Community Read author gives no quarter

PORT TOWNSEND — She’s wrestled 650 pounds of thrashing swordfish intent on cutting its way through the deck.

She’s stood her (fishing) ground when challenged by other boat captains.

She’s faced high winds and high seas, dealt with disgruntled crew, drugged crew and even dead crew, and never flinched.

You don’t want to cross swords with Linda Greenlaw.

That’s what David Palmquist of Sequim attempted Thursday night at the Port Townsend High School, where several hundred people gathered to hear Greenlaw, author of The Hungry Ocean, speak at the culmination of the Port Townsend Library’s Community Read program.

A commercial swordboat captain, Greenlaw talked with humor and candor about her childhood in Maine, her love of fishing, her dislike of writing and public speaking, and the pitfalls of book touring.

Afterward, she took questions from the audience, including one from Palmquist, a former resident of Gloucester, Mass., the base of the swordboat fishing fleet.

Palmquist asked Greenlaw to tell the audience what people from Massachusetts call people from Maine.

Instead, Greenlaw told them what people from Maine call people from Massachusetts — a derogatory term for an anatomical feature, with an “M” in front of it.

Parents appalled

Greenlaw, who said she fished her way through college, said her parents were appalled when she took her degree offshore, i.e. went swordfishing.

But she wanted high school students, who she talked to earlier that day, to know that education is never wasted, and that she uses it every day.

She also passed along four things she learned on the deck of a boat:

•SEnSThe value of hard work, persistence and determination.

•SEnSThat the single most important word in the English language is opportunity, which knocks but you have to get up and answer it.

•SEnSTo live your life deliberately, as Henry David Thoreau prescribed.

•SEnSThat gender is not an issue unless you make it an issue.

“I don’t want to be known as the first, only or best female sword-boat captain,” she said.

“Being female is not an accomplishment. Being female was sheer luck.”

Greenlaw, who said her resume consists of “I fish. I write books about fishing,” was, as the captain of the Hannah Boden, the last person to be in radio contact with the Andrea Gail, the swordboat that sank as depicted in The Perfect Storm.

The book and movie by that name changed Greenlaw’s life.

Book contract offers led to a year onshore writing The Hungry Storm, which led to agents, television interviews and a 60-city tour.

Literary life

On Thursday, she related stories about her initiation into literary life — the publicist who advised her to be herself, then hired a media trainer after her first interview; the cosmetics saleswoman who asked what makeup she used (“ChapStick”); the misunderstanding she had with her male editor, who she thought was introducing her as “my adorable author.”

When she mentioned it to her publicist, the publicist explained that the editor was saying “my tourable author.”

“Then she told the editor what I said,'” Greenlaw said.

Greenlaw now balances writing — her seventh book is out this spring — with swordfishing trips in the fall as one of four captains featured on Discovery Channel’s “Swords” reality show.

Greenlaw said the scariest thing she ever faced at sea was going below and finding an elderly crew member, Uncle Patty, dead in his bunk. Dealing with storms didn’t compare, she said.

“You’re too busy to be scared,” she said.

Library director Theresa Percy presented Greenlaw with a golden horseshoe, mounted in a frame, a takeoff on the one presented to the most successful swordboat captain every year.

Percy also announced the winner of the Hungry Ocean award for best crab cake as judged by Greenlaw, the Point Hudson Cafe, and the winner of the raffle, a half-day cruise for six aboard the schooner Martha, Steve Wilson.

Now in its fifth year, the 2010 Community Read was sponsored by the Friends of the Port Townsend Library, the Port Townsend Jefferson County Leader and a grant from Humanities Washington.

People from Massachusetts, by the way, call people from Maine “Mainiacs.”

________

Port Townsend/Jefferson County Reporter-Columnist Jennifer Jackson can be reached at 360-379-5688 or jjackson@olypen.com.

More in News

KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
June Ward, 10, examines a wooden paddle she is decorating as her father, Jack Ward of Port Angeles, works on his own paddle during a craft-making session on Friday at the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center in Port Angeles. The paddles are among the thousands of gifts being created for participants in the 2025 Tribal Canoe Journey, hosted this year by the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. The event begins with the landing of dozens of native canoes at the mouth of the Elwha River on July 31 and continues with five days of celebration on the Lower Elwha reservation west of Port Angeles. As many as 10,000 indigenous peoples are expected to take part. The public is invited to help with giftmaking sessions, scheduled daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Heritage Center.
Canoe paddle crafts

June Ward, 10, examines a wooden paddle she is decorating as her… Continue reading

Ralph Henry Keil and Ginny Grimm.
Long lost sailor to be honored at graduation

An honorary diploma will be presented to the family of… Continue reading

Singers to workshop vocal instruments at Fort Worden

One hundred and fifty singers to join together in song

Jefferson County fire danger risk level to move to high

Designation will prohibit fireworks over Fourth of July weekend

Candidate forums to be presented next week

The League of Women Voters of Clallam County and… Continue reading

Port Townsend City Council candidate forum set for next month

The League of Women Voters of Jefferson County will… Continue reading

Jefferson County to host series of community conversations

Jefferson County will conduct a series of Community Conversations… Continue reading

Denise Thornton of Sequim deadheads roses on a flower display at the Sequim Botanical Garden at the Water Reuse Demonstration Park at Carrie Blake Park on Wednesday in Sequim. Thornton, a volunteer gardener, was taking part in a work party to maintain the beauty of the garden. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Rose display

Denise Thornton of Sequim deadheads roses on a flower display at the… Continue reading

Electric rates see big increase

Jefferson proposal approved for 4-year hike

Clallam Transit to receive $4M in grants

Agency to use funds on Strait Shot and other routes

Port Angeles council OKs sidewalk near park

Applicants to receive grant funding for one-third of total cost