In past years, fishermen from the east coast of Newfoundland used to sail down to the Labrador coast in sailing vessels called “schooners” to fish. They would load their schooners with salt to salt the fish down so it wouldn’t spoil. Then a motor boat or two was loaded on deck or tied one behind. A crew of men called “share-men,” and perhaps one or two girls to cook for the crew signed on for the summer to try and earn some money. Then as soon as they could, after the ice broke up, they would head north.
One crew used to fish at “Triangle,” not too far north of Battle Harbor. One year the ice wasn’t completely gone when the Carbonear crew got there, so ice was still moving back and forth. Ice can tear up nets quite easily because the strength of the tide and wind is behind them, and most of the ice is deep underwater. The skipper of the crew was anxious to get fishing. So, each morning they would take the cod-trap out and set it with the “leader” (a straight net) hooked onto a rock or tree on the shore. Then the leader would go out into the water, 40 or 50 fathoms (a fathom is 6 feet), to where the cod trap (a net shaped like a box) would catch and hold the fish until it was hauled up. The problem was that the ice would ruin a trap or leader if it moved through, so they pulled the leader and trap up each night, brought them to shore, and put them out the next day.
One day the skipper roused the crew early to get the trap set, and the leader tied to the shore. The wind had picked up during the night, and the waves were getting kind of high. One of the motor boat crew said, “Skipper, there is too much wind to land that leader on the shore. The waves are too high in the land-wash.”
“Go on with you,” and the skipper swore, “Land that leader and set that trap – now!”
So, the boys loaded everything and headed to the “berth” (the place where they could set the leader and trap) because the skipper ordered them to, and he was the boss. But the sea was too high, and the waves were breaking way up on the rocks, so the men returned to the schooner. The skipper was livid.
“Ah, you silly fools!” he bawled at them; “Jesus has made you all afraid!” and he jumped into the motor boat. “Now take me to the berth, and I’ll show you, boys, how men fish!”
The crew returned to the place where they were to set the nets, and the skipper, taking the length of chain that held the leader on the rocks, wrapped it around his arm a few times. Then he stood up in the stem-head of the boat and shouted, “Now put me ashore right on that rock!” pointing out the place he wanted to jump to.
The boat rose high on a wave and came right up to the rock, and the skipper jumped and landed on the rock. But the wave kept right on rising higher and swept him off the rock into the raging water. The boatman reversed the engine as quickly as possible, and the crew pulled on the rope that held the chain wrapped around the skipper’s arm. However, by the time they got the skipper back in the boat, he had been beaten by the waves against the rocks under the water, and his lungs were so filled with water that he was dead.
We need to remember that God knows every thought that we have in our mind. He knows every word we say. To mock God in any way at all is a serious mistake, and it has serious consequences.