Rock Fed from a Barrel

By Maine Lights Today Staff November 9, 2019

The following account was penned by Coastguardsman Calvin Alley and published in the May 1951 issue of the Maine Coast Fisherman…

U.S. Coast Guard Depot, Southwest Harbor:

“Hope I am not too late to get this in the next edition of MCF. Believe me, I have been busy in the boats this month. Have had a lot of running to lighthouses and locating buoys drifting off station.

“Had quite an experience this month trying to land food on Mount Desert Rock. They got out of food, and said they need some real bad. It was so rough that we could not land a boat anywhere on the island.

“We packed all their order in a barrel that had a removable head, then clamped on the cover and tied a line on the barrel and shot a line from the lifeboat to men waiting on shore.

“As soon as they received the line, we threw the barrel overboard. The men on shore hauled the barrel through the breakers. No loss except the eggs were badly scrambled.”