A regular worker who came to the island each year was a deaf-mute 
     
     by the name of Burke from Cardigan North who was adept at knitting 
     
     the heads for lobster traps. 
     
    

    
     The years of lobster packing meant great excitement on the island. 
     
     Jane‘s father was given the job of signaling the beginning of the 
     
     season, at 6:00 am on opening day. For this he had a hand operated 
     
     noisemaker that could be heard by all the fishermen. Then there was a 
     
     great rush to the grounds followed by the excitement at the cookhouse 
     
     as the men told their stories about running the lines. The meal with the 
     
     most arguments would be the second meal of the day in the cookhouse, 
     
     but the third for the fishermen because they were provided with a lunch 
     
     for nourishment on the grounds. Four meals and the take-out lunch 
     
     were provided. The last for the day was a lunch at 7:00 PM. 
     
    

    
     The shanties were one-room roughly-built buildings with two 
     
     bunks, over and under, and a couple of benches. All cooking was 
     
     done at the cookhouse which had an upstairs where the female plant 
     
     workers slept. Strict control was maintained by the operators and a 
     
     curfew policy had everyone in bed early to be rested for an early rising. 
     
     Mattresses on the board bunks 
     
     were made of burlap stuffed 
     
     with straw. Jane remembers 
     
     the way the thickness shrunk 
     
     during the season as the straw 
     
     broke down until it was much 
     
     like sleeping on the bare boards 
     
     when July came in. The straw 
     
     was usually supplied from Dan 
     
     MacCormack’s farm. 
     
    

    
     The same fishermen came 
     
     to the island year after year 
     
     and there was a very friendly 
     
     atmosphere, among fishermen, 
     
     operators and plant workers. 
     
     Jane’s brother, Jim, spent a lot 
     
     of time with a Newfoundland 
     
     fisherman by the name of Taylor. 
     
     He showed Jim a great variety lanai/Nelly"-1939 
     
     of knots that a seaman should mum)"lu'w‘mou‘mie 
     
    
   
   
    
     know and when her brother joined the Navy he gained great credit 
     
     89