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ORIGINAL }Ass. OR FIELD NOTES (Check one)
PUB. Loro in New Enfland
(gasocohesette).
TITLE Portuguese Pisheraan Joseph Cept ye
WRITER
Alioe Kelly
DATE g/igt:rn WM. PP.
CHECKER DM
SOURCES GIVEN CO Int 5fr-sriew
COMENTS
Fort4,v-thc,
•xL
Byt. Alice Kelly,
Material obtained in
Provincetown, Mass./--
pt,F: PJ)UESE p-r-,TrrimAN.
Portugal end the Azores lie like armfuls of flowers
bowls of deep blue water.*
Exeept for brief storms and a rainy seaso#
they know little of grey skies or of cold, Yet the PorbEuece come
across to our grey aoast and take up theIr life and their trade where
they left off, without apparent nostalgia or any great difficulty of
ad ustment.
ThIs,as far as the Portuguese fisherman. Is concerned, is
ikPIe to explain, He knowe the sea, and the sea is the same whether
it lies beneath the sun, or is swept by reCla laden winds or is looked
in hills of ice, As the Char -•h to the Cathoiie familimr in all climes
because f the universal language of its liturgy, so the sea is home to
its lovers wherever they feel a boat beneath their feat.
18 is especially true of the 1 ,r uguese. The great
Portuguese industry is fishing, As the New Englander has, for
generations,vrested his living from the soil and from trade., as the
rancher in the 'fjest ,as fought for his great herds and the tutherner
subsisted upon the enowy f—uits of lie cotton fields, so the people of
Portugal and the Western islands have taken their living and the
living of their children from the deep,
There have --esh and are, nkee fiSherman. But prlmarUy the
Yankees urge is toward trading, bis bent toward agriculture. if, in his
adventuring, his seeral for cargo, he brought home whale; if, seeing
Portuguese Fisherman,
The children look Portuguese; dark eyed, attractive, temperamental
They are, by choice and by edacation,Ameran. They understand
Portuguese, ant speak little.
Mrs. ;.aptiva is, herself, a
perfect compromise. She is hi- lingual.
She can cook a 'galvanised roast of pork, or bake a pot of 7oston
beans with equal cometence.
She is well dressed and well educated.
She is even modern in much of her viewpoint. But she never misses Mass
on a H0.2„ Day, if a friend dies she goes to the house to offer help
and comfort, and to keep vigil with the dead, as her grandmother and
great grandmother did before her in her hwleland. And on bristmas
her house is open to all the old country people in honour of the
'Litt .e -Jesus.'
tt
CaptdLn ,;oe ls around fifty and looks a good deal yol.ing„, A little
ovor mediui height, he is exceedingly solid and powerful and is
considered by everyone who knows him, lane fine lookinl feller,'
have given his story in his own words, and hare to the
best of my abiJit' and handicapped by the limitations of print re-
produced his accent and intonations. The reproduction is, however0far
from perfect. The Portuguese accent is not a consistent one. Somet4e0
they pronounce their final 25tx S 's with an Sh sound. Often in the
same conversation, they do not. Sometdtmes their I s are ee, their
th, t, and sometimes not, Particularly is it impossible to give
on paper the singularly music_ I lilt and sing song which is characteris
tie of thler intonation, and is the quality which gives their way of
'k
speech its partisPlar charm.
No limitattons of recording eould, however, fail to convey
aptain Captiva's f?sinkness, humour, philosophy, quiet courage **A
4.
Portuguese risherman,
and helpful interest. Sitting either in his home or in mine bee
fore a firepIsee, built as it happens years ago by whaling
captAins, we discussed the old couttrr and the new, the last
generation and the next, the future and the a st efd the
thoughts and the hopes of the men who go down to the sea in
shiP3. 4hat he said follows here, unaltered and un revised*
It gives me pleasure to present,
CAPTAIN JOSEPH CATIVA.
of the EVEal
e.
e was born in little town twenty miles from Lisbon* /47
31
wife she eone from the islands. I come over here when 1 was 0
seventeen., eighteen- year old. The way 1 come, we had folks over
here. They writs to m7 father, tell him was good money over here.
I- wanted change, see new sights.. So -L come over. After awhile
sen' for other peoDle. Frien's an' relattves. That's how we all
comm. One sen' for others.
