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Photo courtesy of Florence Corea Alexander
Mary Corea, 85, shows how the baited trawl line was placed into a barrel to be carried on the trawler. |
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Knitting Nippers
Laurel Guadazno
BANNER CORRESPONDENT
The intriguing headline on the old newspaper article read, “Cape-tip resident knitting nippers for fishermen.” The article, by Neil Nickerson, long-time Provincetown Bureau chief for the Cape Cod Times, was about Mrs. Mary Corea. She was 75 years old at the time the article was written in 1987. Mary Corea was the widow of hand trawler fisherman John Corea, who once owned the fishing vessel Florence and John, named after their two children.
Mrs. Corea learned at an early age how to make something called “nippers.” You're probably wondering what a nipper is unless you grew up in a fisherman's family. Neil Nickerson explains, “These nippers look a lot like a double-tired wheel one sees on the back end of trucks, only there are no spokes or disks. The rope of the trawl fits into the groove as it is being hauled in, and the fisherman's hands are protected.
Again for those of us who didn't grow up in fishing families, a trawler is a fishing vessel designed to operate a trawl. Today a trawl is usually a net that is dragged along the bottom of the ocean to catch fish. In the old days it was a long fishing line with many shorter lines, called gangings, to which the baited hooks were attached. The gangings were tied to the trawl rope, one every six feet. The trawl rope was wound into a barrel as the hooks were baited to keep it from tangling. Then the baited trawl rope in the barrel was taken on the boat. With the boat moving very slowly the fisherman let out the trawl. The trawl lines could have as many as 3,000 hooks and be miles long. Years ago, these trawl lines were hauled in by hand, this hand trawling and the sore hands that resulted are the reason Mrs. Corea began knitting nippers, first for her husband and later for other trawler men. At one time the nippers were hung up for commercial sale at the local store that catered to fishermen. According to the article, Mrs. Corea originally sold her nippers for 25 cents, but that was when a skein of yarn sold for 25 cents, by 1987 the price had risen to $1.29.
Fishing is without a doubt one of the most difficult and dangerous professions. It requires strenuous work and long hours under difficult conditions. Anything that can make a fisherman's work easier is greatly appreciated. As in any endeavor, the support of a good partner is a big help. Mary Corea was an equal partner, the epitome of a hard-working wife and mother. The Cape Cod Times article describes how she took care of her family and helped her husband in his business, “In addition to her mastering the art of knitting the nippers in two hours, she also was a pretty good baiter of trawl hooks, working in the trap shed for her husband, baiting the spare trawl hooks while he was out fishing with the other. She would cross the street to a nearby cold storage plant and get frozen fish to use as bait - then they used frozen mackerel that came in large flat pans, like cooking sheets. Now they use sea clams. She then would return to the shed and bait the hooks, all the while keeping an eye out for her youngsters and leaving only to take care of the house and provide a substantial meal for the family.” Her daughter Florence Corea Alexander tells me she was the only woman in town who had mastered the tricky task of baiting the trawl hooks.
Mrs. Corea lived to be 96 years old. Florence Corea Alexander, Mrs. Corea's daughter, still lives in town in the family home. When I inquired about her mother, she not only answered my questions, she also knit me some nippers for the collection at the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum.
[Laurel Guadazno is curator of education for the Pilgrim Monument & Provincetown Museum.]
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May 12th, 2005