and behavin’ over there. Wish we could all get together. Our spare time and travel budget goes toward seeing Per-Ake’s homeland and family. Hi to everyone! Xoxoxo
What a walk down memory lane. Young, young men you were. Fortunate to work with memorable characters. What fun it was to read about Waterfall.
Just read AGAIN the marvelous accounting and photos of you and Jerry covering the years the two of you worked summers for NAKAT on their cannery tenders preceded by those summers you both spent with Severin out at beautiful land’s end Cape Addington.
Jerry, I’m still impressed with how young you were when you made captain. My guess is you were just 20 and the youngest skipper I ever heard of at Nakat. And Tim, you moving on
to purse seiners for how many years – 20? Much to be proud of.!
Finally, past time to give credit to our father for having the adventurous spirit to take us all up to Ketchikan in 1944. Opened doors for us good for a lifetime!
Dave I must confess was 21 when I became skipper on the Sable. Also, all my promotions those years were due to alcohol. When I was with Ken and fifteen, fishing was bad and the packer Rio DeMar had fired their mate due to drinking. The skipper was looking for a replacement when they stopped at Kelly Cove. Ken told them I was sixteen and certified family need so that i could get the job. So for many years my social security record said iI was born in 1936 instead of 1937. My first job at Nakat was deckhand on the Quaker Maid. The mate was drunk on board and fired and I became mate after five days as deckhand. Three years later, as mate on the Sable, the skipper was drunk and fired and I became skipper. They said it was temporary but at the end of the season Fritz Froelich said I would have the skipper’s job in the future. That led to the Ben B and finally the Egill B.
Tim I think your comment about not getting underway together on a tender may be mistaken. When I was mate on Sable we took the waterfall softball team to Hydaburg and I think you you were on that team. It was part of the Hydaburg July Fourth celebration, one of the finest civic events of my life.
Jerry, Since I can’t remember which tender we took to Hydaburg. I stand corrected. I do remember that we had a pitcher with a dual citizenship in Waterall/Hydaburg and we bribed him with booze to pitch for us in the baseball game. His first three pitches went over the fence behind the catcher and we got clobbered. I played right field, struck out each time at bat which was, of course, normal production for me! Who stood wheel watch on the return to Waterfall?
Tim