Theoi.V country you don' make much money. Sure, we was
all fisherman me an my brothers. Was four of us. My father he's
feeWeltoo. his father. Aat's about all they de baek there* Just
fish.
First off eoufse it seemed strange here. An' a long time
ago th' Anericans ant th' PertuEeese they didn1 get on so good. But
after awhile they get used. An they find out we're good fishermen*
Anybodv'll tell you they a no men can fish better than the
Portugue4sh4 We can a'.ways get jobs on th' boats. 1
_•\
come
1 to do
PortuvaeSe F1erns
I waaldn' want work on land. Most Portuguese feels tht same
war, lather be independent, I like to be boss. An' I wouldn' never be
hapx)y without I had a boat under e.jies thats right. Iot
burned bad. I'll tell you about that smetime, was fierce. Was
had luck. But I'm gettin i all right. 1.!..11 -be goin' out again,soon.
That's why I say I en help you out any time. I al. n' got nothin
till my hands heals. I get tired doinl nothint -You jus' ask.
me -anything you want to know. It sgoad idea to as a Portuguese Th"
American fisherman be s goodotoo. But I don' think he feels like we
do. tali you ever' thing I can. I'i glad to oblige. Glad
help vou. out any time,
to th" ol' country.
figp:erin on goin' home. Yes.4k-kettrrback
en ::ears now enee I seen it, ant Ttr/ eiare figgerini
on goin'. It's gone be ale these e,cursions,see? Forty dollars for th'
fare. Tha±s cheap enough ain't it? In nineteen forty 's when the
7
excursions takes plaCe.II'd I:Eke to take the wife ant the boy, but theid‘
on' want t6 go. Vane the children ain never seen 1-dsbon.
It'll rè be nice to go home. Only to sta7 a month but
ur.4.1 ookin forward. Like I tolt you I was only a young man when I
over, Ant still got people back there.
TZ.-...en did start in fishint?' I can't remember when didn
14e0b. Used to go out with my father when t was 'ittle hy. They fish
A.
MOS tly• with hooks back there; they's some draggin', but mos' ly hooks.
It's pretty back there. 27srybody' a cheerful eller time. They don't hurry
like ovr here.
Sural-the-oy-hete-flehIns-ved-f+ehermwm,---The-Poptu..
Portagned-e-.F.;.1.81.4.--alzase
guese boys
do more like,th' oil man. Of eourse,some of 'em
get these ideas to Hi h Sehool..Dont do 'em no good 's I can see,
but don' do 'em no harm neither. Loxtsa these Americans they tell
me their boys is to tht city; got jobs here, got jobs here. We lie
havd our boys weeth us, I ilke to have the boy on my boat. Teach
what I know. Then ow where he is. at he's dein'. The boat
she'll be his when I go,see? He'd oughter know bow to handle her.
Yes, the burns is some better. It wash good luck. for me
didn' bvrn no muscles. eeze I sure cone near lose my boat. 44ielt.
I —tee -44-70n I just fixed her up nice; new paint, clean her up,ever'
thing. Then I, was goin' put in whole new engine. Well: need
some tar, so got her in a bucket, heat IAD ontia fire.see?Tirsbt
,-40f
thing I know, she ketches.. goes right up! My boy he shout to raise
the dead. T grab the tstingnisher an' let her have .•t, but tar she
burns terrible.IStinguldher don' do no good.
other men
T See I'm gone lose my boat. I holler at the boy an at the
rl'aSe to g0 below:: You can' blame tem. The flames is
eomin' up red. But she's my boat. she's all I got, so what could I
do? I go down. I grab tht tar bucket, throw her overboard. .throw over
s)me parts the engine..stamp out th* flames.. Anyways save my
boat. If sheld went all my lifetd been gone. All my work, ever' thin'.
-Yes,--4Waml it hurt nretty bad But I don' t'ink she'll
leave no sears. I been out fisbt few days ago, but 1 wasn no go.(1.0
,!-7 hands she swole all up. nrive me crazy: Was a big catch an,
oouldn' do nothin'. But I was glad
sure, I'll be out
to
get out in tht boat again. Gla
tnother week aeain.
