The Lobstermen of Penobscot Bay

About the Book

"Pull up that slack!" Jeremy yells, trying to be heard over the howling wind. "Snug it up! Snug it up!" he continues excitedly (as he is) trying to control the boat in the wild seas." "Here she comes!" his son replies as a three foot lobster trap comes flying over the gunwale. "Never mind them now!" Jeremy orders, "Pull out the slack in that trawl line before it snags the propeller. We've got one more trap on this trawl!" Just then a wave crest breaks over the boat and then sucks the stern back over the trap line. 'Crack! Snap!' the line breaks sending Charley hurtling into the cabin bulkhead. He struggles to grab a handhold while the deck is awash with sea water." The lobsterman and his son are "twelve miles off the mainland in outer Penobscot Bay. They are working furiously against the wind and icy cold ocean spray. Twelve foot ocean swells lift his 40 foot work boat up like an express elevator onto the wind driven wave crests and then the boat drops over the other side like a rock. (The) engine strains to keep headway and steerage against the swells---insulated rubber gloves and numb hands make it impossible to take up the slack in the lobster trap line strung out three hundred feet in the freezing water" "This story is about these stout hearted men, their relationships among each other and the heart rendering fear suffered by their families. Most of all it is about their day-to-day danger, excitement and emotional encounters set in the midst of the most beautiful environment that anyone could want to live in."

About the Author

The author was raised on the coast of Maine where lobster fishing was a major economic business. His childhood summers were spent on some of the numerous small islands in outer Penobscot Bay. As a boy, he rode along with some of the lobstermen, helping them while they hauled their traps. The author himself worked at lobster fishing for several years. He had a 30-foot workboat and a string of 300 traps. His territory was along a four-mile stretch of coast on Penobscot Bay. After being almost wiped out, he returned to work in electronics in the southwestern states and went on to become a Senior Electronics Engineer for a large corporation. There, he wrote an abundance of manuals, departmental polices, engineering specifications, operating instructions, test manuals, and new product descriptions. His writing reflects the unique style of an engineer. He gives greater attention to systematic story development and plots. His experience helps to provide more detailed descriptions of the story environments.