Men Of Gloucester (1949)

yes it's just as I remembered it the same restless unsatisfied see that I knew is a boy it all comes back the sound of it the anger and the gentleness of it yes even the smell of it I left at nearly 20 years ago but I know now that it never left me as time went by I kept remembering little jigsaw pieces of the town where I was born amassed against the sky a fisherman shed a Dory on slack tide names of fishing boats a mackerel sailor in the harbor sliding across my memory I'm home again home in Gloucester Massachusetts at the end of Cape Anne I parked my car on the top of the hill and had a good long look this is where I belong I was surprised at my first day home to see how little the town has changed I drifted on the tide of Main Street taking in the old familiar sights and the people I used to know it's still a shipshape town still married to the sea after three centuries and still dedicated to the man in fishing clothes to the sailors who bring the harvest from the sea it was good to see the old skipper again braised on his granite deck forever staring across the harbor for some trace of the 10,000 klostermann worth perished at sea in my town tears and saltwater have always mixed for the first time it's as though I'm seeing my town through the eyes of a tourist I'm shopping for scenes of my childhood it took the antique shops to remind me that Gloucester was born in 1610 I think that makes us an early American community although we don't make too much fuss about tradition maybe we're a little part of our age but we're proud is still of our looks little things like weather-beaten sheds lobster pots and markers drying in the Sun color splashes everywhere the artists know our beauty they come here summer after summer and for them September comes too soon oh it's pretty all right but no town gets by on good looks alone this one certainly doesn't there's too much work to be done and that means fishing in one year's time Gloucester hauls 200 million pounds of fish from the sea strangers used to ask me what does it take to put that much fish on the table and then I tell them tell them about patient hands that solve a million knots tough had the tackle tough jobs like racking miles of fish net to dry in the Sun I tell them about the quick Shore hands that flick me T Phillips from the packing room conveyor belt and tuck them into a million boxes would never a thumb then I'd sing out the story of hands that bill Gloucester's wooden boats in a shipyard that's been operating here since 1684 honest oak from the forests of Maine the skill of proud carpenters who learned that trade from their fathers and who teach it to their sons four months of steady work and a Gloucester fishing boat is born strong and ready for the Seas big fist yet there's another kind of strength here every year the archbishop comes down from Boston to bless our fleet Klosterman know it takes more than sturdy ships and good navigation to keep coming back from the fishing banks from the graveyard of the Atlantic the people listen and pray for the men who sailed the fleet the way we look at it ships are no better than the men who take them to deep water the sea is no place for timid hearts and soft hands Gloucester has to build rugged men from the cradle onward a Gloucester child grows up beside the sea the song of the surf is his first lullaby when he swings high on a swing the sea is under his shoes the ball he hits for his first home run may bounce into the outgoing tide his shadow is cast on the water a prophecy of life ahead some people say you can tell a Gloucester Minh by the cut of his jib I think there is a Gloucester look the milkman and the mayor have it in common with captains and captain's wives in the Gloucester scheme of things good ships and good men get together the test of boat comes every day in this town I think of that test every time the Santa Maria heads out for mackerel she looks mighty trim every seaworthy foot of her she had tons of crushed ice in her gizzard and her same boat trails behind her like a sea dog on a leash most of the crew were kids with me now they're a standout team that takes more mackerel than any other crew in the fleet santa maria had to captain Warner's Peter Guerra see who can see more mackerel with his eyes half closed and most men could see with a telescope the other is Peter Mercurio a steel muscled all-around saltwater boss good crew good cook that's Vito Girardi one of the best a man at sea eats enough for three so Vito's reputation is on the block three times a day and he knows the boys won't stand for too much mackeral mackeral gypsies of the sea are where you find them 400 yards or 400 miles from home Graci shouts from the Crowsnest he sees a patch of boiling water there they are slashing dancing mackerel swarming near the surface the crew gets the same boat ready for action every