Portuguese ,shor,flan.
been writin' out thees excursion Iwas tellin you tboutf
They got a nice boat, gone be fine tripeJtm gone right away tn tht
place I was born, twenty miles outer Lisbon. T.;.2-m—figr,erin-/--en—goint
aura, 'Course I m
t have bad luck. If had two, three bad seasons
T. coilthY go, But fort,: dollars is reasonable. That's a real cheap
trip. 4
I guess I go pretty sure,
Xesyma4,4m„we A a =nit back home. After that
et course I come-biak home again.
The holidays took a good deal
then he came and told me shout it.
Sr
afotory
,fapteifin Captiva's time, but
"Nre I had fine, ablistrius. Night ot tht little Jesuss.Christmus
you know, we went all over town. Was lights on alla Portuguese
houses. Had wine an cakes.. the best o evert thinga2vertbody singin'.
My scn he coe in weeth a big crowd, Some Americans; writers, artists
an like that and some Portuguese. We go evert wheres. Ant boys!
was surn*ise' Swes those American kids, they sing the Portuguese songs
atY'ld as
do.
Yes, ae make a lot o' ristmus. But not so much as in tht
olt cofttry. Over there, right now, fro wl th' 'little Jesus to twelve,
thirteen January is singi
I evert night, an drinkin' an' dancin'.
guess we enjoy ourselves harder than tht Americans. Work hard when
lwe work, play hard when wh play. I sure would like to be over there
kri4ht now.
Port--nr-wese Fisherman.
WeU
CO
LThe Portugal minister,
he fix it lip. Fe says, must be two tlousand
people. So what's he
go now on th' list He's twenty f've t4onsand, an' more comin They'l:
oe three:t)cats„ maybe four. 'Sail fom Providence. Have a great time
ans. way.
My
wife don' wanna go. She was too young when she come over here.
She don' hardly remember nothinl about th' ol' country. But 1. can'
'understand wh7 th' boy he don i want to go. I can' understanl that,
When I was. his age an'
got a chance like that i'd be crazy ,44-th
But he am' interested. He thinks the oll cc ntry's slow,
that's right,too, kind of. But It' s pretty there.
This
thats why.
been flahnt again ant this tthe the ban's am'
good season for fg*:ih. It's warms
'he:n It comes col' an' they's ice in th! bay an I like
that, the flab. they make for warer victors. Have to chase en. all
over th'
lace. But now they mos lamp into boat,
1".e&r,mm11, It's dra
bottomosee? I don go
a,ccoodat.ons on my boat
Thell.,,f„,_.4031i4, Bight raen.
ain't no sailin' now. My
profit. Used to cost ten,
out. Now costs only twp,
I Jo. We drag, with big nets along
out nights much no more, but tgot
,0
eight ieu cam seep on board. *14-411
a sloop.
lhat's one mast. But they
new engine she's beautiful. daises my
twelve dol ars, a day to take the boat
three, Much better engine.
I got a good orew,too.
an a cook. An my boy he fishes..
two. Used. to go to Banks ever'
just a habit some fishermen's got.
I'm can'n. .1:17ten got engineer,
But we only stay out a day or
year, I dunao what for. It's
They got to go to the Banks
Ttortuguese Fisherman,
'every
at trip to th' Banks/ it was awful!. Stay away six mont's, work
night ant day, ant then after that you've made three il four hundted
dollars. Taint worth it. Th s just as good fish near home an not
so hard wor0
course, ecallopint, that's differant, That's terrible work,too.
Out weeks an' draggin' weeth big, heavy, steel nelb. But there'sh big
money to It. Big money,. but it's awful work. Have to be strong like
a horse to sten' it.
—1tTirsomsvg41.I don' never get soared, I don' know nothin' else,
onty fishint an the sea. 1 nevlr t'ink about drownin' any more 'n
you think about danger in the strets to th' city. Sure, the
women worries I guess. You c'n remember the wailin's maybe when the
boats was ate ot an there was storns? But the womens always
worryin' about somethin' anyvays, It's their nature. My wife now,she
worres sa-flettmes4 about th, boy. I tell her he's better off to sea
than rannin' roun' with all these wild crowds, Ain' drowned yet, nor
I On' drown yet, he wouldn' really want me to come ashore. Her
people was fish folks too, She knows I wouldn' be no goo! on land.
