Here’s a little moment that became a little memory. It happened on Thursday, which was a fine day, with plenty of sun, big white clouds in a big blue sky, and earnest westerly wind gusts that whipped Naskeag Harbor’s waters into small whitecaps. The fishing vessels in the Harbor were rocking and tugging on their mooring lines like tethered horses awakened in the night.
As usual, Fishing Vessel TARRFISH – a curious name explained later – had pulled guard duty for the summer residence on Harbor Island. For a while, as she rose and plunged, the sun would catch the vessel’s cab windows and bounce pulsing star bursts off them. She looked like a warship sending a stream of silent signals with a blinker light.
As for that handsome vessel, a TARRFISH is not a sticky black fish that doesn’t spell well. She fishes for lobster in the summer and fall and scallops in the winter and early spring – and, she belongs to Brooklin’s David Tarr. (Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on November 6, 2025.)