Dragging up the past
Popular new book documents Souris’ trawler fishing history and raises money for local organizations
Fan MacIntyre can still remember his gloves freezing over from the biting gale-force winds as he fought to get his trawler boat out of an ice flow.
It was not an uncommon occurrence for MacIntyre, now 81, who was a trawler skipper and captain based out of Souris for years before working with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
They were long, physically grueling days where crews would be out at sea for a week or more as they went as far as Cape Breton and Newfoundland dragger fishing ground fish, an activity that provided a major boom to Souris’ bustling fishing industry.
“It was a hard life, a really hard life,” said MacIntyre. “It’s something that will never be heard tell of again, dragger fishing … and I hope it isn’t, I wouldn’t want my sons or grandsons to ever have to do that.”
While the dragger fleet in Souris is no more, a new book is ensuring the important period of P.E.I.’s fishing history will never become lost to the sea.
“Souris by the Sea, Home of the Dragger Fleet” was written by Paul Gallant with MacIntyre and Roy Lambie as researchers.
The book chronicles the local history of the Souris trawler fleet from the 1940s to when the Usen fish plant was destroyed by fire in 1993.
It was released earlier this summer to a packed crowd at the Souris Legion and quickly sold out.
“There’s high demand,” said Gallant, who grew up in the fishery and was a crew member on several vessels before also working with DFO. “The room was packed and there was a lot of passion in the room, people were really excited.”
He noted one woman from Minnesota, whose father was one of the original Souris skippers, ordered 14 copies for her family.
The proceeds from the first printing of the book, which amounted to $10,562.77, were donated to Harbourview Training Centre in Souris.
A second printing of the book will be sold at Souris Legion and Home Hardware with proceeds going towards the Souris Lions Club.
“We felt the community made a major contribution to the storyline of this book with pictures and newspaper articles… this was a way of giving back to the community,” said Gallant, who also thanked local retailers who sold the book commissionfree.
The book was a more-thaneight-year project, with Gallant noting that about 15 of the approximately 40 individuals who were interviewed have since died.
He said the book is now a recorded history that preserves
the memories of individuals involved in the fleet from the captains and crew to plant
workers and managers.
MacIntyre said he was proud to be able to help preserve that
history for future generations, including his own grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“I knew I was getting older and I really never had anything to leave (my grandchildren), so I left them a little bit of my life,” said MacIntyre. “It was a hard, hard old life, and if I die tomorrow, I’d be proud just to leave my two cents’ worth.”