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Step into an infinite world of stories

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Todd Bartoo

Scott Dodgson

Experience the world through the sailor's eyes. We travel around the world discovering the invaluable insights that made us who we are, sharing art, food, history and culture. We tell stories about life from the sailor's point of view! Sailing adventures, traveling stories across the oceans. An informative and entertaining podcast.

Offshore Explorer with Scott Dodgson

https://mainstreetragbookstore.com/product/a-sailors-point-of-view-scott-dodgson/

 

 

A Sailor’s Point of View

Foreword

Oceanic travel by passenger ship began ending when the airline Pan Am announced regular transatlantic flights in 1945. Travel by plane changed the very essence of the traveler’s psychology and the fundamental experience of a different place. We travel to learn and grow. Curiosity drives our quest to see the next port, to look around the bend, to climb the mountain top, and sail to the edge of the horizon. Our travel experience informs our understanding of our place on earth and the relationship of places in ourselves. Traveling provides the contrast to our normal. A different place makes this place, your place, your home understandable. How we are prepared to experience our travel has fundamentally changed since flying became open to all who could afford a ticket. We have lost the benefits of preparation and thus lost the ability to comprehend the nuanced aspects of travel both interior and exterior.

With air travel, we no longer wait in a heightened state of anticipation over discovering that distant place. Honestly, the wait is about discovering that far-off place in our soul. No long evenings on the deck of a massive ship watching sunrises and sunsets, where the only entertainment is playing shuffleboard, conversing with fellow travelers to glean inside information about the best restaurants, reliable drivers, clean hotels, crime, shopping, history and a variety of other subjects needing to grasp the contours of the new place. Our vanity demands a world-weary appearance to cover our innocence as if locals will sanction us for our lack of experience. Air travel excluded the long periods of wonderfully anxious and sumptuous anticipation. Waiting is something we sailors do well as we have no choice given the speed at which we travel. Some travelers are pressed for time, limited by funds, limited by vacation time from work, wanting to skip the first big step and get to the heart of the vacation. The casual traveler wants to be transported from his comfortable chair at home to the steps of the Roman coliseum as seamlessly as changing channels on their flat screen television. No sweat. No hassle. No experience? Seen it. Ate it. Hiked it. Slept in it. That will do, thank you very much, but I have to be back at work tomorrow. The experience of place washed away within days of returning home, leaving little or no impression of that place on their minds or souls. What is the point of travel if you are not willing to be fashioned by the place even a little?

 

 

Sailing to a place involves an entirely different psychological and physical dynamic for the earnest and open traveler/sailor. Passenger ships and cruise ships offer a hint of the maritime experience. Modern cruise ship experience has been so honed to entertaining the passive traveler it is hard to see how getting off the ship at a port of call has anything to do with the authentic experience of travel other than to pry dollars from your hands for trinkets. Trinkets you use as a reminder of having been there. There is no dynamic experience, no moment of realization, no conversation with your soul or reminders of your place in the continuum of humanity. You are left with sad little trinkets and a reminder of a lost opportunity.

Sailing is a physical and mind-altering experience of dimensions rarely understood, even by local sailors. Lauded through time, a sailor’s experience informed the homebound. Travel changed their being. Regardless of education or age, they wore their foreign experience like so many tattoos, a traveling corporeal pictographic. The sailor is a portal to the world.

What I am describing is very real but largely forgotten. Travel by sail is a unique experience that prepares you in wonderful ways to enter a world, unfamiliar in culture, language, and custom, yet to find an honest kinship with the inhabitants because of your confident awareness. The physical and emotional preparations inherent in sailing across the ocean make you different. The sailor’s point of view was once a common entity that allowed one to see the world and be in the world at once with a sublime understanding. The sailor's experiences, the history, the people and their customs, their art, their industry, their desires, likes and loves all become vividly apparent as the sailor immerses himself or herself in the sea of life.

I am that sailor and here are the stories, large and small from a sailor’s point of view.

What is the sailor’s point of view? How does one achieve that awareness and perception?

