| Summary: | HARDY FISHERS BRING IN RICHES. HARDY FISHERS BRING IN RICHES Forty-six million pounds of halibut are taken from Pacific Coast waters every year by a band of hardy men. Seattle, with her fleet of more than 200 halibut vessels, plays a large part in this trade, and the men who set out on the Pacific from this port are important builders of the city's sea commerce. The fishing season has been in progress since March 15, and waterfront visitors may see these little boats bringing in their catches to the Seattle Fish Exchange at Pier 8 and moving to nearby wharves to unload their cargoes. Tiny Boats Brave Seas The halibut vessels are among the smallest craft afloat, and an iron nerve and unusual skill are required of the brawny men. Often the tiny sixty or seventy-foot craft are caught in storms, but the little fleet always comes to port. Courage has been the byword of these fishermen and, appropriately, one of the oldest halibut men on the Coast in point of service bears that name. He is John Courage, owner and skipper of the Omaney, and resides at 8609 55th Ave. S. As he brought his vessel in from the Kodiak Island fishing banks this week-end, the 57-year-old skipper laughed at the dangers of the sea as all fishermen do, as he said: "My little seventy-four-foot boat looks small out there when a squall comes up, but she always comes through. Say, a halibut boat can drown an ocean liner. When there's a rough sea, give me the the little Omaney." The Pacific halibut banks extend from Northern California to Alaska. The fish are found from alongshore to 100 miles at sea. Born of a fishing family, John Courage started fishing as a boy of 19 years, working along the Newfoundland and Labrador coasts. His son, John, Jr., 27 years old, is engineer of his Diesel-powered boat.
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