I remember old Roger "Doc" Howlett i worked with him for years when the Tuna farming industry first started.He was always a gentleman,always willing to tell a yarn and always ready for a beer or a "Cape Baron cocktail " which was Coke and Port .He was a pioneer in a few fishing ventures.RIP Doccy.I worked a couple seasons on the old Boston Bay purse seining Tuna many years ago i remember it got to the end of the season and all i wanted to do was grab my gear and head off for a break and a few beers and to visit a girlfriend in Whyalla .The late Sam Sarin ( also worked with skippers Neddo Letnic and Smytzer on there ) was skipper and he wasn't a real fan of days off during the season ,you unloaded, fueled up ,mended the net and went back to sea no matter how long you had just been out there.If people needed cigarettes or anything else one person was allowed to take everyone's money and go buy them we wouldn't even get off the wharf .Anyway i had my bags and was walking down the wharf however i didn't get more than a couple of hundred yards when the cook off the Boston Bay pulled up in a car with some bloke i didn't know who was a skipper off a prawn boat he had lost one deckie and desperately needed someone to fill the job so he could go out that afternoon ....so i turned around and walked back down the wharf and ended up out in the Gulf for the next two weeks .Money was good though which was handy as i had built up quite a thirst by the time we got back in.Good old days they were ,never see them again
Gary I was thinking a live movie with Josh Rule would be a great boat story. Josh Rule is the grandson of Bill Mitchell! Might be wise to write Joshua's father into it. Gunner Genson.