Sailing slows the perception of time, allowing the mind to be in the present tense. There is nothing a sailor can do about the past and the future is a waypoint in the distance. He is obligated to be in the present and face whatever tasks the boat and ocean throw at him or her. Time is experienced in a way most people who farm, which was just about everyone on earth. Distance determines time. Plow that field from dawn until dusk and that was your measurement of a day. One’s awareness of distance traveled is heightened. An example of that mind bending phenomenon is when it snows for example. Driving to work takes 20 minutes at 60 mph on a dry day. It snows and you creep along at 20 mph and 2 very slow hours pass. At this point you realize distance as another measurement of time. Sailing obliterates your sense of time much the same way.

This wonderful state of simply “Being,” the body experiences something akin to 24/7 of yoga. The body adjusts to the rolling deck swinging back and forth until it becomes second nature or as I like to say the original nature. It must be the same type of experience as being in the womb.

At this point in your voyage, you have attained a degree of preparation. Mentally, you are very much present. Physically, your body has been transformed into feeling fluid and aware. You are ready to experience a new place with heightened senses and acute awareness. You are a sailor.

A Sailor's Point Of View

Scott Dodgson is a very captivating storyteller indeed, an easy read. I am a serious fan of his podcast, Offshore Explorer, so I decided to buy one of his books. Not A Moment To Lose was too good to put down. He takes you on an adventure of a lifetime and gives you a different perspective about significant changes in your life. I found the main character’s experiences to hit home for me in more than one way. It was all I thought about all day at work until I could come home and read what happened next. I learned some new words too, which is always a bonus for me. By the end of the book, I was disappointed for the story to be over and wonder if there will be a sequel. Either way, I’ll gladly read any of his tales, hands down. If you need a new story in your life, you won’t be disappointed about going on a sail from New York to Coral Bay in Saint John, would you? Anyways won’t give away any more details. You have to read it for yourself. Hope you enjoy as much as I did. Nikki!https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFTSWDBQ

A wonderful novel that keeps you engaged. If you knew nothing about sailing you would still know that the author is really a world class sailor. He brings the yacht in the story to life. He beautifully translates the creaks and noises of the boat struggling in the rough sea into a language ripe with feeling. He has developed the characters so you see them as they are and how they got to be who they are. I highly recommend this novel. Nan https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFTSWDBQ 

Buy the book today!

Not a Moment to Lose

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFTSWDBQ 

The first time boat buyer will meet a maritime professional for the first time in the form of a surveyor. 

Why? How to use it? And the reasons to follow the surveyor closely and take notes. 

 

Maritime regulations are there to make you safe, prevent pollution to the environment, and provide suitable working standards. 

Training is very much apart of regulations. 

 

If you are buying a 27 ft sail boat with an outboard engine to 160 foot mega yacht all of what I’m going to discuss is important to some degree, but mostly it is important for the captain’s confidence and calm state of mind. 

 

Periodic surveys and inspections of ships are carried out to ensure the safety and seaworthiness of vessels. With maritime laws becoming more stringent with each passing year, sea-going vessels have to go through a series of inspections to meet minimum requirements to continue sailing.

Annual surveys by classification society are a vital part of a ship’s trading eligibility. Thus for a vessel to continue trading, various periodical surveys and certifications by classification society are mandatory to ensure its continued compliance with International regulations and endorsement.

Various certificates require annual endorsement after the class surveyor verifies that the conditions, functioning and operational and maintenance requirements of the vessel are complied with.

After the class surveyor verifies the same, he endorses the certificates for the annual survey. Annual surveys are namely Safety equipment survey, International oil pollution prevention certificate survey, International air pollution prevention certificate survey, and Safety Radio Survey.

Before all these surveys, the companies appoint independent servicing agencies, which are approved to conduct annual servicing and maintenance of equipment such as fire extinguishers, fixed fire extinguishing installations, annual foam compound analysis for fixed foam fire fighting installation, annual servicing and maintenance of lifeboat equipment and launching appliances.

