I had been working the scallop dredge fishing boats for three years when an old fishing partner suggested we go to work on a longline swordfish boat. He had been on one 14 day trip and they had caught 30,000 pounds of swordfish. The price being paid at the dock was 4 dollars a pond. The vessel was 90 foot long with I believe a 15 ft beam and we could set 14 miles of fishing line.

Things got started off on the wrong foot. We had crew of 3 fisherman and 2 greenhorns and one had overfilled the diesel tanks which of course became noticeable once we hit the seas and diesel began spilling out the vents on to the steel deck.

The decks were called wash decks and had scuppers so water could flow across the deck once the ship took on weight.

We started as usual cleaning and scrubbing, sharpening knives in anticipation and sliding a little excessively from the diesel vent overflow. When we hit turbulent seas the deck became almost unwalkable but mainly in the vicinity between the foredeck and before the stairwell to the wheelhouse.

The first night we set 14 miles of line and the next day was hell. We pulled knots the size of barrels of fishing line tied in knots by enormous sharks. Every time the captain would see a shark he would rant and rave to cut the line or the shark would kill us all. Little tricky the Captain afraid of sharks and owns a swordfish boat. Now I have worked with men who climbed out on outriggers at night with grappling hooks and we would catch 12 or 14 or more ft sharks.

All we ever ate was beans. The captain was a tiny man nicknamed Tricky. Then there was the mate nicknamed hacksaw because he was told to cut 5 links of a chain and he did just that cut all 5 links in 2 pieces. Things were looking much worse each day as we progressed. One of the greenhorns claimed he was in the military and forced to run around in his underwear holding his private parts. Really did not need that information. Those boys had a very difficult time maneurvering as the diesel began to work across the deck. All one could do was aim for where you wanted to go then catch yourself or get hurt or go overboard.

We were catching very few swordfish and few tuna and mainly sharks and working to untie knots the size of 50 gallon barrels and cleaning the boat and had obviously headed in the wrong direction. We took on fuel at Aransas Pass TX and my partner left.

After fueling we went back fishing to less of a trip than we had started.

After another week of no fish I told the Captain I was ready to go back to port. We had stern words and even threats. I woke up and saw three waterspouts off the stern the next day.

Then the weather hit. The greenhorns could hardly make there way across the deck me. I caught myself sliding under the rail on the bridge on my way to see the captain one evening and when I opened the wheelhouse door I saw the captain Tricky thrown against the wall then fall on to the floor. Grab the wheel if you can hold it he yelled. I can't hold her and the autopilot is out. The wheel was around four foot tall and I held that wheel for the next 12 hours until we reached Corpus Cristi Tx. We spent 17 days at sea and caught a few fish but didn't make a dime!