For several generations, my family has been involved in commercial fishing. I spent many an early morning out on Lake Huron with my brothers, sisters, father, and uncles – until of course my eldest brother John forced me to pick up a half-dead fish, which at the age of 5 was slightly traumatizing. I’ll be honest, I went out for the junk food, and rarely went out again after that day.
Growing up the most complete photo albums were those that contained the numerous fish tugs owned and operated by the LaBlance family at one point or another. I was also treated to numerous stories including: the American ancestors who spent a fortune to outfit a tug in order to be rum runners, only to have prohibition lifted shortly there after; the time my father and his brothers were asked to help in the rescue operations of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and while they were unable to help due to weather, they were able to recover artifacts from the sunken vessel (which were accordingly handed over to the authorities); or the various life saving efforts my family has participated in, whether through the Southampton Water Rescue team, or simply due to the fact that they were in the right place at the right time.
My father is particularly interested in boats – little wonder given that from the time he was a wee one to about the age of 55 he spent almost every day on the boat, weather permitting. It was to my delight then, when I ran across a project put together by Bowling Green State University called the Great Lakes Vessels Online Database. It’s a database that offers information on numerous types of vessels – sailboats through freighters – as well as corresponding pictures. (For anyone interested in checking out the database, look up the La Blance – owned by the LaBlance family from 1947 until 1965.) My dad has spent hours going through this database, loving every minute, but of course finding errors as he goes. He also spends numerous hours on boatnerd.com.
One of my brothers is also keen on boats, and after the family was no longer able to fish, he began a contracting company. Part of that company, Willy’s Contracting, is dredging – which of course requires tugs. He recently had one of his boats, the Priderebuilt from a fishing tug to a steamboat tug. The Pride has recently been featured on boatnerd, which of course has my dad absolutely thrilled. I got an email and a phone call yesterday to be sure to check it out.
The heritage of my family lives on… if not through the people in it, then through their boats!