 

Your flag and the rules and regulations. Annual servicing and inspection of equipment systems can be performed by various institutions such as accredited laboratory, service company, maker or manufacturer trained personnel, shore-based maintenance provider, class approved service applier, and service personnel authorized by the flag.

The criteria for inspection are being laid by classification societies acting as recognized organizations on behalf of flag states so that requisite certificates are revalidated or issued in line with international regulations.

Every flag has streamlined its requirements, and thus accordingly, the classification society develops checklists of inspection programs to harmonise the same.

 

Hauling out your boat before the sale. What is the surveyor looking for?

A safety construction survey will be focused on the structural strength of the vessel. It will be assessed for any excessive corrosion of deck or hull, along with the condition of watertight doors, bilge pumping and drainage systems, fire protection equipment, and fixed and portable fire fighting equipment.

 

Fire contraol 

 

International shore connections fixed firefighting equipment. 

 

Training Prerequisites for Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels (OUPV/”6-Pack”)

The National OUPV license is limited to uninspected vessels, of less than 100 gross tons, operating on U.S. domestic waters ONLY. Also limited to carrying six or less paying passengers. You must meet all of the requirements established by the USCG National Maritime Center in order to apply for this license. The USCG checklist of requirements is located here on the National Maritime Center website:https://www.dco.uscg.mil/nmc/checklist/. Under National Officer Endorsements for Deck, click on National OUPV Less Than 100 GRT.

Important sea service requirements for OUPV:

 • Must be at least 18 years old.
 • Must be able to 
document 360 days • of experience on a vessel, of which at least 90 days must be on Near Coastal/Ocean waters otherwise license will be limited to Inland Waters ONLY. 
(See: What Counts as Sea Service) • 90 days of sea service must be within the last 3 years of when you apply.
 • 90 days of sea service must be on Ocean or Near Coastal waters or otherwise the license will be limited to Inland Waters only.
 • If you are not a U.S. Citizen, you can apply for this license but it will be limited tonnage and restricted to undocumented vessels.

Prerequisites for Master up to 100 Tons on Inland Waters/Great Lakes

With a Master license you may operate inspected/commercial vessels and also take more than six paying passengers. You must meet all of the requirements established by the USCG National Maritime Center in order to apply for this license. The USCG checklist of requirements is located here on the National Maritime Center website:https://www.dco.uscg.mil/nmc/checklist/. Under National Officer Endorsements for Deck, click on National Master 100 GL and Inland.

Important sea service requirements for Master Inland/GL:

 • Must be at least 19 years old.
 • Must be able to 
document 360 days • of experience on a vessel. 
(See: What Counts as Sea Service) • 90 days of sea service must be within the last 3 years of when you apply.
 • The tonnage of the license (25 Ton, 50 Ton, or 100 Ton) that you get, is determined by your experience. See USCG checklist in the paragraph above for 
the specific tonnage qualifications • .

If you plan on operating an inspected sailing vessel, you must have a sailing endorsement along with the Master Inland/GL license. The required amount of sea service for a sailing endorsement on a Master Inland/GL license is: 180 days on sail or auxiliary sail vessels.

Prerequisites for Master up to 100 Tons on Near Coastal Waters

With a Master license you may operate inspected/commercial vessels and also take more than six paying passengers. You must meet all of the requirements established by the USCG National Maritime Center in order to apply for this license. The USCG checklist of requirements is located here on the National Maritime Center website:https://www.dco.uscg.mil/nmc/checklist/. Under National Officer Endorsements for Deck, click on National Master 100NC.

 • Must be at least 19 years old.
 • Must be able to 
document 720 days • of experience on a vessel, of which at least 360 days must be on Near Coastal/Ocean waters. 
(See: What Counts as Sea Service) • 90 days of sea service must be within the last 3 years of when you apply.
 • The tonnage of the license (25 Ton, 50 Ton, or 100 Ton) that you get, is determined by your experience. See USCG checklist in the paragraph above for 
the specific tonnage qualifications • .

If you plan on operating an inspected sailing vessel, you must have a sailing endorsement along with the Master Near Coastal license. The required amount of sea service for a sailing endorsement on a Master NC license is: 360 days on sail or auxiliary sail vessels.

