Now That's A Pipe

Madame's Nightshirt

Mrs. Peperium

This is Bert (circa 1945), a summer friend of my family mending the nets of his lobster pots while enjoying his pipe. By 1945, lobstering was considered the "gentle art" as opposed to the more rigorous of art of fishing ( herring, mackerel, cod, swordfish, and tuna). Plus, after the war (WWII) lobstering was far more lucrative as lobsters were no longer what Boston matrons served in their servant halls.  They served it in their own dining rooms.  As did more and more Americans.

Behind Bert you can see maybe his lunch satchel and two flat-fronted punts tied to the rocks.  One of those could have been all the boat Bert used to ply his gentle art of hauling by hand lobster pots in the Cove.  Or he could have rowed his punt out to my favorite boat, a lobster smack and hauled lobsters by hand, deeper out into Casco Bay.

Who knows? Bert may have even been a modern and used the latest invention, my second favorite boat, an outboard Casco Bay Hampton lobster boat complete with winches for hauling the pots.

I somehow don't think Bert was a modern for two reasons. 1. Look at closely at his arms in the photo and see how youthful they still are.  He had to still be hauling by hand.  2. Because of one of the favorite surviving anecdotes of Bert.  He was called inland to appear as a witness to a highway accident. After he was sworn in, he was asked,

"Your name?"

"Bert Sinnett."

"Your residence?"

"Bailey Island."

"Lived there all your life?"

"Not yit!"

Nope.  Not a modern.

Even though Bert was a regular partaker of dreaded tobacco, he lived to a ripe old age.  My mother tells me as an old, old man he filled his days carving the wooden pegs the younger lobstermen stuck in the claws of lobsters.  Bert may be long gone, but amazingly when you think of all the Nor'easters and hurricanes that have hit the island since, his old lobster shanty, that would've once contained all of the gear for his "gentle art", still stands.

 

"The Nubble"

(Robbo, tell mothe to come and read this...)

Comments

[MCNS]

Outstanding!

Mrs P, for your enjoyment, some Bert & I clips, including "Which Way to Millinocket" and "Body in the Kelp."
http://www.exiles.com/bertandipage.htm