Dan Krajewski, Skipper and Owner of the F/V Katharine-S (a Salmon Purse-Seiner in Alaska) is a man I grew very fond of, in the few months that I worked on his boat. I had hired on as Deckhand-cum-Cook. Commercial fishermen work hard and eat well. One of the perks of the job. The only problem – any serious cooking skills I possessed, were in the realm of pure fantasy.
One of the earliest meals that I prepared for my crew of five was a pasta. Now, how difficult could making a simple pasta have been. Multi-tasking on a heaving boat combined with monumental inexperience led to the mother of all pastas. The bolognaise turned out fine but the pasta was to say the least a disaster. Once in, the fork would refuse to come out, it was such a congealed mess. Some advice at this point, attempting to doctor-the-dish moves what was just a disaster into inconceivable and non-retractable situations.
Okay, around supper time, everyone finally sits down for dinner in the small galley, just behind me and my cooking range. Unable to delay things any further, I scrape out the mess, arrange it as creatively as possible on plates and hope that a liberal covering of sauce will do the trick. Unfortunately, after some clinking of cutlery and a very pregnant silence, a roar is followed by string of expletives. Dan flings the plate and leaves.
A half hour later, he appears; seems to have calmed down. “Gandhi” he says. Gandhi is from India isn’t he? I say yes, wondering where he was going with this . Didn’t he go on regular hunger strikes? Yes I say … he sought freedom from British rule, blah blah … Dan says Bull! You must have been his f…… cook!
Anyways, a month or so later, Jim comes on board and takes over cooking. I had proved myself as a competent enough Webman and life improved for everyone on board.
Almost at the end of my second seasons with him, on a quiet sea-facing bench and having a conversation, he told me that he had never learnt to swim. It blew my mind, because I had all along thought that I was the only one. He was smiling when he said that its the ones that don’t swim make the best sailors
I have lost touch with Dan and the rest of my fascinating crew … but they live on.
