Montery Fishing Boats

Monterey Fishing Boats at the San Francisco Maritime Museum
Model of a Monterey fishing boat with a scale Hicks engine by Rew Melendy. On display at the San Francisco Maritime Museum.
Monterey WETTON. Build in 1923 less than a block away (from SFMM) in the shop of one of Fisherman's Wharf's finest boatbuilders, Dominic Labruzzi, the WETTON spent its working life trawling for shrimp in the more northern reaches of San Francisco and San Pablo Bays. After being dragged in the water for about an hour, the large sack-like trawling net was hauled up and onto the starboard side of the boat, while the catch was kept in wicker baskets on the port side deck. Two generations of Wettons, Bud and Ed, made a living fishing this shapely vessel, selling their catch to Chinese shrimp exporters and fresh fish markets, and eventually at their own seafood restaurant in San Rafael. The Wetton's original, single-cylinder, make-and-break gasoline engine still runs, chanting its characteristic "puck-eh-chah puck-eh-chah" sound when under way. In order to avoid recognition by California Fish and Game officers, the Wettons decided never to name their boat, and referred to it simply as "the boat". To memorialize Bud and Ed, the Park christened her the WETTON after the 1992 restoration. From storyboard at the San Francisco Maritime Museum.


Power Gillnetter "BUD". Bud is the final evolution of the earlier sailing gillnetters used in the salmon fisheries of the Sacramento River. Built in 1926, by Frank DiStefano in Pittsburg, California, the BUD spent its working life fishing for salmon using gillnets on the Sacramento River. The gillnets, much like oversized, very long tennis nets, would be set between two boats and drift for many miles along the river. The salmon supplied both local fresh markets and many canneries alongshore. By the 1930's, depletion of the salmon catch and increased water diversion from the Sacramento River led the gillnetter fleets to pursue their catch in less protected southern waters. The small squarish cabin on the BUD is likely a late addition, added for protection against the winds and rough seas of the San Pablo Bay. Eventually, commercial salmon gillnetting was outlawed, relegating boats like the BUD to sport fishing and recreational boating. The original Hicks gasoline engine still powers the BUD today. From storyboard at the San Francisco Maritime Museum.