I'm go IV out to-morro*,"Aboat three's fou.ri the mornin
o d. go to had part_cular early. I'm used not to get much
I'll bring you sne those filets O' sole to-morrer night. Yes.
launderin' That's right. That's what we're doin' now. Oh,Jeeza'.
Don't think that way
got more 'n I can use. It's a beautiful
season. The strike '11 do a little barn, sure, l's us back. But
10.
Portuguese tallerman,1
we got to we &n s
1 the fish up to Boston, an/ then a fast
frei=ht she'll take right; to ew York.
Listen'. The.4a ge. n' to be big Fisherman's mOntlt-
down to Town Hall. No one can't go without an imitation but if
you l'ke to go 1 can fix it. A1.. right. ire, 11 fix.
gone danoe nameritas an' everftbing. Well, Till go now Aex' tLne
:.T11 tell you SOM6 :.ore about th' excursion to )rtugal, nineteen
u
0_
Arty.
Captain
.a Trie regu
Interviews and between times
k: him and talked to son and to bi ftiends and from. them all
got a feeling of the courage and partimalarly of the humour of and
hie fellow fishermen. That Ia the thing WhiCh cannot be rpproduced
and wh*oh leavened a_11 our conversatinns. CaptaJn CatIa's humour.
His words, pithy- and 1nte111gent by thema—ves, gained tmeaauarabiy in
points Interest and entertainment value because of the chuckle behind
his pleasant voioo and the twinkle in his dark. eyes. His sune abundan
vitality brought him a ways to the appointment with fresh enthvslasm.
His toles of his ehildrenst incredulity -0 his tle mDeery at the
the record of
superstitions of his fellowsdhis disbelief that the world has
o anged very much or that there is Very much diff-renoe betwedihuman.
beinga, should r ally all be read aloud by whatever members of one's
faT!.11
up is able histrionically to register toerancesquiet
emueement and the dry-ess of uhepoksn but umlistakable entary.
for instance in the following:
11.
'We had a little traable to -day. Nothin much. Sdkebody he started
talkint about a peag, n' the men don' like that. They say talk of
peegs brings had luck some can' have a cat a -board, some don' want no
wonan'to. go over boats, T. think it's a lotta nonsense, but I seen some
strange theeNo_ happen a.l a same.
M
Yott-,44,7x4/2-1..retar-licov, -got-Vet-name-eaptva2-4atAwy Ey-eat
gran father he was Spanish an' he was took prisoner by the Moors, Af-
ter two, ttree months he escape He come to Portuga an settle down in
little vIllage near Lisbon. He was. young feller, very handsome, good
f shaman. He had scars from -oorah prison. He WaS brave an' also he
olt big stories, how heescape an kill Moors an' ever' thing. So
ever'body they cq'll hi- ICaptiva' That means nr'.soner..So that s the
name we had since then.
o ma'am
I don' know what the name was firs t. Ain' got no
records much in th' olt country,
ey didnt use keep records for babies
or marria es or nothinf. But now we re C TtJ,vas..7eople s the c:11ptivas
got to he brave. because
caped an
I-11.en I tell tht children first they won' believe me. But now
they do. Firs'
she's far away,.
more than their
my grea
gran'- fati,er seer.An' how he ex-
they laugh an say, sone more storiesht Th' oil country
see, for them. DQA seem real. Ant they think they know
ol man nowadays.
t, the schools does it. They used keep sendin fiord hone. Mus
have so much milk, so much orange juice. *us' brush teeth, 1 nevor brush
my teeth in tht ol' country. Nobody d1d Ant got fine teeth, Now
brush em hut it wasn't never the custom hone. I sent back iord to tilt
'em I know 'en when they was 11J.tla. Their
teacher once I says,
11
12
fathers was fishermen No like me. They never bad no orange juice
ant no quarts o
mAlk.1 But they
laugh
Say times is change'. I
guess aol
cYes, sure, the schools is tter over here. When 1. was a boy:
re, there wasn't no public schools *here I come from. You nay
fifty cents a month each ohll:t to e teacher ant tht one man he teach
everything. The young people over here, they have a good tim.e,
sack bone th' oil folks was strict. Too strict. Young people
waa alla time runui.n1 away. My kids they bring their f ien's home.
