Life With A Fisherman
Chapter 11: Captain Ben’s Crew

That afternoon, Maggie and I went out in search of a school of blues. We needed bait for the traps — and we needed it today. We climbed aboard Crawl One and set up the drums for bait fish. We headed out and started running the coastline around the island. We were looking for a flock of seagulls that would be going nuts on the shoreline, eating leftover fish that a school of blues would also be feeding on. It didn’t take long to replace the blues off the Edgartown point. I shouted, “There they are, Maggie, take the wheel!” And she took over the boat. I scurried to the back and set up a throw net. My throw net was 20-feet round when it opened up, with lead weights all around the edges to put it down and trap the fish when I pulled it in. She pulled up very slowly to the side of the school of blues. I could see them; they were nice-size fish. I picked my target and threw my net. The net was thrown perfectly, and I watched it sink around the blues, trapping them along the way. I quickly pulled them in. The net trapped 27 five-pound fish. We did it again and again, following the school down the surf. We filled four 55-gallon barrels in no time. “One more time,” I yelled, “and the next ones are for the smoker!” “Good idea!” Maggie yelled as I threw the net for the final catch. I pulled in another 30 blues, and they were heavy. I quickly cut the gills out and bled them, then put them into the fish well. I laughed to myself thinking about Captain Ben and the dynamite. We brought the bait back to the dock and off loaded three drums, leaving one for the morning run. We went up to start the smoker. A lot of the islanders were going without due to the hurricane, and Maggie and I planned on sharing the smoked fish with the needy.

Morning came fast, and I was at the dock setting things up. The sun was just coming up on the ocean horizon. It was a beautiful morning with not a cloud in sight. Maggie came running over the hill yelling, “Good morning, Cappy.” She was as beautiful as the sun coming up. “Let’s go!” I shouted. And off we went. There were many traps to pull that day, and what a day it was. Captain Ben hit it right on the head when he said the traps would be full after the storm sea settled. I’ll never forget that day out there with Maggie. It was like a new beginning. We pulled in 300 traps within 10 hours, and they all had 20 pounds of crawls in them. I just guessed, but I figured we pulled in about 6,000 pounds of lobsters . I had never seen anything like it. They were all four and five pounds. And we still needed to pull in another 300 traps the next day. I couldn’t wait to tell Captain Ben. It was dark as we pulled back to the dock. But that didn’t matter. We had to get the crawls into the live pens.

After we finished for the night, I walked Maggie home. Her mom had dinner on the stove for us. It was like she knew we were coming through the door. Mrs. Whitehead wouldn’t let me go home without eating. Maggie walked me out the door to the porch. She grabbed my arms then kissed me on the lips. I wasn’t ready for that. It was Maggie’s first kiss. I kissed her back a kiss that lasted five minutes. The moonlight was shining through her hair. She pushed me back a little and looked into my eyes, saying “I love you, Cappy.” We hugged as I told her that I love her and that we will always be together. I kissed her again and told her, “See ya at first light, my love.” I walked home and went to bed in a daze. I didn’t realize it until that night, but I was deeply in love with Maggie.

We met the next morning at sunup and got right at it. We pulled another 300 traps with the same results. That day took a little longer due to us both being very tired. We headed back to the bluff under the cover of moonlight. Maggie was holding me all the way back to the dock. It was quite the night to remember. That night, as I walked through the door, Dad was waiting for me. He was sitting at the table with his arm in a sling. I hadn’t talked to him in three days. I told him that we have around 12,000 pounds of lobsters to bring to market. He told me that he couldn’t wait to see what they brought in, but that he was going out tuna fishing in the morning. “We will be out for two weeks, Cappy,” he said. And I can’t put if off. My crew is counting on me. The tuna are here. We should have great weather out there. You’re going to have to bring your lobsters to Reilly’s and fit it in your schedule. Captain Ben is feeling better, he’s on his feet again, he would probably love to go with you.” I replied, “OK, I’ll ask the captain if he wants to go. I’ll make two trips with my boat — and it will take two trips to get them all over there. I don’t want to lose them. They are nice and fresh right now and must get to market. Besides. The market price is up, and it’s a great time to sell them.” I went to Captain Ben and asked if he wanted to go out with Maggie and me on the delivery. And of course, he did. He was very excited to get out to sea again.