 

6 pac to 100ton near coastal and ocean upgrades to inspected vessels 200t to 1500 ton captain third mate on ships, advanced firfighting, radar plotting and observation and first aid courses. 

 

Able seaman

Tanker man

Hazard waste protocols etc. 

 

There is a host of courses and certifications that can be gotten through certified maritime training institutes. 

 

Training becomes part of the package including hull inspections, fire water, environmental oil, etc, electrical safty equipment like resuce boat operators towing and sailing aux. 

 

Understanding SOLAS: Safety of life at sea 

Under the regulation, ships should have adequate strength, integrity and stability to minimize the risk of loss of the ship or pollution to the marine environment due to structural failure, including collapse, resulting in flooding or loss of watertight integrity.

 

MARPOL :The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) is the main international convention covering prevention of pollution of the marine environment by ships from operational or accidental causes. The MARPOL Convention was adopted on 2 November 1973 at IMO

 

 

IMO ILO: Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

The Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (“MLC, 2006”) establishes minimum working and living standards for all seafarers working on ships flying the flags of ratifying countries.

 

And many more. In an inspected vessel it is the responsilbility of the owner and skipper to keep all the regulations on board and up to date. 

 

 

 

Mosaic Artist https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KQ6R34R

The Casket Salesman https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NHN1FHT

Paulette Mc Williams music https://music.apple.com/us/album/a-womans-story/1522026059

The Importance of Place Episode # 10 in fiction published https://issuu.com/liveencounters/docs/le_american_poets_writers_january_2022issuu?fr=sNTQ5ZTQ4MjI3MA

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Survey

Let me couch these stories into this atmosphere. Pretend you have come over to my boat one evening and we are sharing dinner and maybe a drink or two. The sun has set, and the stars just blanket the sky. The temperature is a balmy 80 or 27 Celsius. The cockpit light hanging over the thick varnished table reflects a warm golden hue on everyone’s face. The table has the remnants of a fine dinner. Wine glasses with a couple of sips left. We might be into Cognac, so I have my Tiffany cut glass snifters coddling the VSOP reminds one of fruits flowers oak notes and dreamy rich round earthly flavors, even without the aroma you are living and breathing all these flavors wafting across the water from the land. In the Caribbean the soft scent of palm with a hint of lilac. If we are in the pacific the scents are mixed in a favor stream of sweet and smoke. If we are in Greece Rosemary, sage, dried coriander. And turkey pine, and the rich loamy soil of history. 

You are comfortable and relaxed. But there is one thing nagging you, why do I feel so hungry for sex? So, you ask me your captain because there is nothing he can’t deliver or know. I’ll tell you a story. My mindset for years was to find the perfect sexy woman, who would be the perfect partner to fulfill my illusions or delusions. I was granted my wish. Here are stories about all the other crazy uninhibited nonsense that takes place in the bubble of boats, sea, and waves. 

Mosaic Artist https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KQ6R34R

The Casket Salesman https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NHN1FHT

Paulette Mc Williams music https://music.apple.com/us/album/a-womans-story/1522026059

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Sex and Sailing Redux

Please buy my new book"Mosaic Artist" from my Dry Port Series: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KQ6R34R 

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Training Stories

Robert Smalls (April 5, 1839 – February 23, 1915) was an American politician, publisher, businessman, and maritime pilot. Born into slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina, he freed himself, his crew, and their families during the American Civil War by commandeering a Confederate transport ship, CSS Planter, in Charleston harbor, on May 13, 1862, and sailing it from Confederate-controlled waters of the harbor to the U.S. blockade that surrounded it. He then piloted the ship to the Union-controlled enclave in Beaufort–Port Royal–Hilton Head area, where it became a Union warship. His example and persuasion helped convince President Abraham Lincoln to accept African-American soldiers into the Union Army.

