Anthony J. Marolda

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The Gloucester fishing schooners had nests of dories, each of which were manned by one or two hearty fisherman. When the schooner reached the fishing grounds, the dories were launched and the fishermen used baited trawl lines with hundreds of hooks to catch the cod and halibut. The oil painting above shows a doryman on his way back to the mother ship after a hard day of fishing.

Once the ship's holds were filled, sometimes after three months on the Banks, the Captain would head for home. The vessel to arrive first generally received the best price for its fish. So, there was often a race back to port between two vessels who may have left the fishing grounds at about the same time, to see who could get there first. Such an event was illustrated in the excellent 1938 movie, "Captains Courageous", based on the book by Rudyard Kipling. It was filmed in Gloucester during the late thirties using real Gloucester schooners and crews. The stars were Spencer Tracey and Freddie Bartholomew.

The painting to the right was informed by a still from the movie. It is done in soft pastel which gives a more painterly appearance for the subject than another version that I did in oil. Ria has the soft pastel while Matt has the oil painting.