Rockport's Navy Visit Committee wanted a group of local lobstermen to take crew members of the USS Boone out lobstering and sightseeing, just as they have every year for the disabled Veterans of Foreign Wars.
About 20 magnanimous and patriotic Pigeon Covers and Rockporters - mostly lobstermen - not only made that request reality on Oct. 14 while the 454-foot warship anchored in Sandy Bay as a special guest of the town for its third annual Harvest Festival, they also throttled up the program a few notches.
Twenty-four-year-old Bob Morris III, organizer of the event and also a Pigeon Cove Harbor lobsterman, explained what the sailors would be in for: "Many of them have probably never seen a live American lobster before. How cool would it be for the sailors to go out on our boats and then catch, bring in, cook and, lastly, eat their own lobsters?"
Who did what
And so, for the Navy treat, Pigeon Cove Harbor, home of the famous 1990-1991 "Battle for Pigeon Cove Harbor," went into special-event mode again, just as it did for the battle's victory party, attended by about 1,000 guests.
By 10:30 a.m. fishermen Mike Wayrynen, Dan Clay, Bob Morris Jr., Bob Fisher, Dusty and Chad Ketchopulos, Jay VanDerpool, Jim Fritz, Toby O'Connell, Aron Martin and Mike Tupper had their boats ready and began boarding groups of two to three sailors at the public float and heading to sea. The sailors traveled from Rockport to Pigeon Cove Harbor in light gray vans. "The fishermen donated their boats, fuel, time and their lobsters," said the younger Morris.
Lobstermen Buddy Silva, Jack Ketchopolus, John "Hucka" Knowlton, Bob Morris Jr. and his son and the younger Morris' father-in-law, Steve Nangle, stayed behind and soon set up the make-shift kitchen between the Morrises' and Jim Waddell's fish shacks, as well as the dining room - any open space nearby that could accommodate a table and chairs. This set-up echoed that of the victory jubilee.
"The sailors would have to rough it. This was no fancy restaurant," explained Bob Morris III. He added, "Ketchopulos, Knowlton and Silva donated the cooking equipment, tables and chairs."
As noontime neared under an October sky characterized by brilliant blue and accompanied by a waning westerly, and a climbing temperature, the kitchen staff, under the auspices of "chief cook" Knowlton, began to permeate the air between the fish shacks with appetizing cooking aromas. Knowlton stuck to his specialty, boiling crustaceans, as did Ketchopulos to his - grilling hotdogs and hamburgers. The duo cooked hundreds of their specialties during the victory party in 1991. The rest of the staff assisted them and also set up the serving table and filled plates with food.
The appetizers - two crates' worth of approximately 200 pounds of large Jonah crabs, which the senior Morris trapped - were first cooked and served. Lobsters, hamburgers and hotdogs followed.
"The Pigeon Cove Boatowners Association (PCBA) and Pigeon Cove Fishermen's Co-op contributed a few lobsters and all of the hamburgers, hotdogs and beverages," Morris said.
His mother, Linda, and Diane Nelson, the retired longtime dedicated secretary of the PCBA, baked brownies, cookies and cakes free of charge.
"Diane felt she had to do something. Her father served in the Navy," Morris added.
The first to arrive
The USS Boone's navigator, Lt.j.g. Angie Carilli from Cincinnati, and ordinance control officer, Ensign Laura Von Reyn from Dallas, returned first from their ocean excursion on Dusty and Chad Ketchopulos' boat around 12:30 p.m. The awaiting plates of cooked crab claws quickly got the best of them.
"This is just the most awesome tasting crab I've ever had," said Carilli, who is making a career out of the Navy.
The rest of the approximately 40 sailors trickled back to Pigeon Cove Harbor within the next two hours, bringing along fish stories and buckets of their own trapped lobsters.
"As fast as they came in with the lobsters, Huck and the gang cooked and served them," Morris said.
How cool was it?
"My crew - E6 John Brandon from Belmont, Miss., and E6 Wilbert Russel from Norfolk, Va. - didn't want to come in," said Dan Clay, a Rockport lobsterman. They were the last to arrive, at approximately 2:30 p.m.
"You can watch the lobstering done on TV ('Lobster Wars' on the Discovery Channel), but this was the real thing," said Russel. "It was a real good time."
He and Brandon most enjoyed "the surprise of what each trap coming to the surface brought along, or what King Neptune gave you. It was like Christmastime at sea," Brandon explained.
Incidentally, King Neptune gave them a hard-shelled, 3-pound lobster whose claws exploded with meat when cracked. They also caught about 15 pounds of chicken lobstersand pound-and-a-quarter lobsters.
Toby O'Connell's two sailors, E5 Ned Stacey from Tallahassee, Fla., and E5 Elias Nevarez from Brooklyn, N.Y., also had a blast.
"We did the whole process - drove the boat, hauled, baited, emptied and reset the traps and measured and banded lobsters," Nevarez said.
One of Jay VanDerpool's three guest sailors, Chief Petty Officer Brad Shore from Ashville, N.C., expressed just "how cool" this special treat was to him:
"I've been in the Navy for 20 years, and I've been around the world. This experience helped make Rockport the best port of call I've ever had. I would get out of the Navy if I could become a lobsterman. Thank you all so much."
"The sailors ate close to every crab. We went through about 200 lobsters. One sailor even ate eight boiled lobsters," Morris said.
At the festivity's closing, the sailors honored Morris from their hearts for putting the event together. They soon awarded him an official USS Boone hat.
"It's the least I could have done to show my appreciation for what these sailors do day in and day out," Morris said.
His sentiment was shared by Morris' helpers, who made this day a win-win for everyone.
