Cape Breton's Magazine

WE'VE GOT THE GOODS ON CAPE BRETON We have more than fifteen books on the history and culture of Cape Breton Island, everything from sketches of Cape Breton buildings from days gone by (STILL STANDING; $7.95) to the History of the Presbyterian Church in Cape Breton (THE WELL-WATERED GARDEN by Laurie Stanley; $14.50). Some of our popular titles include: • CAPE BRETON AT 200: Historical Essays In Honour of The Island's Bicentennial 1785-1985 $14.50 • THE CAPE BRETON BOOK OF DAYS $14.95 • CAPE BRETON SHIPS AND MEN $8.95 • CRANBERRY HEAD: Stories & Paintings by Ellison Robertson $9.95 • MINING PHOTOGRAPHS AND OTHER PICTURES $24.95 • EARLY CAPE BRETON: A Photo Essay 1860-1935 $14.50 • THE CAPE BRETON COLLECTION: (Short Stories) $7.95 We've also captured much of the music and comedy of Cape Breton Island on a variety of albums and cassettes, including: • RISE & FOLLIES OF CAPE BRETON ISLAND '77, '80, '81, '85 $8.98 • CAPE BRETON'S GREATEST HITS$8.98 • MEN OF THE DEEPS, VOL. I, II, III $8.98 • RITA MacNEIL, "I'M NOT WHAT I SEEM" $9.98 • CELTIC MUSIC OF CAPE BRETON VOL. I $8.98 • WELCOME TO CAPE BRETON (cassette only): A compilation of songs and skits from our other albums $5.99 TO SAVE 20% on any purchase, send this coupon plus cheque or money order in the amount indicated above less 20%, stating name of product ordered and quantity. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF CAPE BRETON PRESS P.O. Box 5300 Sydney, Nova Scotia Canada Bl P 6L2 Tel.: (902) 539-5300 Ext. 146 time, all the people around here had their trawl outside. And they used to bait the trawl all day' long. There were thousands and thousands of pounds of bait going down to the bottom, to feed the fish. So, after awhile, they stopped setting trawl, after we had those traps. Well, they fished around here for quite awhile. But I think that's what it is that does it: the fish that feed a- round here, you can't expect that he's going to come back year after year for nothing. We used to bait up out? side, and throw the bait outside. It was keeping the fish around?? (It interests me how much you did leam and how much you were able to do, even though you say you didn't have a lot of formal education.) Oh, none at all. And it's the same as a good many people, they can't understand how I could come and build boats, with no education or any? thing. (How did you do it?) Well, it just passed in my mind that I could do it. I saw a few guys building boats around here. And I thought to myself that if a man could do it, I could do it. It seems to me when a man does something, and you want to put it in your head, you can do it. It doesn't matter what it is. You can do it. But you have to have it in your head. (Did you earn a living building boats?) Well, that was a help from all kinds of different ways I was trying. I was trying planting, farming, doing something for myself. And what little money I could get from different places where I could build boats and sell boats. You know, it kind of helped me from all kinds of ways. But I used to work till 10, 12 o'clock at night every night, in order to make a living, keep up the family. I had long hours, right through my life. Now it's the same thing: I'm get? ting up at 5 o'clock in the morning. I don't have to. But I've still got to do it; I can't stop it. I'm get? ting up at 5 o'clock in the morning, and I'm up all day. (A place like this, I should think that when a storm came up, it would come up pretty fast.) Oh yes, coming pretty fast. (Have you ever been caught out there in a bad storm?) Oh, I got caught in a bad storm. I got caught when there were two guys from here got drowned. Oh, that's quite awhile ago. We were trawl fishing in the fall of the year. So that morning, (the fellow) I was fishing with, wa: jed to go fishing. Of course, all the boats were going out. But I knew there was a kind of a breeze or a storm coming in. So I said to him, "I think it would be just as good for us to stay in, the way it's looking." "Oh," he said, "o- kay, we're going to go out and we'll set 3 or 4 tubs of trawl, anyway." So, we used to go way down outside L'Ardoise, fishing. So we started, anyway. And we met all the other boats that were coming in. It was too rough then to go out. (76)