“Whether working on a home-built Newfoundland longliner or a high-tech trawler, fishermen carry with them the traditions of their ancestors who for thousands of years braved the perils of the high seas. Today’s commercial fishermen are a last link to man’s past as a hunter. To haul in the catch, they face daily hardships of ice, numbing cold, and mortal danger with resilient fortitude. Theirs is a difficult and uncertain life, but not one without rewards, as the fisherman’s fiercely independent adage, ‘The worst day of fishing is better than the best day of work,’ reveals.

“William McCloskey experienced life on the fishdecks, living, working, and sharing the passions, frustrations, hopes, and triumphs of the men and women who ply this rugged trade. Here, he has assembled a collection of fascinating accounts of the seafaring life in the great traditional fishing grounds of the North Atlantic: New England, the Chesapeake Bay, Norway, and Newfoundland/Labrador.

“Throughout, McCloskey brings his encyclopedic knowledge of fishing to bear with first-hand experiences of life on board to create a book that delves into the age-old lore of the sea and offers an intimate portrait of contemporary fishing and fishing communities. There are accounts of a boisterous Saturday night dance far above the Arctic circle in a remote Norwegian fishing village; of a wooden boat hitting a rock, breaking up and sinking off the Gloucester coast; of a fabulous Norwegian cod run fishermen have pursued in the bitter January cold each year since the days of the Vikings.

“McCloskey also examines the challenges that face today’s fishermen: the threats of pollution and over-fishing, the rapid changes technological developments have brought to the industry, and the international political power games in the middle of which fishermen find themselves caught.”

The book is in fine collectible condition, with no torn or bent pages, no scratches, stains or inscriptions, no remainder marks, no price-clipping, no bookplate, no ex-library, no book club edition, no flaws of any sort. It is as new.

The dustjacket is protected in a clear and removable archival cover.

Please see the photos for a fuller description and author profile.