That. youngest girl o mine, she's a -ways after me dance weeth her,
go out places. Kids arent afraid of thAlk,o1' folks any more. I think
that's a good thing. But you can be too sof' too:
7-14,1 mind, that priest we had here, long time ago, father
Terra? Evertbody said how he was too strict an' he scolded alla time?
That's true, but just the same if he was here now yo u wou dnt see 1
no such go,hts on like what the young people they're (loin' today.i
Father Terratd a gone into the bars, see any young people there b.ed
a sent 'em home, their mothersta good talkint to. That's whaii
they need. Somebody they can't talk badk to. The priests we got
now they're good men, fine men al' they *01-0/- hard,but they're too
clop with ,the people.
But it's a good place to live.
Good money an chanc es for
1.1' young ,:eople. They say its bad ties now, but we aint
i.. never
seen bad times here ltke in th' oll country...
7.(!:1..„,,
i Anytting particular you wanni kiiiiiT-Oh;--bU heard abObt
that shark T naught? Jeezel J.. 1 el. 1 e ever' time I think of that.
It cone out in all tht papers an' evelothing, It was thees way.
Portuguese ,s,..ermtVa.
13
go out one mornint an' start dtaggint an' before we got no
catch the nets catch o -n th' rocks tore all to pieces. Boys'. I
was mad 4 The fish was good aat nothint to do but we got to put in
an take all de.; anl mend those nets.
Wli we put in an onna dock a reporter he come up an' asks all
kinds a (11: eations. :Nhy was come •back? What h appen? All that. It
seemed 1117e to me he oughter be abie to see what happen'. fb I
showes him the net an' I sa7rs ,'See that? .wtys, 4 A -man eatin
shark done that,' I says. "That'd I lo with him? Why, I kill him ant
throw him ov.,rboard..t It was a joke,see? The men they laugh 11et
anything, but the reporter he *believe me ant that's how the story
got printed. NO I am, I wouldn' tell you no stories like that. at
was for a joke an' 'because I got mad. n
And I:Mt I just recently the weather continued good.
tWeillwe -sure sood- week4-44-ine eatbrh,--fi-ne weather*.
eluottthing --liew--rtanr.-fk-sh my boat e.6'.,n---hol-ex'---Beye-t- e can holt
twenty 1 thousand pound. at 'a right Twenty f t thousand,. IN°,
€7,ueSs noq We don often get that mob. S onetime we do though.
One time we went out seven tt irty, eight o'clock at night.
Nine otclock we come hack in, full. Yes matanti. Twenty fil thousand
poand thees silver 7erch. Yade a thousand dollar that one night. No
not me by myself. We fish on shares. Oh sure. get 11108t because the
boat she's mine but all the men takes their share.
e go it nights when we hear the fish she's rannint good.
Portuguese Fisherman.
14
tt a funny thing, le don' have no regliar plan„where we
go, but no boat never goes alone. No. Je start out, try alla places
where we kne.,w fish eames sceletimes. -then when we come back one boat
comes up, the Cap Z.M.,,,rs,ttlirou had good catch?' If I say"yes° then
likely say,.iGeezei didni get nothini. oomini weeth you
to-moreow.'t 0 if I (tide,' do so good, nexi day
orowd!s got P. good catch.
eo out with a
Ir you want you could come out In thr boat when we ain
stay but a. few hours. Sure, wt ll ix it, Theresh plenty room. Weil,
wait for a. good day. You tell me when. See.. I can tell you about
ever' thing. I can tell you shtories, I can tell you all what we
do.. but T tell you th' feellnis. You gotter see how we go..
what we do.
El11.27_,•
41
4:teetetart about three, four inna mornini it s dark al i
1-eyet is it
el". 1 eli, ant then
we go outside thi harbour --Notefeeriee
exze:41eellaer,get....Afatte...... an' ste.rt, fishiln It's get lieh.t then an'
they s coffee onna stove. Ever body feels good.
"7:':etereee.I. got a beautiful stove on my boat. We cook chowder,
oyeber stow, make coffee. .ever thing. it plenty room* Like I
told you, eight pee le can sleep there. You'll like it out for a cia
calm day., no rookie'. no atorms!. We'll pIck one for you,
eou eon bring your friends. I till be like a excursion.
e don' get so tired unless by night we've worked hard.
