Michael Collins

At 1:24, I see carving in your future.

Well I cannot allow this reminiscing to be killed on my watch. We were mid to deep water surveying so we had zero fresh/shallow water to be near. Sent in to fish on known shoals not the shallow we seek. This means zero salmon knowledge of any kind, other than my great-grandfather and grandfather landed monsters in Ecum Secum in the 1910-1940s or so. The large ones were getting smaller in the photos as time passed. When we would do the Arctic trip of the survey season, we'd always stop in Nain, Labrador for frozen char. Are these the same species or related, more so than trout? Remember the scientific freezer in the wet lab? Don't get caught in there. I am totally amazed at this reunion of sorts. Not much of Mr. McKay's sleek lines discussed - hope its within boundaries. Sometimes it helps to know who is behind the keyboard that may influence the build. Things that are shown on blueprints may - nay, are sure to have changed over the years. The Hammond would change winces when extreme deep water tows were to happen. These were great as you'd only get one tow or possibly 1/2 - on the way back thought the second when your 6 hour shift was up. The fleeting winches would be changed. And it was worse with the hydrographic vessels. Baffin was changed almost be the cruise depending who would ride along with us on a survey. They had some weird stuff hanging off of the side of the ship. Or a magnetometer 4.5 miles astern and it takes 30-45 minutes to make a turn as you cannot upset it at all. Worst time - caught in a hurricane while surveying the sea mountains off of Yarmouth. About 200 miles offshore and no way to run - heave to as best possible and keep her nose into where ever "into it" felt like.

I was on her from February 1980 until April 1982. So we would have overlapped. I was one of the samplers onboard along with Alan Johnson and Barry Brown. We ate a lot of fish at home during that time. Other than Fred it seemed that most engineers and oilers kept themselves in the engine room. I remember jigging for squid in Chedabucto Bay because we couldn't get any trawling. At the same time the fishermen were dumping squid on the C.B. Causeway by the dump truck full. There were 4 female scientists and we had large tanks on port and starboard. The few squid we jigged were put into the tanks. The photo is of Gary Williams and Regal Lace on that trip sitting in the Bay. We did some Olympic diving off of the gantry. We did two tows on the way home and got tons of squid for the girls.

Kenchington - Chief Engineer's name Fred Bartle? We used to fillet up fish for Max and Neil as they never had time to come down to the sampling room. Fred lived there. But he expected that someone fillet his fish too.

Yankee Clipper - yes the ship was started in 2010. Then again in 2011. Then I stopped until 2023. I may have started a build log on one of the boards. But hopefully this time will finish her.

I was a hydrographer/cartographer during my time with the Canadian Hydrographic Service. Whenever possible we worked 12 hours a day and I'd do 5 or 6 hours, after I was back on board from a 34 foot survey launch. During weather, or ice, we'd either hide, or get blocked in by ice. In both cases that freed up a lot of time for me. And Holy Crow - the Lady Hammond. I sailed on her for nearly 2 years doing Fisheries Research before becoming a Hydrographer. Max Baker was her captain when I first went aboard and Neil Barnes was chief officer. She was a cork. Once I got sea legs on the Lady Hammond, there was no ship that bothered me. Used to jam yourself into the rack as she'd darn near go rail to rail in Bedford Basin. Worst sea vessel I've ever been on for sea manners. Se was originally the Hammond Innes built in England during the Cod Wars. All sides involved figured the fish would long be gone before the courts dealt with it. And they pretty much were. England just cranked those things out hoping to out fish the other nations. We'd do 12 days on 2 days off trips year round. Off of Scatarie Island or Sable Island in February in a cod wars trawler is no fun. But I did build one Bluenose on her.

I've been building wooden ships for 48 years. Usually these are built on ships, before I was retired. I've built several Bluenoses and the Cutty Sark onboard the C.S.S. Baffin. Baffin had a woodworking shop on her and I did a lot of the work using her facilities. However in 1990 the Baffin could no longer be feasibly kept up and she was sold to India where she carried on as a passenger vessel for a while. After her I started the Flying Fish onboard the C.S.S. Matthew. She did not have a workshop and the keel and bulkheads were cut out onshore and a friend had a mill where he made me the pine planks. I started the Flying Fish in 2010 and worked on her for 3 28 day trips (84 days in total). In 2011I worked the same schedule of 3 trips; 28 days each. It was them crated up and left in my rec room until 2023 when I restarted her. I was retired then and worked from June 2023 to July 2024 - 384 days in total. Then it went through another crated period until June of 2024. Hopefully this is the last go at her before she's finished. The first photos show the C.S.S. Baffin that the Cutty Sark and Bluenoses were built on and the second is the C.S.S. Matthew that the Fish was started on. The 3rd and 4th images show those two as they now sit in the rec room. The rest are just a rough assemblage of chronological images of its construction over the years. I want to show her with all the running lines attached, even to the point of being erroneous. The staysails and studding sails will be used in conjunction. Also the sails will only be outlines in white so one can view all the lines in their entirety. As of now the staysails are done, but I am looking for a method to solidify rope for the rest. The bottom arc of the sail is the main area of concern. I've tried many solutions and potions, but none will make the rope rigid enough to handle. The second last try was using 18 gauge wire up from previous attempts with 22 gauge. The 18 gauge hobby is also too flimsy. I'm currently trying epoxy on the rope line and will see if this works. This was started from a set of 1951 Model Slipways plans that I had enlarged. I had researched the Flying Fish for over a year before I started her. There has been a dramatic change in her plans from the 1951 MS versions and also current findings have altered her again from those. So in areas of doubt or uncertainty I filled in the blanks with my own interpretation. The figurehead is a good example. It has been described as a "greenish gold flying fish". That's it. I have seen many images of what it may have looked like, but I went my own way. If it were the Flying Cloud, there's tons of research and items available. But I wanted the less traveled road. In the last decade of so there's been many who have picked up on the Fish also.