Humboldt Whaling
Interesting story on one of the big players in Humboldt's commercial fishing [and whaling] industry in today's Times- Standard. Frankly, I don't think I'd ever heard of Gib Hunter before, despite having lived up here almost 34 years.
What I was surprising to me was being reminded that whaling took place here all the way up until 1970. For some reason, in the back of my mind, I always was under the impression it ended decades earlier.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 9:34 AM
14 comments
14 Comments:
Fred, are you some sort of unemployed whaler?
If I'm not mistaken, the old Whaler's Inn in Fields Landing was named after the whaling operations that took place in the neighborhood. Too bad it's not still in business. It had good food, good brews and was a great in-between spot for Fortuna and Eureka.
Chris Crawford
We'd still have whaling if those damned "enviros."
Just remember, Chris and Fred, the Whaler's Inn smelled a lot better than the whaling stations did!
The guy that started Gil's By The Bay was into whaling if I recollect proper. So and so Gilbert. He was old but still alive not too long ago , maybe 6-8 years.He talked of pulling whales into Fields Landing...Man we got shitloads of history here...
Its to bad you haven't meet Gib. You should go out of your way to do so. He's one of a kind.and has helped many working families just because he could.
I lived in Fields Landing in 1959 - 1960 and I remember playing where there used to be whales hauled in from the boats; I don't ever remember seeing any though. Maybe I was too young.
As for the Whaler's Inn it was a great place to play pool and meet friends.
Also, I believe if one was really interested, they could find a lot of infortmation about the whaling in the County Library. Especially looking through the old newspapers on microfilm.
8:03 wrote, "Its to bad you haven't meet Gib.".
I think that should be written hadn't met Gib. Didn't that T-S article refer to him dying last month?
Old whalers dont cry they just blubber. R.I.P Gib.
I heard he was a moby dick of a man.
I didn't read the T/S article. If Gibb has passed I am very sad.
Benny Gill bought Herman's Club and changed it to Whaler's Inn sometime in the eighties. He and his wife, Vivian, ran the Field's Landing Market for many years. It's said that the reason Field's Landing stinks so bad at low tide is because of all the whales that have been butchered there.
that's what I remember old timers saying is how pervasive the smell was for miles.
We lived in that town in 1998-1999. It was a great place and we had a ton of fun in the Whaler's Inn!
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