My Father was Born in 1893
And Fished the Banks Around Gloucester
By Dorothyann Coyne
July 5, 2023
Dear Cosmos,
You may wonder why an 85-year-old lady in Michigan is such a happy subscriber.
Your recent T. S. Eliot piece inspires me to write.
My dad, Ed Niles, was born in Cambridge, Mass. His father was alcoholic and had left the family. But my father had a marvelous Uncle Jim who took him sailing out of Gloucester on his fishing boat (the “Alice M”) during most of Dad's school-year summers, catching cod on the Grand Banks. His pay was a new suit for the school year ahead.
My father was born in 1893 so he was just a few years younger than T. S. Eliot. I can imagine that Dad must have been very acquainted with the Dry Salvages — not as poetry maybe but surely as that curious rock formation in the ocean.
Dad was sea-sick a lot on his uncle’s boat but loved the experiences and joined the U.S. Navy when war came. He served on a boat accompanying the troop ships. He crossed that big ocean 114 times. I will always remember him filleting the fish he would bring home when I was a kid — no doubt that might have been one of his jobs as his uncle’s crew member as he became really good at it.
Dad left Massachusetts after World War I and moved down to New York where I grew up.
Dad took Mom and us kids to Gloucester when I was a teen myself. I remember sketching the boats pulled up on the shore at Gloucester — some of my favorite watercolor efforts back then. He even told us there was Niles Beach nearby. That may just have been his own little fantasy. And he also mentioned the St. George’s Banks where they also caught the cod— or have I remembered that incorrectly? These are 70-year-old memories.
But some day when I get myself back on the east coast visiting relatives, I hope there comes an opportunity to get back up to Gloucester. Your marvelous publication has infected me with a really strong case of Cape Ann envy!
Wishing you all the very best of success with your splendid magazine.
Dorothyann (Dottie) Coyne
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Dorothyann Coyne: I was born in New York City. I have managed to live my adult life elsewhere. English major, I worked at Harcourt, Brace publishers after college. Loved it. But my exciting husband, a theatre man, carried me away from the Big Apple for a life in many wonderful cities, London, New Orleans, Toledo, Ohio, Ann Arbor. Sixty-one years in his orbit brought me many wisdoms — yoga and meditation are the two skills that I have consistently practiced and happily teach. A knack for drawing and painting, began when I was about ten, nourishes me still. I always enjoy reading and writing.
