Imagine leaving home at the age of 16 to earn your living on the tempestuous North Atlantic. Aboard a 60-foot schooner with a six-man crew, you will sail for 12 days to reach the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. On those distant fishing grounds, you must brave the sea alone in a 15-foot dory to search for the prize . . . cod! No engine, no electricity, no cell phone, no GPS. To survive, you must rely solely on your shipmates and yourself. Many fishermen from your town never return home. Will you, like your grandfather, drown in a storm? Get lost in the fog? Be run down by a steamship? Be swept overboard?

This is no imaginary life. This was the reality of many men and boys from New England seaports in the 1800s.

Molly Waldo! was inspired by the story-telling art of J.O.J. Frost, who went to the Grand Banks in 1868, at the age of 16. When he was 70, he painted his memories on odd pieces of wood. The Frost paintings featured in this book are in The Marblehead Museum and Historical Society (along with logs, letters, and newspaper clippings that preserve the accounts of Marblehead fishermen). The adventures of those seamen are adapted in this tale of a young man's first voyage to the Banks.

"Molly Waldo" was the joyful shout exchanged when vessels from Marblehead met on the fishing grounds. Townsmen rejoiced to see familiar faces, swap yarns, and share messages from home. Now readers can join the courageous, self-reliant men who were the bedrock of one New England town.

Molly Waldo! Table of Contents

Foreword by Pam Peterson, Director of the Marblehead Museum and Historical Society

Map of the Grand Banks and North Atlantic

Who's Who in Molly Waldo!

Chapter 1: Signing On (August 1868)

Chapter 2: The Gilt Rooster

Chapter 3: Readying the Fides

Chapter 4: Off for the Banks

Chapter 5: Ganging the Hooks

Chapter 6: Handlining with Old Orne

Chapter 7: Becoming a Blooded Banker

Chapter 8: September Gale

Chapter 9: The Day Nothing Would Bite

Chapter 10: Blizzard on the Banks

Chapter 11: For Home with a Full Fare

Glossary

Recipe for "Joe Froggers"

Bibliography

List of Paintings by J.O.J. Frost

Acknowledgments

About the Authors