Cape Breton's Magazine

catch the herring. Capelin same way. (Did you fish directly off the schooner?) No, we'd get out in the dories. We anchored the schooner there, but if the water was too deep (to anchor) one fella looked after her. We got out in the doxry and we'd swing that seine around, catch them that way. Down the LeQsrador in them days the icebergs would be down there, a half mile high out of the water, and they'd be groxinding on bottom down there. So we'd go get the ice, cut the ice, and we iced the bait • the herring and the capelin • to keep it. But every two or three days, whatever bait was left, we'd dump that, go get some more ice, euid go get some new bait. That's how we worked it that way. We'd even drink the water. We used to get a barrel of water. Go on the iceberg and the water would be running off the top of it. That's the water we used to use. (So the herring was bait?) Oh, yeah. We used that for bait catching fish. (What fish were you after?) Cod? fish. Hook-and-line. Used the herring and capelin for bait. What we'd do was catch enough herring to do us for a week, emd we'd go on the iceberg and cut enough ice, and we iced it down. Then we'd go and use that up catching the fish. Then when that was used we had to come back and get some more. (Was it hard to catch codfish that way?) No. Hook-and-line. We used to set a string of gear, about twelve miles. You had to row the dory and set out twelve miles of gear. Baited trawl. (You weren't jigging?) Oh, no. We were what you call "trawling." Left: George's grandmother, Sarah Jane Lundrigan, who married Charlie Clark. Sarah Jane was a "Limey nurse" • the midwife who delivered George Prosser at Isle-aux-Morts. Right: George's parents Edward Prosser and "Clarky" • Adeline Clark Prosser, George's mother. (How did your mother pass away?) George: i guess she had heart trouble. She had a place in the parlour, a box you'd call it, and she had one of them sewing machines, a hand one, with a case on it. She put that there and she lit on that, and that's where she died. She had the sew? ing machine for a pillow. Died with heart trouble. That was 1944. Then I brought the old man up here. I was up here building this place. I never had any room for him. I only had a small place and a big family. After I got this place finished in '46,1 went down and brought him up. He was seven years up here. I guess he was over ninety. I buried him (here). My mother, i went down and buried her (in Newfoundland) and it only cost me twenty dollars. A homemade box and covered it with blue stuff. Somebody made the shroud, that's what she wore in her coffin. And we had to row to the graveyard 'cause we were on an island. It all cost twenty dollars to bury her. I brought the old man up here and buried him and it cost two hundred and forty dollars. Atlantic Canada's Premier Tour Company DAILY CAPE BRETON ADVENTURES Call now to book your personalized tour. We can arrange a variety of destinations and attractions to make your island adventure unforgettable. *some restrictions apply I • Cabot Trail Guided Tours • • Fortress of Louisbourg Shuttles • 1-888-454-0988 50 Colby St., Sydney, N.S. BIP 3P8 Phone: (902) 564-6200 Fax (902) 567-0988 [email protected] / Home Core Nova Scotia It's long been known that people often recover faster - and more comfortably - at home than in hospital. The support of family and friends in familiar surroundings can also make "quality of life" differences for people with chronic illnesses or those who need short-term health care. These are just some of the reasons why we established Home Care Nova Scotia • a province-wide home care program designed to provide nursing, home support, personal care and home oxygen services to Nova Scotians in their homes. If you are interested in finding out more about Home Care Nova Scotia, please call our toil-free number: 1-800-225-7225