MF 152 Swordfishing Collection

Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History: MF 152 Swordfishing Collection

Number of accessions: 6
Dates when interviews were conducted: 2003
Time period covered: mid-to-late 20th century
Principal interviewers: James Moreira and David Sanger
Finding aides: transcripts
Access restrictions: no restrictions on interviews; video may not be copied
Description: A series of six interviews about swordfishing in Nova Scotia conducted by James Moreira and David Sanger of the University of Maine Anthropology Department in 2003. This collection consists of six audio interviews, one video and 2 cds containing photographs. Themes include experiences growing up in fishing families; techniques used in catching swordfish; processes involved after swordfish is spotted and harpooned; how to spot and track swordfish.

NA3092 Harold Henneberry, interviewed by James Moreira, July 22, 2003, at the home of Harold Henneberry in Sambro, Nova Scotia, Canada. Henneberry talks about his experiences as a swordfisherman; being born in 1914 into a large fishing family; his father starting out sealing in the Falkland Islands; completing school up to the 8th or 9th grade; beginning swordfishing at age 11 years as a lookout upon the spar; fishing off Cape Breton starting in 1925 in 40 foot Cape Island Style boats; fishing for cod, haddock and halibut; chartering his own boat at the age of 23; years fishing off Cape Breton; differences between water color and water temperature and which is the best for swordfishing; losing a vessel in 1956 off the Grand Banks and rowed for seven days before reaching land in Trepassey; differences between striking swordfish with a spear and running a modern type trawl. Text: 58 pp. transcript. Recording: C 2135 / CD 2370 1 hour 20 minutes.

NA3097 Wallace d’Entremont, interviewed by James Moreira and David Sanger, July 17, 2003, at the home of d’Entremont in Lower West Pubnico, Nova Scotia, Canada. d’Entremont talks about his experiences as a swordfisherman; not being raised in a fishing family; completing school through 8th grade; working for a logging company that shipped wood to Germany after leaving school prior to WWII; working for a short time as a carpenter in the Navy shipyard in Halifax until taking up fishing in 1945; sighting whales and porpoises could be a sign swordfish were also in the area; the differences between a swordfish and a shark is observed in the tail; temperature and water conditions best for swordfishing. Text: 38 pp. transcript. Recording: C 2613 1 hour 30 minutes.

NA3477 Blair d’Entremont, interviewed by James Moreira and David Sanger, July 16, 2003, at the home of Blair d’Entremont in Lower West Pubnico, Nova Scotia, Canada. d’Entremont talks about his experiences growing up in Lower West Pubnico in a fishing family; father who was also a lobster fisherman and sword fisherman; lobstering and swordfishing in the summer months; education level for most the youth in Lower West Pubnico – up to eighth grade; no formal training in the fishing industry when the young boys first went out to sea; bought his lobster fishing license at 16 years of age; as a young boy first responsible for hauling swordfish into the dory and also lookout on the mast; hunting for swordfish off Camberton and Louisburg Harbor; the association between clear water and dark water with water temperatures; later primarily skippering his own vessels swordfishing; season started in mid July through August; developed a keen sense of tracking the swordfish without the use of navigation equipment and later on using old LORAN style navigation. Text: 40 pp. transcript. Recording: C 2513 / CD 1156 1 hour 15 minutes.

NA3478 Franklyn d’Entremont, interviewed by Jamie Moreira, Friday, November 28, 2003, at the home of Mr. d’Entremont in Lower, Lower West Pubnico, Nova Scotia, Canada. d’Entremont talks about his experiences growing up in Lower West Pubnico in a fishing family; father was a lobster and sword fisherman; began helping his father hauling lobster traps at 13 years; swordfishing off Georges Bank by 15 years of age; striking swordfish at 19 years of age; played at throwing harpoons as a kid at scattered objects on the ground; was never seasick; learned harpooning from his father; the system of calling horns from the masthead after a swordfish was spotted; the differences in water color and water temperatures. Text: 31 pp. transcript. Recording: C 2660 / CD 1157 1 hour 10 minutes / V 0309 (VHS) (RESTRICTED may not be copied).

NA3479 Daniel d’Entremont, interviewed by James Moreira and David Sanger, Wednesday, July 16, 2003, at the home of Mr. Daniel d’Entremont, Lower West Pubnico, Nova Scotia, Canada. d’Entremont talks about his experiences as a swordfishermen; was not raised in a fishing family; completed school through 7th grade and then went to work in a fish plant; supplemented swordfishing with scallop dragging and lobstering, and the mink business for 16 years; first went to sea without any formal training; first job on a swordfishing boat was a lookout on the spar (top of the mast); ironing swordfish in the dory; steering the boat using horn signals from the lookout on the mast; swordfishing on an eighty-foot schooner; the association with water color and water temperatures; tracking swordfish that come to the surface (fin); swordfishing off the coast of Cape Breton. Text: 44 pp. transcript. Recordings: C 2661 / CD 1158 1 hour 30 minutes.

NA3480 Jean-Levi d’Entremont, interviewed by James Moreira and David Sanger, July 18, 2003, at the home of Jean-Levi d’Entremont in Lower West Pubnico, Nova Scotia, Canada. d’Entremont talks about his experiences growing up in Lower West Pubnico in a fishing family; father was a lobster fisherman; completed his education through 9th grade; started lobster fishing at the age of 16 years; began swordfishing at the age of 22 years; spotting swordfish by fins or ripples in the water from the mast of the vessel; hauling swordfish into the dory; the difference between a swordfish fin and a shark fin; the processes involved after the swordfish is spotted and harpooned; the largest swordfish harpooned was five-hundred pounds; preferred lobstering to any other type of fishing; took up herring fishing for twenty-five years after swordfishing; swordfishing with harpoon versus fishing with trawls. Text: 35 pp. transcript. Recordings: C 2514 / CD 1159 1 hour 20 minutes.