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Out
on the point, by the wharf where the ferry slip used to be, lived an
old character named John George. His wife was German, and she had
three children by a former marriage. Her name was Sophie.
Off
shore from San Quentin point there used to be an old sailing ship
that was converted into a sort of hospital and living quarters. It
was used as a quarantine ship for the quarantining passengers from
foreign countries, mostly from the Orient, that may have been exposed
to cholera or plague or small pox, etc. It was operated by the Bureau
of Immigration of the United States. At one time John George and his
wife lived on this ship, taking care of it for the Bureau. In later
years this ship was abandoned and an immigration station was
established on Angel Island.
This
ship was named the Omaha and the first boy child born to John
George's wife, Sophie, was named Omaha. At the time she first
occupied this ship she was married to a man named Langdon. When
Langdon died she married John George.
The
John Georges moved to San Quentin point and he established a fishing
station there, and later added a saloon. He would take his boats and
set out nets in the bay to catch fish for the markets. He would also
use seine nets. The seine nets were operated from shore, forming a
loop in the bay and then drawing it to the shore, capturing whatever
fish there may be within the pocket of the loop. This kind of fishing
is called the Hookelau by the Polynesians.
This
type of fishing took some manpower to draw the nets to the shore. We
kids loved to help with this job, and on Friday after school we would
go to John George and say, “How about Pulla de Net tomorrow,
John?” John would usually say, “You come tomorrow at 6
o'clock. We pulla de Net.” We would show up at 6 A.M. usually a
half a dozen of us and would climb aboard John's largest boat with
the seine net in it. We would row to a good spot where the beach was
right and set the net out. Then we would start pulling. If we had a
good catch of fish, the pulling was hard as we had to pull in all of
that weight. This operation might be repeated a couple of times more.
John
George kept the marketable fish, but we were allowed to keep some
too. There were flounder, perch and some stripped bass. Fish at our
house were always welcome. They helped supplement our food budget and
did not cost anything. Sometimes Sting Rays (we called them
Stingarees) were caught and they were not welcome. They would damage
the net.
Digging
clams was another means of supplementing our food supply. At low
tide we would take a shovel and a bucket and dig clams. Mom would
steam some of them, to be eaten with melted butter, and she would
make the finest clam chowder that could be found anywhere. We always
had plenty of milk.
John
the Greek was always a rough, ugly but very interesting character.
Significantly we called all of the children by the nickname The Greek
also. There was Minnie the Greek, Flora the Greek, Omaha the Greek,
Emile the Greek, and so forth, even though they were not John the
Greek's children. It was not complimentary to be referred to in that manner.
Author:
William J. Duffy, Jr.