Loading Canned Salmon Cases onto a Freighter

This photo was taken in the late 1960s and shows the salmon being transferred from the tender Tootsie to an Alaska steam freighter. Directly ahead of the Tootsie is a Bumble Bee scow also unloading their pack. This practice has long been abandoned and barges now take the fish to market. In this photo, the sea conditions are relatively calm. This often isn't the case in Bristol Bay, during salmon season. Also, this operation could get a bit dicey when the tide changed and things started swinging around.

Note that the freighter is a converted World War II Liberty Ship.

©Photo by Bob Hawkinson with a Kodak Instamatic

The picture used on this page is COPYRIGHTED.