Then sebbe we wan e tre tch ourselves, have a little fun. But we
don' mind getting up early. People don' need so =eh sleep is they
think. Look at me. Been fish:in' thirty years. 5)et.tmea up two tiree
nights.
,eeee-'k
lways
r&rt ear
mornin's.
But
when I get hone, I don'
or tu via es e Sherman,
-1‘•want to
15.
to bed Maybe have a little nap, th en work aroma' the
he, or go out si ee rrr friends have a little dr' nk maybe
down to Mae s have some frienrs in for suner an a glass o ale..
°no I m off the boat, -ant acbanP:e..
k e
sure, T on fr, ftsh myself. If I couldn'
ciawder
t
„tarry
.1P -8-&A10 -4,141-0t4411:Pi
fish an
1 en ty times
The Yankees they generally puts
salt pork 111 t But we use the olive oil. Yes r„,th,e4le----r+et4-.-4'
roll the fi..up in flour. Then put your ii oil in tht pan. Let
it get real hot.. smokinl..Ant door keep turnior th' fish. Leave
It. cook one ide till she' S brown sa pork oh op.
ga1vauiecp Yotr-e,evie-oiter---aome„
day,ant-ay-wIte-shwi-34---glire-low-eonoig-Tokl-nake like thisj=
take a good pork roast or chops au' all day :vu dip en in sauce
de with vinegar and garlic ant real hot perv.ers, then you cook
em iIe
ways, •;.r'•e'Y' •T
e
11: t ead ta lk in about the
fried fis galvanised pork..that's real Portuguese.
No P.ortuguese fisherman goes without that..
Well, Matamyo I
let ma know when you .;,.Jst.nt an 11
ck that for you to co,re fishIn give you a 'better id.
411 show you e ar' thIng. Yes, you bet, you an' me wtl ximt
its us a 02t tory,
But before the boat trip could be arranged winds were
'.f.,.lowing up bring wint the rhour and the Fi she rman r s hall
browlch
everyone ashore.
ta n ap tiva got tic
for my house
a.
hold.
tutrn..,3se
t;
Lb 0 k ZL
Seven
1
hur3derd people the, 14W— over-11..o-4.):4,3,ey wire was there
an my girls. ft earl; 1—zorioltre--;EVrivt, --kte,04 -to:- 'get
tations:. I could hat mtli
Y
mine, fifty times
re' body
Elo.
the ,nhtk.".11R rite? .--auttlecw-e 701-% bef ore,
e t It? IV q ,--Aerefu' tor) You shr,-,1,-,
sea it in th' y..7,veeth e big skirt an. tr.3* briF,ht shawls
e women wears. 7..t'
1410 ey .4Ance..no more.
the younges
hur
thee j4t4 .s
,shage,--e-nd
Just jturip arou
hag Yflettnes. You go ter nowa,3.ays. My p• -1 -r,"
one he likes make .c.ae dance weeth her.
be behind the tInes pa. She great kid.
'.4 4ioe, wen Whole family goes out that way. let's
the -,-,s..y in Pr tt.:3..ga I 4, The familia s xrake whe t we cell C.eatar 4..
0 ther* Its not like here,. the wOmen. out AI1 day, the neA mat all
nierte. thiess once1I a.. *hIla. like f..:,at the :men: they go
e says, so
out nave a. aw drinks..
care.
Mel!:es him feel bIg, I guess. If e wcia ho'ite a good wife, nas ohUr n
lent:7 p ple s the Portuguese don' care for their wives
h fuss. 7.7,3tey care all right. .S11:1,e, they
Only ,,etl•-i us the -ari*s. the boss. 3irer .4ng. ie for the ran.
they don make
eps the hp31.1se nice, &nets all r
same with us, It's like
woman she
bc:sa tn th hause,
th all th other countries.
•,:ar,1.4. she runs the house the
t
way shf.:, wan so She has the meals right ant kes care
tb
children..
Portuguese Fisherman
'ftexAsnar
.4te-oas-thing4 I think the PortuguesePtakermore interest
like in the children, a7he it's only fishermen, they don' sea 'em
so often, I dunno tting,mericans.
when
alk ab th k ids but they
stay round em so muc-ra. Me, for intatce I liked play with mine
they we little. Always .lannint on havin' the boy weeth me, an,
the girls educated an' growl' up nice.. Is family she means a lot
to a ortugueee
married, Just a worry.. 0' But the Portuguese hle most generallfnlans
that way..
