You had to read that one twice, didn't you? Don't worry, the spelling is correct. Well my weekly jaunt around New England continued last week as I spent a couple days in Gloucester. That is pronounced "Glosta" for those of you not well versed in the diction of the region. Did you know Gloucester is the oldest settlement in Massachusetts? 1623 to be exact. Gloucester is also the setting for the George Clooney movie The Perfect Storm. And this brings us to today's post.
The hotel I was put up in was more like a psycho ward than a cheap hotel room. There was no phone, the sheets smelled like vomit, and the only light in the room flickered as if hanging in a long, poorly lit hallway. But as my boss said it was only $60 a night so think of all the money we save on the budget. Yeah, thanks. So in addition to being the oldest settlement in Massachusetts, Gloucester is also the birthplace of the American fishing industry. Did you Gorton's was founded in Gloucester?
So here's the interesting part of my trip. The town claims to have lost over 10,000 fishermen since 1623 to the sea. They recently erected a monument along the promenade entitled Man at the Wheel (see above). In front of the sailor in this picture is a cenotaph (great Scrabble word) listing the names of all the men lost at sea including the members of the Andrea Gail, which was made famous in the George Clooney movie. The city plays it off as how the city is cursed and the men of Gloucester are heroes. Don't get me started on this one again. Maybe the townspeople need to rethink their position. Did they ever think that maybe everyone in Gloucester is just a bad seaman. These men are like lemmings, which is probably one of the greatest computer games ever made by the way. Think about it for a second. 10,000 people die in 383 years. That comes out to one every other week doing the exactly the same thing. No offense Gloucester, but I think maybe your citizens should think about taking a sailing course or two.
I mean really, what's worse than some bad seamen going down?
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