At anchor with the operator
Eva Murray’s recollections of the days of the Camden Marine Operator (MBH&H #93, March 2007) brought back a flood of our own memories. It was great fun to be at anchor in a cozy cove, fog rolling in or rain pattering on the overhead, listening to the trials and tribulations. I’m sure the young gal who called her friend and passed along her secret that she was eloping had 50 folks show up for the wedding. It was a sad day when the Camden Marine Operator signed off for the last time. And thanks for telling us about the 10-year-old boat owner (“In the Lee of the Boathouse,” same issue). What a great kid.
The community of the Maine coast
Working in the customer service field, I know that people are quick to complain but slow to fire off that letter to offer a compliment. I have been a subscriber to your magazine for a couple of years now and just want to say “thank you” for delivering a lovely visit every month or so to what I call “God’s Country.”Having sailed as passenger/crew since September 1980 on Penobscot Bay and the waters farther south and east, I’ve watched the Maine coast evolve and wished the best for the folks who live there year round and make their living around the water. I’ve enjoyed the articles you’ve published to learn about areas I haven’t visited firsthand and different aspects of those I think I know. Merci for all the hard work you and all the staff do to put that together. Many thanks also for soliciting that story from Eva Murray about the Camden Marine Operator. I love her writing, a little insight into what is happening in all seasons and into dealing with living on a small island, the people and situations she comes across. I have fond memories of the Camden Marine Operator and the soap operas and salty language you used to hear there—it made you seem in more of a community, good and ill.
A simpler era
While reading Eva Murray’s lovely article about the Camden Marine Operator (MBH&H #93,March 2007), I nostalgically remembered my many evenings listening in on those conversations. Each summer, at the end of June,my young children, Mali and Seth, and I would embark from the Great Bay (near Durham,New Hampshire) for Vinalhaven in my 20' Jonesport-style wooden lobsterboat. The marine radio was our only form of electronics back in the 1970s, and after dropping anchor and exploring a cove or island, we lulled and laughed ourselves to sleep while eavesdropping on conversations between wives and lobstermen, summer people and arriving guests, and sailors on cruising boats. For us, it was a time to call my husband to let him know that we were safe, sound, well-fed, and happy. Our conversations were short and sweet, and self-edited. The wonderful woman who so faithfully and respectfully manned the phone line would take our credit card number each June and would remember me every time I asked her to put through a call. On slow evenings, we would chat a bit. I reminisce as I write this and recall my words: “Camden Marine Operator, Camden Marine Operator. This is the vessel Prey. Over.” How foreign it all sounds today. Now, a few boats and a lifetime later, I long for the simplicity of that era.
Robb White would have loved this
"Double D" 44, photo by Art Paine
My first thought on reading Peter Bass’s piece on the Double Dipper 44 (“Off Off the Drawing Board, MBH&H #94,May 2007) was, “Geez... The poor lobsters don’t stand a chance!” I was at first a little miffed that you would run such an environmentally unconscious story. Then, as I read further, I realized that it had to be an April Fools’Day joke. Surely Syd French is a play on Sidd Finch, the mythical player for the New York Mets made up by George Plimpton (he wouldn’t be a relation of your George Planktinn, now would he?). When I got to the bit about our august Governor, John Baldacci, entering into talks to purchase the Maritime Provinces to support an expanded fishery, I knew I had been bamboozled. I only regret that Robb White isn’t alive to read this piece—he would have enjoyed it immensely. Thanks for the chuckles, and for your great magazine. Maxwell Bright Braintree,Massachusetts, and Northeast Harbor,Maine We got many such comments regarding our article about the “Double D 44” by Peter “Largemouth” Bass in the last issue.
The featured lobsterboat was configured as a catamaran, thus allowing two lobstermen to haul traps at the same time at speeds up to 10 knots. Truth or fiction? Our lips are sealed. –Eds.
