Lobster Fishing and Make and Break Engines

Does anyone ever stop and think of the work that was involve in lobster fishing in those small boats with the make and break engines. ?

Almost to a man they hauled the gear aft of the engine, which; having no clutch, had to be stopped at every trap. When the trap was clear of lobster and old bait, then re-bait, the engine had to be started again. This entailed bending from the waist, reaching down in the bilge over the engine box, grasping the flywheel pin and heaving the engine up on compression, causing it to fire.

If the standing room floor was slippery, as most times ws the case, it was easy to lose footing and balance on the engine box cover like a medicine ball.

Osborne being so tall as he was had a neat trick to avoid the above.....he would hook the heel of one boot under the gunnel to give himself reverse leverage against the compression of the five Atlantic.

The popularity of these two stroke engines lay in their simplicity; fear of the complexity of the four stroke, was gradually overcome and old car engines became the order of the day.

My dad and I bought a new loster boat in '55 and powered her with a 50HP Super Four Universal Marine engine made in Oshkosh, Wis., Barney that spring purchased one of the same make, but only half as big horsepower wise; an Atomic Four, which was, because of it's small size, a popular yacht engine. ( There are still many in service )

A fellow in New Harbour, who will remain nameless, bought a 15/25 Acadia four cycle, but, because he was so thirfty, couldn' t stand to hear her idling while he worked his traps, so he shut the engine off at every trap; and she was started with a crank, so his back saw no relief whatever.

When the old two strokes first come into use in the very early years of the twentieth century, they were held in great awe. They had no clutch or reverse gear ; to get reverse one merely pulled the engine up in the opposite direction; trouble was, it was widely believed that running in reverse would cause the engine to become undone; disintegrate.

Harold Burke was progressive.........he hauled forward of the engine, and in that position could kick the flywheel pin to start the 6 1/2 Acadia Jump Spark ( as opposed to Make and Break ) that he bought in the early 1900' s It was his first and only engine. He told me he had replaced the cylinder three times throughout the years. ( because these engines were cooled with 
seawater the cylinders were prone to rusting out)


Don.