.ometimes Americans they'll nayi'l sho-Idut never have
e he pia s aroun eme, hut he always; plane have his 011
home, his children.- Likes a goAl family. That's his life..that what
he works for. A an weisth no family, that's a man general/7 has aoe-
thing wromg, with the Portuguese
LBetnat sea( Eke y; makes you like your home better. Somethint
to come back to Bit I think mos' all Portuguese fee s pretty much
like that.
Yes, num. A lot of the finhermar s wives they go out to work.
he way things is, nomettmes bad, sometimes good, they feel like they
got to help. But s(,onts the men get gain' the wife's through. She
stays home then. Yes ma'am, we Ilke for our wives to be home,
holMy myself this welek. Boys: this col' she's fierce for
fishin'. when they was runntn' goodltoo. But it won' last. Yestidaz
was warnin's for all craft to put in. No not any more. They use' to
be storm signals out to Woodshole. They got broke two,t'ree years a.o.or
they aint never renlace them. gotta radio nowlsee? Yes
am. That ere we get the reports.
—tles aF tsherma.n
Sure
they
're pretty good.
re noj gentally right. But I'll
tell you its like this. The weather's change% Sure, It aounts
funny. But look.. years ago, we got lotsa snow ard, lee. Good,long hard
wi
ter.
knew we had to go pretty far to find th' fish ant we went.
mId when first come over, how surprise! I was to see all. snaw
ap' ice. Back home we go barefoot all winter.
Well, an' now what you et? All different "knis. Snow tarns to ice
f
an Loe to rain an maybe hail Thlen all atono it comes U. a Spring
In Deeember, maybe..
The win's ain't the same neither. Used to be you could say,Nort
Easter, t'ree to five days Soutt '''aster, two to t'ree. Nort'
West3,maybe t'ree..an like that. Now no more. The wines dance all
gratin'.
Sure, maybe that's a little bit strong, but it a trae the weather's
change'. Ye I can pretty gen'ally tell if they's gone be a storm
I dontt know. I feel .t like. All the fishermen, the can feel like- that
when the weather's gone be bad.
I'm goin! out coons the weather's good. No, I don' mean warm. It
doesn't make no matter about the coI but thayts too much wina. It'll
be a fine thing we get s that yacht asin here next summer. Good for
everyone. This is a dang °us harbour. F3e-e that schooner,sh:e put in
here tb' other night? Th damn things sunk at her anchor. That's a
terrible harbcfar.
You see scross from you the fellers is Tatting the nets ready
for th traos? They'll be goin! out earlier this year if tht weather
stays had. Gentally they go out roan' early bpring but mxxx if no one
19.
:3rtugu e Pisherman.
gs in much fish,
storages am' worth' none to veak of. Just net an hour work an
when they five to lead tht trucks. ;Tease! Seems too had. Th' season
srted Out
Thit like t say, T don! think it'll last. We d n, often have
Such long spells wl-.en. it s!:-3tays had like this. So maybe any day now
bring you a n ee 'MOSS fish.
that man I jug talk tov ov er at coil eterage,
Bennie R egu r
ey gotta get 0 t the traps.
The col'
at
ee. Makes it tangh fr th tow.
-at aint his name. That' 8 his nicknalle. They call him that
'ea use he's a reg t lar fellow. The call him that 0.40t since he was
Ilttle, He, retglar seel2
Th Portuguese is great for givitt nienames to ever' one.
Icretn th' Amerklans, guess. Wh4-.41ettre.They call no Pulaski.
*hat means peppy,full of life, full ol fun. 'hen they was 14 whole
used call them the Baubas; means dumb, kinder
family in town. We
foolish, An th -Is joe Portygee. That means he's all Portugaese.
Vary Portugaese, the way he looks.ant talks an' acts. Just like in
th' old. ceuntry..
hen they's my boy, they call him 4tI.:A.k 1. I dunno what
that means. young Morrie over here, he's 1Fanda° an account of
this ,a7Aain Fonda, telt such tall stories. An' tI2orra't that means
t*Fox Zorrat s family got that name 1 ng ago, like my family got
LI Cantiva''. Zerra'n family was awful good fishermen so where they
live they calltemIlFx 0' the seat).
