NIB 16/0 Lighthouse Penn

[Penn Chronology]

The rod and reel have survived though with the linen.

That rod and reel would be a big money rig in today's world.

[Cuttyhunker]

When I was a teen the rod sat in the backyard shed on the island and I noticed the wrapping was rotting away on the guides so I pulled them off the rod and tied them to the reel with a piece of twine, in hindsight a very good decision, however I neglected to note the color of the original wraps, I think (vaguely) purple and gold, but the Tycoons I've seen in the books are mostly red and white, which is how they now are re-attached.

[Cuttyhunker]

John,
I finally read completely through the letters between Doc his Capt in this Lighthouse thread.  I had always wondered why my father held some of the pro skippers, as opposed to owner operators, in such low esteem when I was a kid.  Throughout the 1960's Cuttyhunk was the site of the First International Swordfish Tournament (F.I.S.T.) that would draw almost 100 contestants and over  the hard drinking week the boats would land 8 to 10 swordfish every year except the last year, in 1970, zero fish, as the spotter planes and stick boats had cleaned the swordfish off the continental shelf, 100 miles, all the way out to Atlantis.  The pro skippers to me were the movie stars of the week, and on the surface that was true, but your posting Doc's letters and my own observations over the years on the docks with these guys in general gives me a little more insight to dad's opinions, and probably a lot of his views were formed as a result of Doc's sad experiences here.
My grandfather (Ketcham) in mentioned in the Cap's first letter as being wrong about something,
So there may have been an inkling on Gramps part that there might be trouble ahead. 
I can see Doc's fishing brain gradually giving way to his business brain as this drags on. 
There is a contingent, not all of the pro skippers, who believe they are entitled to live the high life, on the waterfront, on the owners dime,  Unfortunately, the guy Doc found was from this franchise.  Fish all day, drink all night playing with the big shots.  The presentation that Doc got was no doubt easy peasy money, a free boat to fish on anytime he likes.  The skippers brain does the math daily fees less fuel all the rest easy profit to split, no depreciation, nothing ever breaks, no overhead.  I've listened to owners get this pitch up on the bridge from a hired skipper running in from offshore.  I have seen it work out well, but back in the 30's a short leash was tough to come by when the boat is a thousand miles away.  From the Coast Guard letter, by the time Doc got the boat back to NY the Cap had pretty much let everything go to hell with what looked about zero maintenance while he had been living it up on Doc's dime with the boat down south.
There is a guy mentioned in one of Doc's last letters, Bode, that won largest fish at the (Freeport?) Club banquet after Doc chews the skippers #### out in that letter for not registering his fish with the Club.  I remember dad talking about him.  Jack Bode, and like Doc a well heeled guy, with his own boat, that dad worked as a mate on.  Jack was a hard fisherman that wasn't happy unless the tuna was in the boat in 15 minutes.  No small feat then or today.  Stuff got broken.  The gunwales on Jack's were well grooved in the cockpit from harpooning the tuna, the line was coiled in tubs to pay out after the fish was struck, as mate, dad's job with gloves would be to grab the line between the tub and the gunwale to create friction to turn the fish by pressing the line down on the gunwale, he said he often got smoke.  They were never in the boat fast enough to suit Jack.  Jack worked in NYC, and during the depression pickpockets flourished.  A razor blade to cut the bottom of your back pocket for the wallet to drop out was common.  Jack always kept his wallet on a lanyard around his neck, dad remembers being in a nice restaurant with the guys, the check arriving, and Jack unbuttoning his shirt, popping out the wallet from under his shirt to cover his share.  If I recall dad's stories correctly, Jack dropped dead in the fighting chair trying to shut down a fish.