After the American Civil War he returned to Beaufort and became a politician, winning election as a Republican to the South Carolina Legislature and the United States House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era. Smalls authored state legislation providing for South Carolina to have the first free and compulsory public school system in the United States. He founded the Republican Party of South Carolina. Smalls was the last Republican to represent South Carolina's 5th congressional district 

Please buy my new book"Mosaic Artist" from my Dry Port Series: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KQ6R34R 

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American Maritime Pilot: The Robert Smalls Story

Next to sailing, sex, cooking and eating/drinking is the most important activity on a boat. 

General Tips: Planning, Make meals in advance, space management, The right kit, expectations be realistic or not! 

I cover all the systems for cooking as well as different equipment for your situation. 

Day Sailor, Live aboard that stays put and Cruiser, to charter chef every category has different needs. 

Prepare to use local products in your cooking. 

Please buy my new book"Mosaic Artist" from my Dry Port Series: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KQ6R34R 

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Cooking On The Boat

Father of the Port of Los Angeles

The American mariner does not exist in a vacuum. Commerce and war are the two key principles of purpose for the sailor. The third principle of purpose, exploration, is a distant third. If the American mariner was the central character in the movie about America, the supporting characters would be the entrepreneurs and visionaries that facilitated their direction and motive. The lead supporting character in the story of Los Angeles, who was both a mariner and a visionary businessman, was Phineas Banning. Known as the “Father of the Port of Los Angeles,” he built the first breakwater in San Pedro to protect ships from the sea.

Phineas Banning was working in the dockyards in Philadelphia. At 20 years old, he signed up to work a passage to a then exotic destination–Southern California.

Please buy my new book"Mosaic Artist" from my Dry Port Series: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KQ6R34R 

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Portrait of an American Mariner Phineas Banning

I have hired or invited hundreds of crew onto my boats of the years. I have learned some difficult lessons, but I have found a couple of key elements to allowing someone on your boat who will be with you 24/7 for an extended time: Kindness and training. 

Please buy my new book Mosaic Artist: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KQ6R34R

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Mate Wanted

Saké Barrel Divers 

The mariner brings a spirit of work and focus to any job. A fisherman brings faith. Together, these traits form a citizen of the oceans. In the middle chapters of world nautical history, specific characteristics from the tenacity of the Japanese fisherman/sailor have profoundly shaped the American mariner. Sailor’s knowledge is transformative. Knowledge of techniques, sources of best practices, the intuition and faith, are guidelines to living on the ocean. Like flotsam and jetsam, what doesn’t work on this tide might be the solution on the next. The American mariner at the turn of the century could be characterized as being in a period of transition. The Japanese fisherman had a thousand years of uninterrupted practice at fishing and sailing. Their fortitude and skill became the envy of the white population in Southern California during a time of Jim Crow. Anger and racism persist today among a few, but it is clear the heritage of the Japanese fisherman and sailor added a beneficial facet to the American marine character.
Japanese fisherman sailed down the west coast of American past Point Conception and found the Channel Islands. The Japanese showed great courage and determination to build a new life based on ancient skills. Japanese on the Channel Islands began harvesting abalone at the turn of the century. The Channel Islands lay a few miles off Santa Barbara. Both Japanese and Chinese abalone competed fiercely for the abalone, a delicacy much loved in Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo and China town. The railroad brought many Chinese and Japanese laborers to Southern California. However, the Japanese that made the mark were the sailors and fishermen. 

Japanese fishermen began diving for abalones, first as free divers from surface floats and later, more successfully, as hard-hat divers. They used old rice wine casks as floats to rest on after each dive. Taking a few deep breaths, they would dive to the bottom and return to the surface with their catch. They quickly earned the nickname of saké barrel divers because of their unusual technique. Abalone are snails with a large foot used for grasping a rock. They feed off the kelp and the organisms that live in and around the kelp. Often an urchin will attach itself to the heavy shell and offer camouflage. Once a diver spots an abalone, he swoops in and tries to lift it off the rock as quickly as possible. This can be done with some success. If the Abalone locks, it’s meaty foot to the rock, a bar will be needed to pry the foot off the rock. It is not a simple task, especially free diving. 

