JACK ENNIS:

Jack was born in Merasheen on June 27 1899. As was the case of most young boys, he started fishing at the age of 14 with his father Jack got very little schooling, as each year about October they left their homes in Merasheen to go to the Virgin Cove. This was a necessity as during that time, when there were only wood burning stoves, there simply was not enough time to cut enough wood to last all winter and wood was in abundance in the Virgin Cove, and each year about nine or ten families moved down there for the winter, returning to their homes in late March or April. In the months of April, May and June, Jack did attend school on an irregular basis, but explains that quite often his father had to take him out of school when he came home at midday with the dory loaded and only half the nets hauled. Jack had to return to the fishing grounds with his father while the share man started clearing away the fish already brought in.

In those days, while the methods of catching fish were very similar to those used today, i.e. nets, trawls and jigger, everything was done manually with brute strength. There were no haulers to lighten the load and no navigational aids such as radars, sounders, ship to shore, etc. Transportation would have amazed those of us who are so used to seeing powerful diesel engines and large long liners. Jack told us of the time he left Big Merasheen at l2:30 am to go to the White Sail jigging. Of course there were no motors and as there was no wind that morning, they had to row and skull. They went first to Rogers Point and then the Out Trigger, but fish was very scarce arid they decided to go over to Bennett’s Bank. When they arrived there the punts were just leaving as things were no better over there, so Jack and his share man followed the rest and rowed and skulled in to Charlie's Rock, where they finally struck the fish. They jigged 13 tubs before returning home that evening to clear away in time to get 2-3 hours of sleep before starting all over again. Only those who know how hard it is to row a 24' punt and know the distance covered, would appreciate what strength and determination it took to accomplish this feat. While Jack spent most of his time in Merasheen, he also spent two summers fishing off the Cape with Jim Flynn in 1923, and Pad Houlihan in 1924. At the time of writing this, Jack at the age of 82 was getting ready to return to the island for another year, proof in itself that no rarer breed ever did and perhaps never will again exist.