This painting is of a typical salmon troller found throughout Puget Sound and the Inside Passage of Canada and Alaska. The trolling poles are set out and the salmon are caught individually on hook and line.  Boats of this type have fished from the 1910’s to the present day. Originally a USCG Buoy Tender, the 65-foot Tonsina was used by the artist as a salmon tender up and down the Aleutian Peninsula during the summer of 1982. The Tani Rae, a fishing tender worked alongside the artist in Alaska for many years.
The Clipperton is a surplus WWII yard freighter converted into a salmon and crab processor and moves from bay to bay in Alaska and carries a crew of about 30, processing and freezingSpeedwell Originally built as a Gulf Coast shrimper, the Nettie H. came to Alaska where she was converted into a king crab boat. The artist was her Captain in 1984. The 340-foot Northern Jaeger is a factory trawler that catches and processes Alaska Pollock in the Bering Sea – one of seven trawlers owned by American Seafoods and she carries a crew of 120.
The trawler Ocean Rover is the vessel that the artist is currently working on. She catches and processes Alaska pollock onboard producing fillets and surimi (imitation crab). She has a crew of 130. The Tempest a 85-foot crabber was built in Ballard, Washington in 1978 and the artist was her Captain from 1984 to 1988. The Nancy Louise (Fancy Nancy) was the artist’s first command as a Captain in Alaska in 1981. She was employed as a salmon tender.

                   

Click Image to Enlarge