AS THE WATER LEVEL INSIDE the dry dock slowly dropped, it became clear that the ship was not alone. Something else had entered the dock while it had been flooded.
When the draining was complete, it was revealed that a large school of herring had come in with the water and refused to leave. There were so many fish trapped inside, the bottom of the dry dock shimmered silver. No one officially measured, but the scuttlebutt was that there had to be 50 tons of fish in there! How were they ever gonna get all those fish out? There was work to be done!
The yard workers dealt with the fish the only way they knew how. They got out their forks. Every man took what he could carry, filling baskets and buckets and bags. Anything that could be used as a container was filled to the brim. The fish were hauled to homes and ship galleys alike, destined for stoves and stockpots. The Salvation Army took them back to their charity kitchen by the sackful. Still, thousands of left over fish were churned through the pumps at the end of the day and became easy fodder for scavengers.
Everyone in Bremerton ate well that night, from families to homeless folks, right on down to the seagulls.
The drydock had occasional issues with fish over the years. None were as grand as the Great Fish Haul of 1939. Perhaps it was because the memory of the great depression was still fresh in their minds, and only a fool would turn down a free dinner. Or, could they sense that politics were already shifting in Europe?
Either way, folks were grateful for the haul that day. But by 1949, folks were sick of the fish.
The Navy decided they’d had enough of the hassle, too, after another dry dock shutdown where the herring were stacked 12 inches deep. Mechanical, underwater “Fish-Scarers” were installed in an attempt to keep the fish away from the docks. The effectiveness of these devices must be called into question, though, as the local newspaper also printed a series of recipes for boning, broiling and cooking large amounts of fish. Fish pudding, anyone?
Technology continued to improve and dry dock fish frenzies became rare. The last known incident was in 1952, when a school of herring decided to risk it despite all of the technology meant to scare them away. The fish schooled into the dry dock as a ship was sailing out. This issue delayed work on what would become the first Guided Missile warship, the USS Canberra.
The fish were called unpatriotic and were even accused of sabotage. Thanks to the installation of modern acoustic fish deterrent equipment around the turn of the century, yard workers are no longer asked to eat more than their fair share of seafood. // DEENA TAYLOR
HISTORICAL REFERENCE: “Yard Drydock Furnishes Big Fish Story” Daily News Searchlight [Bremerton], February 24th 1939, p.1… CHECK OUT DEENA’s Bremerton History Podcast Bremelore. Find it wherever you podcast. And at bremelore.wtf