Well, the next day I woke up very early and went into the kitchen. Dad had already left, and Mom was serving breakfast to Ben. We ate breakfast and then went to the dock. Maggie was already there, transferring the lobsters from the pen to the boat. That was one long day. We made three trips to the scale at the cannery from Martha’s Vineyard to New Bedford. I went up to Mr. Reilly’s office to get paid. Mr. Reilly asked about Dad and the islanders. I told him all about what the hurricane did to us. I turned in my scale slip to him. There was a big smile from him. “Nice,” he said. “They are marketing for 29 cents per pound due to that storm.” My slip read: 11,000 pounds. He counted out my pay of $3,190. I smiled and told him, “We are back in the game again.” And we were. This was the pay that got us all going again after that storm. I loaded up four barrels with fuel and headed home. The island was coming back together and surviving that hurricane. All the carpenters were busy rebuilding damaged houses and barns. I needed a new building at the dock. I talked to some carpenters about a pole barn that would stand at the head of my dock, and I wanted an addition to the dock where we could someday have motor boats come in for fuel. I told Captain Ben of my thoughts and he agreed. He said that the motor boats are the future of the fishing industry. “Follow your dream, young Cappy.” And I’ve always kept those words close to me hart.

It was getting into September, and the weather was changing. Dad was still out tuna fishing, and Captain Ben brought up clamming. I had no idea where he was going with this, but I learned a long time ago to listen to his words. He went on to tell me that he thought that some day in the near future, there was going to be a market for clams, the same as there is for the crawls. Now, I had clammed before for family meals, and it was very hard work. We had a clam rake that Dad had made many years ago. We would go out in low tide in waist-high water and dig the rake into the mud and pull up clams that were about six inches under the surface. Captain Ben said he heard that people were clamming in Maine and selling them by the bushel to the canning companies. “Can’t trap ’em, Cappy. You have to dig ’em. I’ll show you a great spot. Bring the rake to Salty.” I grabbed the clamming rake from its hanging place in the barn and off we went.

It was nice to get out in Salty again with the captain. It had been awhile. It took a while for him to walk down the hill to the lagoon. His age had caught up to him. I helped the captain into Salty and off we went. “Where are we going?” I asked. “It’s off to Cape Poge, young Cappy. I’ll show you a place where you can pull in every time you run your rake through the mud.” Now, I knew just where Cape Poge was, just off the Edgartown harbor on the little island of Chappaquiddick. It’s very shallow in the lagoon there. We went out of the bluff harbor into four-foot waves around the east chop. The wind was blowing, and the sea was rough. But it was nothing that Salty hasn’t seen before. We were just coming into the opening of Cape Poge. It took us about one hour to get there from the bluff. Around that point to the south of that island was the real Atlantic Ocean. Captain Ben pointed and shouted just as I was going through the opening. “Cappy, look. Look at those sails.” I looked and saw nothing. The captain yelled, “Ahoy, me mates!” I looked again in the direction where he was waving. There was nothing there. I asked, “Captain Ben are you all right?” He said, “Eyee, I’m fine, young Cappy. I’m fine.” I had no idea what to think about this as we went into the lagoon of Cape Poge. “It was my mate, young Cappy, and the flag of the Barnacle. “Now I knew his age had caught up to him. He was seeing things. He said nothing again about it as he pointed to a set back to our starboard side.

“Over there! Take us over there!” he shouted. We sailed into about 12 inches of water. “This is the place of clam bounty!” he yelled. “Start raking, young Cappy.” I jumped out of Salty with the rake and sunk it into the mud. I couldn’t believe it as I pulled the rake up. It was full of nice clams. It didn’t take long, and we had a bushel of them. The captain kept looking out at the head of the lagoon. “It’s time, ” he said and looked at the blue sky above. “It’s time. Take me home my young Captain Cappy.” I had no idea what he was talking about. I set sail and headed out of the set back into the four-foot waves. The winds were hitting us right in the face as I headed back to the bluff. About halfway back, Captain Ben started yelling, “Ahoy!” He stood up in Salty and reached his hands out. “Sit down, Captain!” I yelled. “They’re here, young Cappy,” he said. “They’re here. It’s my mates.” I looked everywhere. There was nothing in sight. The captain looked at me and shouted, “You take heed of the bounty map, young Cappy. You take heed!” As he said that, a wave broke over the side of Salty, and the captain fell into the water. I reached in as fast as I could, grabbing him and pulling his lifeless body back into Salty. “No!” I yelled. “Noooo!” I looked to my right, and for a quick second I saw the crew of the Barnacle pulling the captain into the ship full of cannons. It was the battle ship the Barnacle. All I could think is that Captain Ben was going home with his mates. It disappeared as fast as it appeared, but it was there. I had tears in my eyes. I had just lost my best friend. He was a family member to me. My teacher, my best friend in the world. He was gone. I looked at the ocean with peace of mind, knowing that he was home with his mates. I still miss him today and think of him every time I pull in a crawl trap. I took him to Edgartown Harbor. We had his funeral and buried his body with his mates at the bluff cemetery where he had buried the crew of the Barnacle some years before.

That was one of the biggest get-togethers of the island. There was over 500 people who came to pay their respects to Captain Ben .And everyone had a story to tell about him. After about a week passed, I decided to retire Salty to the roof of my new building at the dock. I had the carpenter haul it up onto the roof and mount it with the bow facing the bluff opening. It’s still there today.