In this interview, Laurence talks about being born and raised in Manset. His grandfather has a store there, though his grandmother was the one who really ran it. She also worked at the Post Office in Manset. She talks about the "Prussian Women," and Capt. Samuel Hadlock's relationship with her. He would sail into the Northern waters and bring back mementos for her; he once brought back Eskimos with sleds and dogs. Capt. Hadlock died on one such voyage and was found frozen onboard his ship. Laurence's father was a fisherman, and Laurence stayed in that line of work, even as he wont off to MIT for school. He met his wife at a dance that he was playing saxophone for. After a long time working as an engineer in Connecticut, he moved back to Southwest Harbor to be a fisherman again. He tells many stories of his time fishing; great catches, salting and drying the fish on the beach, and selling to processors. He would run fishing parties on the weekends for people, and had people booking their spots a year in advance. He preferred going out in the dense fog, as others would not venture out and he got all the good spots to himself. Laurence laments the overfishing and destructive techniques (gill netting and bottom trawling) that caused the collapse of the cod fishery in New England.
“Interview of Laurence Newman,” Southwest Harbor Public Library, accessed November 24, 2024, https://demo.digitalarchive.us/items/show/12871.Item 16719
