Dutch Treat by Konrad S. Uri - Fall 2015

Originally published in the NORTH PACIFIC FOCUS Fall 2015

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As I look back upon my fishing career, many fond memories come to mind (especially as I get older and sentimental).  They might not have always been easy times fishing in the Bering Sea in the days before internet and satellite phones, let alone GPS, but the one thing the isolation of fishing in such remote locations brought to us was a team spirit to work together and get things done.  We had a loran, radar, vhf, and a single sideband radio. 

The vessel was our family vessel, RAINIER (110’ Martinolich Crabber) and the year was 1976.  We had just completed the Tanner Crab fishery and returned to Dutch Harbor before changing over to fish King Crab. 

My Uncle Sverre Dagfin Aure, who had come from Norway in 1921 (via the Midwest, arriving Seattle 1930), was a partner in our family West Coast Combination Dragger/Longliner KRISTINE, and more than anything he was the ‘glue’ that held our family together after the untimely death of my Mother (Emma Karoline Aure) when I was 12 and my Father (Konrad Karl Uri) when I was 18 (1953). 

Everyone in Ballard referred to Sverre as “Uncle” and unfortunately, his health was failing.  I received the call from home that Uncle was sick and I was needed in Seattle.   My wife Helen had been aboard the vessel for a trip with our youngest son Karl (6 months old) and the two older brothers were aboard the boat with me for a summer of fishing in the Bering Sea.

It was a two day journey by air to Seattle in those days, with an overnight in Anchorage.  Flights were not as readily available as they are today and they were quite expensive.  Combine the expense, difficulty, and wanting to spare the kids the pain of the death of a beloved Uncle, it seemed quite natural to leave the boys behind to watch the boat until I could return and head out for King Crab.

Kris was 9, KC was 14 and we were tied up four boats out at the UNISEA (converted Liberty Ship – fish processor) in the inner harbor of Dutch Harbor.  I took Kris up with me to meet with Dick Pace in the stern office (location, not demeanor) of the UNISEA and explained the situation. 

Would it be okay for the boys to eat in the UNISEA galley with the processing crew while went home to be with Uncle and figure out what we are going to do for him in his last days? 

Dick replied, ‘of course, Konrad – glad to help’ and then added half jokingly, ‘just have Kris work a few hours on the shrimp line each day to cover the cost of the meals.’

And that was that; I flew home with Helen and Karl and the rest of the crew.  I left instructions with the two kids to keep the day tank full and generator running and be on 4 megs each afternoon at 4 to keep radio schedule with Mom at home – KXY Seattle.  It was a different time and phones were scarce. 

When I came back up a couple of weeks later, I was pleased to hear from Carl Perovich (F/V VIKING – tied up just inside us at the UNISEA) that Kris had been working away each day on the shrimp line, good to his word.  He knew this first hand as one day when the boy came crawling across from the Unisea across three boats out to the RAINIER, he had tried to stop in to say hello to Carl before heading to the wheelhouse to call home on the single sideband radio.

Carl said, ‘the smell hit me before I saw him – shrimp peelings from head to toe and I told him to take a shower before he even thinks of stepping into the galley’ (Carl was known for keeping his vessel impeccably clean).

The boys had many stories to tell of movies in the UNISEA galley, riding dirt bikes, fishing for salmon and shrimp in Captains Bay, etc., etc.   Unfortunately Uncle Sverre’s health declined and he passed on August 13, 1976.  Ultimately I did bring the boys home for the funeral, but they had the happy memories of a working summer (May – August) aboard the RAINIER and the respect of the UNISEA crew. 

Dutch Harbor in the 1970’s was a special place – we were in this together (processors and fishermen) and worked as if our lives depended on it.  Which they did – this was serious business.  When we look back upon the experience of fishing together as a family and in a fleet that treated each other like family, I have nothing but the fondest memories, no matter how hard we were actually working.

Safest Catch meets Deadliest Catch.

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