John Olson started fishing lobsters in Cushing, Maine when he was eight. For most of his life, he lived a stone’s throw from the home where he was born – a house made famous in Andrew Wyeth’s iconic painting Christina’s World. John was Christina’s nephew. For 88 years, John hauled lobsters until his body could no longer handle the task, but his dock continued to thrive. John’s son Sam managed the wharf. Two dockworkers dealt with up to 20 fishermen daily, loading their bait in the morning and offloading their catch at the end of the day. Crates of lobsters weighing 90lbs got hoisted into refrigerated trucks, often long after dark. Some days, there were more than 100 crates. It’s back-breaking work. Being a lobsterman can be lucrative, but not for the dockworkers.
Luke worked at John’s Wharf for more than 16 years. Bill worked there on and off for more than ten. Luke described the work as “a bit of a go; it’s f***ing hard.” They never knew how many boats were going out day to day. It might be only one, but they still had to wait for the boat to return. The end of the day was the hardest part. “You’re hungry; you’re tired; you’re sore. It can be absolute torture staring out at the horizon, often alone, waiting for salvation. You see lights off in the distance, and then the boat goes off in another direction. No salvation.”
Some of the lobstermen have their angling permits. Jared and his sternman caught a 500lb yellowfin on their third day out. It took them two hours to land it. They brought it to the wharf and waited for a guy from Portland named Gut to pick it up. Gut weighed the tuna, severed the head and tail, and cut a chunk of the flesh to test. The tuna was then sent to Japan, and a month later, Jared either received a check or a bill, depending on the quality of the fish.
