SaltWire E-Edition

Remembering a vessel

Old boat helped build Bay Roberts Seafood

NICHOLAS MERCER SALTWIRE NETWORK nicholas.mercer@thecentralvoice.ca Nicholas Mercer covers Conception Bay North for Saltwire Network.

Jason Russell couldn't have been more than eight at the time. The Coley's Point native was lying on the bow of the Sandra and Jason as the boat that bore his name and that of his cousin cut through the heart of Bay Roberts harbour, headed for his family's caplin traps on the other side of the cape.

Jason, now 45 and still involved with the family business, would inch his face over the bow watching as the boat plunged into the Atlantic while the cold saltwater sprayed his face.

He was fascinated with watching the white hull of the Sandra and Jason cut through the waves as they rounded the point before pulling up the traps near the area known locally as the Three Sisters, a trio of rock formations along the Bay Roberts Heritage Trail.

“I was eight or 10 years old when I used to go out with them,” said Jason, now the CEO of Bay Roberts Seafoods Ltd.

Beneath a bright May sun recently, work was happening inside the Bay Roberts Seafoods plant on Water Street. They were making ice and preparing for the busy caplin, codfish and squid season.

Just steps from the entrance of the plant sits what remains of the Sandra and Jason. It is the same spot the boat has occupied since 1996.

It is propped up by wood poles and lying partly on the beach, with the bow of the vessel sitting on a small slope.

The white paint Jason would watch slice through the surf is chipped now and there is a large tear in one side of the boat.

There were talks to do it up and fibreglass it over the years, but they didn't go anywhere.

Still, Jason can't help but smile every time he sees the skeleton of the Sandra and Jason.

“I spent my summers on that boat,” he said. “It was quite enjoyable.”

EARLY DAYS

While it doesn't look so now, the boat played an important role during those years and stands as a representation of where Bay Roberts Seafoods has come from after starting in 1978.

The Sandra and Jason was the first boat Dave Russell and his brother, Bill, had built for their operation, which later came to include Atlantic Treasures Seafoods Ltd.

In the early 1980s, the Sandra and

Jason was set to join the fleet that already included the Snowbird and the Crimson Tide.

A wooden vessel, the 33-footer was built at Vokey's Shipbuilding in Whiteway and cost $30,000.

“We wanted something to (harvest) the herring, the mackerel and stuff like that. Caplin mostly,” said Dave.

During the season, the Sandra and Jason carried close to 10,000 pounds of caplin.

When Dave and Bill were coming up with a name for their new vessel, they kept things close to their hearts. Jason is Dave's youngest son, while his cousin, Sandra, is Bill's youngest child.

It seemed only right to name it after them.

That excited Jason to no end. “I thought it was the coolest thing ever, looking at a boat with your name it,” he said. “It was like, ‘Jeez, this is cool.'”

FAMILY MATTERS

The Sandra and Jason didn't only serve the business side of things — it also functioned as a family vessel.

Every Sunday, the boat was used for a quick trip around the bay. Family and friends would get on board and take a quick cruise on the open seas.

As Jason grew older, the boat became an ideal launching point for water skiing as it was moored in the bay.

When Dave constructed a new wharf in Bay Roberts, he used the Sandra and Jason to haul planks that made up the wharf of the old Bay Roberts fish plant up the road.

“It is a lasting heritage,” said Jason. In recent years, Jason has taken steps to help preserve its memory.

He has one of the two nameplates framed and he recently had some professional photographs taken of the old vessel.

Jason picked up everything he knew about the fishery from his father — the ins and outs of manoeuvring a vessel, the importance of fish harvesters and just about the industry in general.

That firsthand passage of knowledge has been passed down from father to son in the fishery for generations. For Jason, it all started with the boat that helped build the family business.

That was the Sandra and Jason. “(The boat) helped build the business for sure,” said Jason.

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2021-05-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-05-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://saltwire.pressreader.com/article/281745567261579

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