RICHARD ERNEST KING (Beachcomber) started commercial set net fishing Cook Inlet in 1975. In 1980 he bought the Snug 15, a yellow cedar-over-red-oak ribbed gillnetter and began drift fishing. In 2010 he moved his boat "Mayflower" to Bristol Bay to try something different, then two years later bought a Prince William Sound seiner, which he continues to fish. He lives with Marcia on their organic citrus farm on the North shore of Kauai during winter months, where he sculpts wood and surfs.
WRITINGS
Inseine
Ever wonder why a seiner has locks of snowy white,
wrinkles way beyond my years because nothing’s ever right?
It's just that there’s a constant list of things to fix or change,
a host of unkempt categories that must be rearranged.
Before the next catastrophe or an act of Murphy's law
that can activate an ulcer or a mental health see-saw.
There are of course those invoices that come from everywhere,
a budget seems impossible with charges that won’t bear
up to any scrutiny from the average business plan,
my credit cards are bulging, completely out of hand.
A different kind of sinking, risking all that we've worked for,
the first-year seiner blues has kept me worried to the core.
Insurance and the fuel bill, with extras lurking round,
crew shares and the menu, gobbling up my pounds.
Harbor fees and taxes from bureaucracy gone wild,
suppliers of the necessaries with accounts due in their files.
Like a juggler in the circus with commitments in the air,
I can do this, I can pull this off, next year I'll be prepared.
Most of many problems usually start inside the boat
so far she isn't sinking so bad that she won’t float.
Better look in on the bilge pumps, and that the batteries are good,
and hope that water leaking in is leaking out just as it should.
Of course the engine is quite serious, always on my mind,
surprises aren’t my favorite when dripping fluids I might find.
Diesel fuel or delo, hydraulic oil on the run
sends me running for my coveralls, cause something must be done.
First I grab a diaper, every mariner’s friend,
and when I finally find the source, the work has just begun.
It might be something easy, a simple oversight,
tighten up a nut or bolt, not worth a sleepless night.
And so I rationalize a plan, to stall to season’s end
put it on my "get to " list, because itself it just might mend.
In the meantime all the systems are going gunny sack,
my health is on the verge of doom from no time in the rack.
Electronics acting funny, rose points blinking out,
technology outdated. I am too, no doubt.
Hopefully the seine will live, and I won’t lose it to the weather,
I am running out of hanging twine to coos it back together.
Maybe this will be the year to put it in the shop,
one day it will be bulletproof, and it will be tip-top.
The skiff’s a different creature that can change the course of things,
when I look at what I paid for it, it's made of golden rings.
But if it isn’t running or its driver isn’t well,
guaranteed I’m grouchy and I'm trying not to yell.
The deck can be confusing with the handling of the gear,
seems there’s always something that’s coming way too near.
It might be just a log or rock, it happens without fail,
look out when it’s the ferry or a humpback whale.
With regard to natural tendency towards diplomacy,
the crew just isn’t satisfied with their share of currency.
So hidden deep inside my brain a sliver of a doubt,
that if one flakes midseason, I will be without.
And so it’s left to contracts that give the deals some teeth,
holding sway over a deckhand, my dignity beneath.
Instead I want a handshake, with luck a family hug,
but the system doesn’t work that way, and paybacks are a drug.
There is of course advantage to looking aged with time,
to figuring out your problems, and putting them to rhyme.
To running through the paradise that is Prince William Sound,
to fishing with your grandson, watching wonders he has found.
He taught me many things this year, and that my cup’s half-full,
the magic of a starfish in a water haul.
To seeing nature's masterpiece, hearing Mariah's wind,
not knowing where you’re going, but loving where you've been
There's the scent of open ocean and the changing of the tide,
knowing that this life is short, an abbreviated ride.
The truth is that a seiner is just looking for lifestyle,
and there’s lots of complications and many, many trials.
But all I really have to do is look at where I’m living,
to understand that I’m receiving much more than I’ve been giving.
___________________
Mayflower
The Best Looking Girl in the Leper Colony
It happened in April, can’t remember the day
That I made the decision to move to the bay
At the library in Sitka, my finger hit send
Not certain of things that might come round the bend
By far the excitement of seasons a-new
Where visions of big sets most likely come true
Can’t be that much different from what I’ve been doing
In spite of the Igigik films I’d been viewing
A thirty-two foot limit, I can fix that
My skillsaw and sawzall, a zip and a zap
Then the mighty Mayflower, an old friend for years
Shorter by two feet, eyes welled up in tears
“What have I done? What was I thinking?
