Skipper Din Pat Walsh is shown here leaving Merasheen to fish off Cape St. Mary’s on the M.V Glider, owned by W.W.Wareham & Sons Ltd., Harbour Buffett. On the bottom left corner of the photo is a skiff called Sheena manned by John and Ernie Walsh. Skipper Din Pat made many voyages to Golden Bay to engage in the trap fishery from 1930-1960. Din Pat skippered the “M.V. Glider “for four full fishing seasons from 1945 to 1949, April to October. Some of the crew men from Merasheen were: Jim Gardiner, Johnny Barnett, Mickie Connors, Jim Barry, Leo Pomroy, Mickie Corcoran, Jim Connors, Bill Barnett, Din Pat Gardiner, Jack Barry, and Lar Pitcher. Walsh’s cousin, Lar Walsh from Beckford’s Cove just inside Presque, was a crewmember as well. When they returned home after each trip one would often see them sit around together and talk about their voyage in between a laugh and perhaps a song in the spirit of comradeship is the parlor, stage or store loft. According to Ernie, the forty-two ton Glider in just one fishing season brought in 2300 quintals and in another season caught 1800 quintals of codfish. We should remember now that this was not all fun and pleasure. It was hard work and dangerous too. Both Stan Bennett from Isle Valen and Skipper Din Pat Walsh, fishing the Glider on the Grand Banks in 1949, had to ride out a storm for eleven days.  The banker Glider was acquired by Merchant W.J.Bursey in early in 1952. He hired Din Pat Walsh as skipper. They fished out of Bay Bulls carrying eleven crewmen and four dories to fish off St. Mary's, Cape Pine, St. Mary's Banks and adjacent areas. The first voyage for the season was in April and in just three days her crew secured 40,000 pounds of prime cod and flounder. The Bursey fishing operations have two focal points - the premises at Bay Bulls where the fish was landed and filleted, and the plant at Fort Amherst in St. John's Harbour, where it was further processed, packed, frozen and from which it is shipped to the New York market. The first trip of the Glider represented the first fish to be processed at the plants that year and the work on plants meant a great deal to workers, crewmembers, and families in the surrounding areas. In the Fall of 1949 , Skipper Din Pat let his young son Ernie come aboard with him, as he brought crewmen back home to Presque, Isle au Valen and Clattice Harbour.  Ernie recalls, “For about ten minutes coming back to Merasheen, he let me get behind the wheel and steer for the point on the compass. As a six year old, this was indeed a big deal. I don't remember seeing anyone else in the pilot house, but I'm sure father was behind me. Being excited when I landed, there were lots to tell my school buddies come Monday morning.”

Skipper Din Pat Walsh is shown here leaving Merasheen to fish off Cape St. Mary’s on the M.V Glider, owned by W.W.Wareham & Sons Ltd., Harbour Buffett. On the bottom left corner of the photo is a skiff called Sheena manned by John and Ernie Walsh. Skipper Din Pat made many voyages to Golden Bay to engage in the trap fishery from 1930-1960. Din Pat skippered the “M.V. Glider “for four full fishing seasons from 1945 to 1949, April to October. Some of the crew men from Merasheen were: Jim Gardiner, Johnny Barnett, Mickie Connors, Jim Barry, Leo Pomroy, Mickie Corcoran, Jim Connors, Bill Barnett, Din Pat Gardiner, Jack Barry, and Lar Pitcher. Walsh’s cousin, Lar Walsh from Beckford’s Cove just inside Presque, was a crewmember as well. When they returned home after each trip one would often see them sit around together and talk about their voyage in between a laugh and perhaps a song in the spirit of comradeship is the parlor, stage or store loft.

According to Ernie, the forty-two ton Glider in just one fishing season brought in 2300 quintals and in another season caught 1800 quintals of codfish. We should remember now that this was not all fun and pleasure. It was hard work and dangerous too. Both Stan Bennett from Isle Valen and Skipper Din Pat Walsh, fishing the Glider on the Grand Banks in 1949, had to ride out a storm for eleven days. 

The banker Glider was acquired by Merchant W.J.Bursey in early in 1952. He hired Din Pat Walsh as skipper. They fished out of Bay Bulls carrying eleven crewmen and four dories to fish off St. Mary's, Cape Pine, St. Mary's Banks and adjacent areas. The first voyage for the season was in April and in just three days her crew secured 40,000 pounds of prime cod and flounder. The Bursey fishing operations have two focal points - the premises at Bay Bulls where the fish was landed and filleted, and the plant at Fort Amherst in St. John's Harbour, where it was further processed, packed, frozen and from which it is shipped to the New York market. The first trip of the Glider represented the first fish to be processed at the plants that year and the work on plants meant a great deal to workers, crewmembers, and families in the surrounding areas.

In the Fall of 1949 , Skipper Din Pat let his young son Ernie come aboard with him, as he brought crewmen back home to Presque, Isle au Valen and Clattice Harbour.  Ernie recalls, “For about ten minutes coming back to Merasheen, he let me get behind the wheel and steer for the point on the compass. As a six year old, this was indeed a big deal. I don't remember seeing anyone else in the pilot house, but I'm sure father was behind me. Being excited when I landed, there were lots to tell my school buddies come Monday morning.”

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