seam of the Santa Maria buckles down to business every pulse quickens for the age-old excitement of the chase is still here the diesel engines roar full speed ahead and the Santa Maria cuts deep in the water as she tows the same boat in a huge circle around the school of fish teamwork is vital now out of the same boat shoots the big mackerel same 1,500 feet long 177 feet deep get it out and get those ends together like a giant spider the Santa Maria spins a web on the water the see sweeps in on this man-made circle trying to pull it apart but the ring holds and now the men move like machines as they see rare chances growing for acres of saltwater and thousands of mackerel are in that net now they start closing the trap the winch snorts and whines as the underside of the same is pulled together like an old-fashioned drawstring purse every turn of the winch is important now for a macro can dive for the ocean floor before the first string close the trap the boys have set their Seine thousands of times but there's a new challenge with every spread of the net and now they put their muscle to it hands and arms and sturdy backs strained together as the long pull begins how many pounds of fish in the net a boatload or just enough to wet the deck back on the mothership the home guard fences off the deck for the Avalanche that's going to come aboard this is a crew at the peak of performance every man with a job to do and every man doing his job that's the way it's been in Gloucester for 300 years that's the way it has to be these men must work as a team their lives depend on it sometimes their livelihood always heavy with mackerel the sagging net is close all to the Santa Maria there's a pocket of silver fantasy but it feels like leg down goes the dip net with every scoop 1,000 pounds of mackerel comes out of the sea up and down hour after hour the dipnet ladles of good day's wages from the posing track enough mackerel to feed two thousand families shimmers on the deck like a heavy rain scales fly through the air like sparks from the forge every time a lid comes off the deck 40 to 100 dollars worth of fresh mackerel goes down the hatch to a bed of chopped dice below at the end of a long day's fishing the Santa Maria will hold no more she turns homeward in the fading light tension is gone now the crew relaxes on deck cheerful men going home unaware that back home back in Gloucester and the dying afternoon there's something Restless in the heaven a storm is gathering and heading out to sea in days of sales storms took a heavy toll of ships and men today we have a better lease on life but we're still uneasy when the wind is from the noir east at Eastern Point the lighthouse keeper climbed the tower and checks his life keeping it alive in the darkness a woman prays for her husband's safe return a mother watches from a window and wait just a few steps off Main Street the old-timers go right on with their game storms make them a little restless and stir memories of their bouts with the sea but they had confidence and the men who took their places but storms always end Gloucester always gives thanks for that once a year Gloucester's fishermen pay their respects to the patron saint of all fishermen Democratic Saint Peter through the narrow twisting streets fishermen carry a 600 pound statue of their beloved Saint the men of the Santa Maria are always in the line Peter Mercurio Peter gurrah see Tony alloy veto Peter piety Joe Sinagra Tony savant Lee this is their unfailing day off and a day off for mackerel too the parade ones on for too long miles some women march all the way in their stocking feet they promised in their prayers to do this in return for the safekeeping of their loved ones at sea st. Peter's Fiesta is carnival time and visitors come from everywhere to celebrate with Gloucester my ears were ringing but I felt that I was officially holding I went down to the shore to watch the same boat race a busman's holiday for mackerel fishermen rowing boats on their day off I wanted to be a boy again when I saw the greased pole contest when I was a kid we called it the slide for life whoops the idea hadn't changed grab the flag at the end of the pole there's always one lad who turned the trick I suppose there's a lot more to be said about Gloucester sistex and little things like the factors and I think like that but I keep thinking most about our people and our way of life at our town wanted it Peter Mercurio Slee stands for all of us some of us descended from original Yankee settlers others came here from Italy Sicily Portugal the Azores nova scotia finland wherever men follow the sea but we're American we put tons of fish in the market baskets of American and we live in harmony here in Gloucester everywhere I've gone since I left this town it's been the same can live together if they try and Gloucester tries good American Americans at home