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| Swede's Dock | ||
| A | O | U |
| Uncle Gunnar | ||
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| Swede's Dock | ||
| A | O | U |
| Uncle Gunnar | ||
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Intro The Lovgren Albert Adolph Joe Harry Ernst Gunnar Einor Gösta * * * Email Gösta * * * Leave a Comment * * * Swede's Dock * * * |
I kinda think Uncle Gunnar was the most intelligent (except for maybe Aunt Betty) of the Boys. Always felt if he had an American education he woulda gone a long way. He was always quiet and almost moody. He once told me the toughest thing he ever had to do was assist a doctor to do an emergency appendectomy when they were fishing one winter in North Carolina (they all used to follow the mackeral up and back down the beach every winter). It was during the 20's or 30's and there wasn't much in the way of transportation to go to a hospital or anesthetics. When they were finished the doctor told him "You're a hellava nurse, Lovgren and look like you might could use a drink." and that was his pay. Now we know where Kathy's daughter got her medical background. His nickname was "Sukka Dukkin" which I believe stood for Sugar Daddy though I don't believe I ever heard that for sure. No one who was ever at a family wedding or sat in the Shore Hotel any amount of time will ever forget him belting out a very loud "O Sola Mio" (look out Carouso) or "I never hadda nickle". The last time I heard it was when Pat (Einor's daughter) got married and the reception was held in Rumson. Her new inlaws seemed kinda snotty and stuckup so I went to work on Uncle till he let an "O Sola" rip. Didn't loosen the new inlaws up any though, probably were in awe. Back in the 40's he used to have an old green humpbacked car with the back window so mottled you couldn't see through it. It was when safety glass first came out and was just a sheet of plastic (a marvelous invention in it own right) between two sheets of glass that had turned color from exposure to the sun. I would often see him going by our house on River Ave on his way home from the Shore Hotel going about six mph. He never saw me though, his eyes were rigidly on the road ahead. Nobody ever wanted to get caught behind Gunnar. Puts me in mind of the old horse that knew its way home at night. He used to have a boat called the "Onaway", an old double ender. I don't think he owned it. In those days somebody who had a few bucks would buy an old slug and stake a fisherman he thought would produce a profit. The fisherman would take the boat and treat it as his own. The owners would then get a share of anything left over after expenses. I don't think there was ever much left over because I don't ever remember much money being around anywhere. I don't remember if it was a dragger or not, I don't think so. I do remember going down helping to salt the nets after they came in from mackeral fishing. That was before nylon netting came out and the nets were made of cotton and they used to salt the nets after every use to keep them from rotting. 2 or 3 hundred lb bags of salt every morning. Another way of doing it was to pull the nets off onto drying racks which were like two porch railings far enough apart to drape the nets across to dry. Off the boat every morning, on the boats every night. To give you an idea of how much work that was, Pop's string (one of the longest) was 36 50 fathom long shots of net about 2 fathoms deep. Which comes close to 2 miles long, all pulled by hand, then overhauled sometimes twice. I whiting fished one winter with Uncle Gunnar on a small dragger called the Ocean Bird when I was about 21 or 22. I had been working on a clam boat just before that and was used to practically standing on the winch handles to hold the drums in gear because the steel clam dredge was so heavy (tons with clams and rocks). We were hauling back the first tow and naturally I had those frictions tight baby! The doors came up, I give the handles a flip but she don't come out of gear. The next thing you know the doors are tryin to come through the blocks, winch chains and drive sprocket are flyin apart, and the doors, net, bridles and whole shootin match go back overboard, 10 or 20 fathoms down. I figure "Oh boy, now I did it. We lost everything." because there ain't no way to get this gear back without power. Which is when I learned the real meaning of "Swedish Steam". Uncle Gunnar rigged up a block and fall, and we buggy lugged that whole works back on board by hand. Guess I don't have to tell you which buggy did most of the luggin. Took about three hours. The experience stood me in good stead though. About 6 or 7 years later when I had the Carolelle, the winch broke down and I was able to save my whole rig the same way. A 2 ton dredge with 250' of 8" hose full of water no less, 2" towline, 7/8" steel cable - all in one lump. One other thing I learned that winter was how cold your ears could get. We were working the Belmar Slew, three or four miles off Belmar. It was usually blowin pretty fair Nor'west, maybe 25-30 mph. and it was COLD, probably around 20 degrees. I didn't have any earflaps on my hat and haulin back my ears would get so cold they would burn. I was anxious for that point because I knew a few minutes after they started burning, they would stop hurting altogether. Didn't bother Uncle Gunnar though, course he was in the pilot house. Once on Saint Paddy's Day, I took a bottle of Irish whiskey over to Aunt Anna (pronounced AnTanna). We sat the whole night, drank that bottle and a couple more, just talking and laughing, the whole gang of us. Aunt Anna made me sleep on the couch, so I wouldn't drive, and called your mother to let her know I was all right. Your mother never saw the humor in it though. Aunt Anna (who was from Ireland) and your grandmother were best friends and were constantly on the phone together. I can remember many long walks down Bay Avenue to visit (25 cents for a taxi you know), especially when they lived in Maxon's (the corner of Bay & Ocean Road). I particularly remember the hand pump for water in the sink. Uncle Gunnar and Aunt Anna had five children Corrine, Shirley, Cathy (who is exactly one year younger than me), Gunnar and Anne. (to the best of my recollection) on the left.} End of GunnarThe address of this page is: http://www.SwedesDock/family/Gunnar.htm You can email the author at NMFS-BITES-BIG-TIME@SwedesDock.com Let me know what you think in the anonymous form below.
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