Then they's a whole family they call' em t, Goddan°. Jackie
Goddam„ Mamie Gaddam an' like that.
20,
Portuguese Fisherman.
,That's tcause tbt 01 lady she couldn' speak English so good an'
she'd. call the children when they was little,4You come hee,goddam.
non' yola. do that, gaddam,. So they call tern the goddams..
en tbeyls iota icol:adn' tell you. They am' so nice.
The
Portaguese they make a let o' jokes an' they 11 name a man because- he
acts this way or that war, goes theta *lace or that, an' sometimes the
names the ain' so polite. Thir,ts one family, used to call 'em the
°dirties" I amino. I guess the 01' woman she air', such a good house-
keeper or mmethint Anyways that wat they call tem. 'Lou ask,,o
ir
you know Iltnkie, or Manue, or -07?' an' they'll say, 'You mean one
of thtdirties.')
They namesItoo, for places. The 14ishons, we call tem 'Quail'
That meaas They's a real Portuguese family nameltoolu 110
But Lishons is always called 4uail. Ant the peop24 that comes from
St. Michaelts island we calls 'emItKikes I couldn' say why. But that's
what we call 'em.11Kikes°.
Besides the nieknames a lot 0' oll country people changes
their names aver here. ay olt country- names is too hard to say.
think that's foolish. Anybody can learn say, ttfillva0or hCaotivat%
or OCabralt4. Jeeset They aia' so hard. Anyways a lot of tem used
chalge. Some th' Perrya was Perrera,X guess An here's these two
brothers an' they chance' the name an' now one's oalledmith,
,t
th.' other /Carter don' make no sense. some th Poses
was Re)sarto an' they's u a lot change'
to chalge _m.sr guess nott
But rvu(ittouin get; me
s.
Portuzuese rman.
_ _
And then with the coming of better weather and hopes for
re-newed good luck, a little trouble arose on land. Mita leen the
sea, It appears, is not wide enough for everyone amicably to share
its fruits. And. big business reaohes out beyomd the Harbour lights,i
21.
The fishermen,however, are not too much. worried and C ntain Captive
explains why.
Pretty soon we got to go down th' t-41.koe settle all tille
business. Well, it's like this. You know th' draggers.. ones like
tol you drags th' nets along th' bottom..An' the seiners; they's
the ones set e nets aroun' the schools at th surface? Well, they're
in to-gether like.
Now th' 001' storage 's got worried. They use th' weirs.
like traps..an' they trawl. An they dent want us in shore get the
sIlvr erell. Lae' time we have a fight about this we agree we go
three miles out summers. But winters we fish ever'wheres.
That'5 what they don' like. 11Wil You ever know a business
didn' want everlthing. Fire, they's no reeson we should go outside
wnters. The weirs sin' out winters. temmers different.
But we won have no trouble. 111 go up to Boston.
Whole bunch of us. Oh sure, they got to have silver perch. Perch 's
about th' only feeeh they can make money on. Well, see, say it cos's
three cents_ a pound freeze the fiSh, ant maybe it's cheap fish, gets
only one cent, two cents a poemd, like that t bey don' make no money.
But they's plenty 0 fish.
Portuvese FiSherman. 22.
elaims we take alla fish. But that ain' so. They just wants
it all. Ant it don nake sense we should go outside winters when
they ainl fishint,
don' mind goin up to Eoston. I gttbss nott Las' time we
hired us two buses. Sing all tht way, stop have a little drink. now
an' then;had a Fopd time. An' we win, so eominl hack we felt fine.
Was a nIce trip. I guess we'll have a good one this time.
Till tell you about it when I get back.. Sure. Be gladto. Ani
9
ttme.
And here it seems a god tie to leave tsaptLin Caotiva,
preparing to go with his fellow workers to defend bis rights, un4.
worried counting on a. good tine' coming and going. Leave him
looking forward to many more years,lsome good, some badt, all
userul, hardworking and productive, and leave hi,too, to carry
old world along with the enterprise of te0
on a. tradition from the
naw; hoping indeed that
of nineteen forty will, having wii* gone home Ali of course,
come home a ain.
he,and many like him,
after the 'excuriionT