In 1900, county ordinances were passed that made it illegal to gather abalones from less than twenty feet of water. These regulations were racially motivated. The regulations completely halted Chinese commercial abalone operations. Undaunted by the new regulations, the Japanese dominated the collecting of the abalone in a short time. 

“Avalon. Catalina is up in arms. She has been invaded by Japan. A lot of little brown men, with a small sloop, appeared at Empire a few days since, and are preceding to skin the rocks of the abalones. These Japs are divers. They wear goggles with which they locate the abalone as they swim along the surface, and making a spring, they emulate the ‘hell diver’ and disappear to wrench the inoffensive shellfish from its hold on the rock by a quick thrust of an iron bar. Practice has made these men able to remain underwater an inconceivable length of time, and they seem to be as much at home in and under the water as the shag...” LA Times. April 21, 1903. Soon the albacore was over fished. One of the last remaining drying camps was White Point. The Japanese were routed by police and forced to leave. Unable to dive for albacore, the fisherman took up residence on Terminal Island in Los Angeles harbor. 

Shifting gears, the Japanese fisherman took to purse seine fishing for tuna. 

Japanese fishermen built small rowboats to explore the San Pedro Bay for tuna and used 6-foot poles for their catch. By 1907, the Japanese fishing village of Fish Harbor was established with its first houses built on pilings along the shore of the main channel. Within a few years, the Japanese population on Terminal Island had increased to 600. The tight-knit community, living in isolation, developed their own blend of Japanese and English, referred to as “kii-shu ben”, a dialect from the Kii district in Wakayama, the township where many had immigrated. 

While small motorboats increased the distance traveled for their catch, Japanese immigrants devised an unprecedented fishing technique. They would send an advance boat to scout for schools of albacore tuna and catch the anchovies and sardines the tuna followed for live bait. 

Then, a fishing vessel with a team of fishermen would release the bait and spear the tuna using short bamboo poles with hooks while standing on the steel walkways near the hulls and toss them on to the deck of the boat. Because of local fishermen’s high yield of tuna, several fish canneries opened on Terminal Island. 

Their success was met with anger and violence. The Los Angeles Herald reported August 4, 1920: “Fishermen battle. Vessel blown up. San Diego, August 4. — The police today expressed the belief that ill feeling among the Japanese an Italian and Austrian fishermen operating off the Southern California coast, has led to a sea battle in which the Japanese fishing
schooner Yomato was blown up or sunk and her entire crew slain. Bits of wreckage from
the Yomato were found today. Recently, four bodies were washed ashore. How many lives were lost is unknown?” 

August 7, 1920 [LAH]: “Hunt Austrians as Jap boat wrecks. Nets on Japanese fishing craft were tucked in lockers today and the smacks themselves idled back and forth in zig-zag courses over the fishing lanes while the expressionless faces of their owners searched the sea for a sight of certain Austrian boats, wanted in connection with the sinking of the Jap boat Itzumato. Government patrol boats are plying overfishing banks in Southern California waters on the same mission, trying to find the craft and its crew believed to be responsible for the ramming of 

the Itzumato and the probable murder of its crew. Working to end the feud prevailing for weeks between Japanese and Austrian fishermen, Fish and Game Warden Paul Anderson, on board the patrol boat Albacore, came on the wrecked Itzumato off Catalina Island last night. Coincident with the report of the finding of the Itzumato, it was reported in San Diego by American fishermen that the crew of a wrecked Japanese boat had been picked up by an Italian fishing craft. Word of the Phrone Rose, an Austrian boat, has not been received for the past 10 days and authorities are now confident that this boat has met the same fate as the other, being sunk with her crew on board. The fishing boat Wanderer of San Pedro, abandoned by her crew because of a broken propeller shaft, is now believed to be a derelict at sea, according to the latest reports. With the finding of the wrecked Itzumato, four boats are now missing in Southern California waters, only one of which has been fully accounted for. Besides the Wanderer and Phrone Rose, a Japanese boat named Yamato disappeared last month and is believed to have been swallowed up by the sea and hew crew murdered in the Jap-Austrian warfare.” 