This bow won’t be fixed with caulking and chinking”
With her nose on the ground, a great gaping hole
From the outside I looked at my bunk in the focsle
So I closed her with visqueen and headed for home
And in spite of my family , I felt all alone
“you’ve done it this time” awake in my bed
As a hundred more problems passed through my head
I knew she’d be ugly, a terrible sight
But I sure didn’t count on remorse in the night
A fiberglass nightmare, I might need a pro
Dreams of a hold full of First Nationals’ dough
Now the Mayflower’s a snub nose, there's plenty around
I just never saw them in the Inlet or Sound
They were really quite common when I got to the bay
Some half as wide as they’re long you could say
There were dented in gunnels, hanging old worn out tires
And windows of plywood held by grey tape and wires
Pitted aluminum never been treated
And fiberglass patches from a boat war defeated
So when a one eyed tenderman missing teeth from his grin
Took the line from the deckhand, blew some smoke to the wind
Says “ I never seen you before, your boats looking good”
I think I felt better, least I thought that I should
That night on the hook, I stared at the ceiling
I put it behind me that terrible feeling
That she wasn’t the vessel that she used to be
That she might not perform when we get out to sea
Instead I look inward at what makes her a jewel
How much she carries, and her consumption of fuel
Her wheelhouse and flush deck set her apart
A hardworking drift boat, that’s got a good heart
---------------------
The Kazinoko Queen
Went down to Sitka Sound, fishing for sac roe,
my boat was full of herring, I was completely out of dough
I went to Silver Bay, looking for a draw
walked into the plant, this is what I saw
some fine looking ladies, working on the line
the leader walked up to me, she was oh so fine
she smiled at me, really looking mean
“come on over big boy, I’m the Kazinoko queen”
the herring squeezers, the second shifts got some real beauties, they got some pleezers
bundled up in rubber and they’re looking mighty fine out by the freezer
so I put on my poker face, pulled my fish ticket out
she wanted to check my herring, of that there was no doubt
she grabbed a sample bucket, checked the imatures and males
stripped out all the eggs, and stuck them on the scale
puts one hand on her hips, tugs on her hair net
points to my herring, “that’s the finest I’ve seen yet”
I’m taking down your numbers, and pass them to the boss
Then I’ll taste your load with some teriaki sauce
the herring squeezers, the second shifts got some real beauties, they got some pleezers
bundled up in rubber and they’re looking mighty fine out by the freezer
Oh the queen, the Kazinoko queen, I love the queen, the Kazinoko queen
She’s got the curls and her teeth are like pearl, she’s the queen of the cannery girls
Bundled up in rubber, looking so mean, I got to get some loving from the Kazinoko Queen
The boss came from the office, put his hands behind his back
Lit up a Camel, “got some news about your pack”
He looks at the queen, “I hate to ruin your fun”
But all this hoser’s getting is a hundred bucks a ton
I looked at the boss” there just ain’t no chance
When I showed the queen, she began to dance
She began to wiggle, she began to shout
When it comes to herring, she knows what it’s about
Instrumental
The boss just shook his head “don’t matter what you say,
If you don’t like the price, you can head on down the bay”
I began a cussing, screaming at the boss
The squeezer took my hand “it will be their loss
I’ll take all your load, if you’ll give it to me
And I will make you happy for all history”
So we left that cannery, we left that awful scene
And now I’m eating fish eggs with my Kazinoko Queen
---------------------
AK Attack
Across the great Alaska Range
Going west for many days
I came across a fishing hole
By the name of Bristol Bay
A place that’s full of leftovers
And a rather muddy spot
There were times I liked to be there
And times I’d rather not
Fish are hitting, tides a roaring,
wind that always blows
But it was the names with all the consonants
That was hard to get to know
Killing fish was easy,
oh I got in all my licks
But figuring out just where I was
With all those AK’s and IK’s
I started in the Nushagak
With its channels five
Right next door Igushik
Where sockeyes would arrive
Meanwhile they call emergency
As hoards of reds come back
No transfer time required
To set your gear in the Kvijak
If you’re lucky there might be some rest
Some time tucked in the rack
But wait they’re really slammin’ in
Over in Naknek
And if that’s not enough to get
The fish are really thick
Just around the corner
South line of Egigik
Drop your card, do a transfer
Sit two days to do the trick
Run like hell southeastward
And I’m lost in Ugashik
My head is spinning with all these names,
I hardly can keep track
Uh oh, it seems the nets are full
Up in Togiak
At last the season’s over
And now I’m looking back
Rested and recovered from
The IK and AK attack
I really did enjoy myself
In the biggest AK of all, cuz
The A, K means Alaska
Winter, summer, spring and fall
Nushagak, Kvijak, Naknek, Togiak, Sitkanak, Kodiak, Chiginigak, Alitak