Shamrock Crew Unloading Catch

Shamrock Crew Hoists Catch up to a Waiting Truck

Catching the fish is just the start. You can see the Shamrock crew unloading the fish to take to market. The catch is put in a basket that is attached to a pulley. A man on the top of the dock uses it to pull the covered basket up to the dock. He then puts it in a truck that is parked right beside him. The dock is very narrow and it takes a lot of skill to get the truck in the right place. 

Don't worry the ambulance crew was just having a break. No one fell in the Cape Cod Canal or was injured. 

Very Quiet Day at the Boat Ramp Parking Lot

Very Few Boat Trailers Waiting for Boaters to Return

Over the weekend this parking lot was full with boat trailers. (Click here to see what a busy day looks like.) Boaters used the ramp and then parked their trucks and trailers. Today the place was deserted. There was only one boat trailer waiting for its owner to return. It is still early in the season and it is the middle of the week. It's also a very windy day. The Cape Cod Canal has white caps on it and even the seagulls can't figure out how to dive for fish. 

Terri-Ann Lobster Boat in the Sandwich Marina

Terri-Ann Lobster Boat in the Sandwich Marina

I could see the Terri-Ann lobster boat, because the Miss Julie was pulled up to the dock to unload her catch. There was no sign of activity on the Terri-Ann this morning. It is a very windy day and the Cape Cod Canal was full of white caps. The seagulls were very frustrated because they couldn't even dive for fish. You can see the waves in the sheltered marina.

Miss Julie Crew Hard at Work

Three Crew Members Hard at Work on the Miss Julie Deck

I would never interrupt a lobsterman to ask them what they are doing. It looked to me like the crew was taking lobsters out of the tank that was on deck, cleaning the meat out and putting lobster into buckets. I didn't see any lobster traps on deck. I bet that they are out in the water catching more lobsters.

It was a super windy day today and I could barely stand on a nearby dock to take the picture. The seagulls were unable to hover above. I actually saw a small boat turn sideways in the nearby Cape Cod Canal. It took the boat owner several tries to get her going and into the marina.

Miss Julie Lobster Boat in Port Today

Miss Julie Crew Not Fishing on Memorial Day

The Miss Julie was tied up snugly in her slip at the Sandwich Marina today. One of the guys on the dock told me that she is a 65-foot, all-aluminum lobster boat. Her deck can hold 40 to 50 lobster traps. As the lobsters are caught they are put into holding tanks. The Miss Julie can hold up to 16,000 pounds of lobster in her two fully-insulated holding tanks. The water in these tanks can be manipulated so that there is just enough water to cover the lobsters. Each tank has an aluminum tray in it that can be lowered and raised to make off-loading the lobsters easy.

Even with all of this,  I know being a lobsterman is a hard way of life. I have tried lifting a lobster trap on the dock. I couldn't imagine lifting more than one every so often!