The Japanese were in the right in these conflicts. The Austrians and Italians were poaching the fishing grounds. No matter the right, being white won the day. No one was ever prosecuted for the murders. The warfare eventually dissipated with the loss of fishing stocks. The incidents were closely watched by the local fisherman. For Los Angeles locals, these reports were sensational news. 

Testimonies of the times:
“My father’s name is Tomekichi Takeuchi. The Japanese came from Shima-gun, Mieken, Japan. He landed in San Francisco in 1902, at twenty-two years old. He worked as a cook in a restaurant for a couple of years. Heard him mention how he threw a pie at a customer and got fired. He moved to Los Angeles, Little Tokyo, and got a job as a private chauffeur driver, off and on. Meantime, he moved to Terminal Island, called his wife from Japan. He and his friend, Mr. Heizaburo Hamaguchi, leased a fishing boat called Amazon from French Cannery. They carried, including them, thirteen crew members. They fished from near the lighthouse, to the north and much later toward Mexico.” Kimiye Okuno Takeuchi Ariga. 

“Fish Harbor on Terminal Island was on the southwestern part of the island and comprised a fishing fleet, canneries, and 5,000 Japanese men, women, and children. The adults were the first generation Issei from Japan, and their children who were born in America are the Nisei like me. The fishermen working out of Fish Harbor visited the local waters of Catalina, Santa Barbara, and San Diego to catch sardines, mackerel, skipjack, and tuna throughout the year. My father was captain of a small fishing boat and had several men working for him. My mother worked in the fish cannery, of which they were part owners. Each cannery had a very loud whistle, which was sounded when a ship came into the harbor with a catch, signaling that it was time to go to work. Most of the ladies knew what cannery was calling for work by its distinctive whistle. I recall hearing the loud whistles from the various canneries being blown one after another. This meant that many ships had come back full of fish. My mother, like all the ladies, always had her work clothes ready, because there was no definite schedule when the ships would come in. Most of the ships did not have a radio or other communications equipment. Upon hearing the whistle, my mother would drop whatever she was doing, change clothes and run to work, along with many others in the neighborhood. Four of the largest canneries were French Sardine, Van Camp, Franco-Italian and Southern California.” Frank Koo Endo. 

By the 1930s, the Japanese community had increased to 2,000, with most of the men employed as fishermen and the women working in the canneries.
In 1935, following the depression, 6,000 people were directly employed in the fishing industry. Its payroll was the largest in San Pedro, approximately three-quarters of a million dollars per month. 

The industry was at its peak during World War II. During the fifties, sardines, and mackerel gradually diminished, causing the decline of the industry in San Pedro.
There is no better example of the determination, work ethic and skill of the Japanese fisherman. They were directly responsible for creating the fishing industry that employed 6,000 American workers despite the sickness that was Jim Crow. 

At its height in 1942, the Nikkei population had grown to 3,000, just prior to its abrupt demise following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. 

Internment 

“On December 7, 1942, I was in the twelfth grade. My father was still working the rice business in Japan, and soon I was going to graduate with the class of summer 1942. I heard on the radio that morning that Pearl Harbor had been attacked by the Japanese. I really didn’t know where Pearl Harbor was but was shocked by the news. I wondered if this would have any effect on me. Early that afternoon, I went to see a movie in San Pedro. I boarded the ferryboat that I took daily to school. Upon docking in San Pedro, I was taken into custody, along with other Japanese Americans, by armed soldiers. We were put into a temporary barbed wire enclosure. I told them I was an American citizen, but they stated they had orders to stop all Japanese. After being detained a couple of hours, we were told to return to the island.” Frank Koo Endo. 

On February 19, 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, ultimately sending 120,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps. Within two days, Terminal Island residents were told they had 48 hours to prepare for relocation. Former Terminal Islanders recall with great sadness giving up almost everything they owned, including business their families had built up for generations. 

Interning Japanese Americans was done out of fear and ignorance. It was illegal. The Japanese sailors had made their mark on the American mariner. 

 

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