Oceanic Skipper Lloyd & Swallow
Skipper Pat-Original Cannon Team
By Karl Armstrong
“Nope, I’m certainly not looking
for a bigger boat!” chuckled Lloyd
Cannon joining his father Pat in
a broad grin as their eyes swept
the trim lines of the boat Oceanic
proudly—the son obviously proud
of his boat and the father justly
proud of his son.
And justly proud can Skipper
owner Lloyd Cannon be of his 82
foot Oceanic with her whopping
22-foot beam and 12%-foot draft.
Sitting moored in the small boat
harbor, the newly painted white
hulled Oceanic’s massive size
alongside surrounding smaller
craft makes one think of a moth
er duck sheltering her ducklings.
While the Oceanic may not be
the largest vessel in the crab fleet,
she certainly is one of the largest
and constitutes just about the ul
timate in every feature as well as
in size insofar as crabbing goes in
Kodiak waters. Built originally as
a herring boat, she is not new to
Kodiak waters, having been used
in that fishery here in past years.
Rigged out now as a King Crao
ber, she can pack 8900 crab.
And the 54-year old father Pat
can justly be proud of his 31-year
old son Lloyd, who broke into the
fishing game 16 years ago when, at
15 years of age, he became a crew
member on his father’s salmon
fishing boat.
After serving his “apprentice
ship” as a crewman with his “high
Jiner” father for several years,
Lloyd, at 19 years, was skippering
his own rig. That he is master and
owner off the Oceanic today attests
to the fact that he learned his trade
well and is a highly successful
fisherman in his own right.
Although Skipper Lloyd graduat
ed from Mt. Baker High School
(near Bellingham, Wash.) he at
tended Kodiak High School for two
years, 1946 and 1947, and loyally
regards himself as a “Local Fisher
man.”
It follows that when Fisherman
Lloyd Cannon entered the service
that he chose to enlist in the U.S.
Navy. He spent seven years in the
navy reserves and was on active
duty for one year. While it should
not be surprising that he was a
“fleet” sailor, it is at least inter
esting to find out that Skipper
Lloyd was a submariner—he was
trained at the Navy’s submarine
school at New London, Connecti
cutt.
Skipper Lloyd started fishing
King Crab in 1950 but still keeps
an alert eye on the salmon runs.
If the salmon season looks like it
is pretty good, he rigs up and goes
after salmon. Generally the Ocean
ic’s skipper hauls his crab pots out
of the water and brings the Ocean
ic into port about March 1st, and
from then until about June 1st,
he works over his boat and gear.
This is generally the slack or “soft
crab” season during which Lloyd
explains, “it doesn’t pay for a big
boat like the Oceanic to try to oper
ate on just a few crab.”
Skipper Lloyd generally oper
ates the Oceanic with the aid of
two crewmen and an engineer.
Cannon’s able engineer is Arnie
Flathaug, a capable Norseman.
During the past winter Skeezix
Panamaroff and Vernon “Andy”
Anderson comprised the rest of the
crew. During the coming summer
season, Panamaroff, who will be
operating his, own salmon boat
will be replaced by Mike Fitzger
ald. Both Panamaroff and Fitz
gerald are well known young local
fishermen with families here. An
derson, 24, who originally hailed
from Iowa, served in the Navy
here and now makes his home in
Kodiak with his wife and one child.
Skipper Lloyd is very much a
family man also. His lovely and
charming wife Patricia and he
have their own home here and so
far have filled it with three lovely
lively youngsters: Carol, Mike and
Sue.
It goes without saying that the
skipper off the Oceanic would pre
dictably be in the forefront of
those fishermen favoring more
and larger facilities, particularly a
grid capable of handling larger
vessels here.
“It would not surprise me if the
fishing fleet here would double in
a very short time,” said Skipper
Lloyd, adding, “and if we had big
ger boat harbor facilities available,
there would be a lot more per
manent fisherman residents living
in Kodiak.” /
And Skipper Lloyd, having a ves
sel capable of engaging in any fish
ery existing in these waters, shows
an interest in them all.
“Sure there is evidence that
these waters contain shrimp in
commercial quantities,” said Skip
per Lloyd who has participated in
reasearch-prospecting shrimp-drag
ging operations here before. “And
if they ever start paying for them,
I’d go after shrimp,” he stated.
There probably isn’t much pos
sibility that Skipper Lloyd, who is
a member of the Advisory Board
of the Alaska Department of Fish
and Game, will be urging any
change in the 30-pot limit for fish
ing King Crab.
“There were some who insisted
that King Crab couldn’t be fished
profitably with 30 pots,” he said,
and quickly added, “but we have
proven that we can. I am satisfied
with the present limit.”
Lloyd’s father, Skipper owner
Pat Cannon of the boat Swallow,
is one Alaskan fisherman who
needs little, if any, introduction to
Kodiak residents, or for that mat
ter, to other fishermen throughout
the state. For Skipper Pat has lived
in Kodiak for many years, has been
engaged in various business enter
prises here, and has been elected
to serve local residents as a city
councilman in years past.
To the men engaged in the fish
ing industry throughout Alaska,
Skipper Cannon is known for his
service as a member of the state’s
4-man Fisherman’s Fund Appeal
Board. Just last month he returned
from a meeting of the Board in
Petersburg where nearly 60 appeal
cases were received for review.
Pat advised that the next board
meeting, tentatively scheduled for
October 27th, will be held here in
Kodiak.
Having engaged in verious suc
cessful business enterprises here
including Ace Cab and liquor store,
as well as a bakery and big game
guiding, Skipper Pat presently
owns half interest with Del Valley
in the power scow Rosemary which
Valley is skippering now. The
Rose Mary hauls freight and lum
ber between Homer and Kodiak
and operates as a salmon tender
during the summer salmon season.
Skipper Cannon’s 38-foot Swal
>' — ""
low, built new for him in 1946,
operates with a crew of 2 or three.
She packs about 2700 king crab
with a deck load.
Although Cannon first came to
Kodiak in 1929 on a fishing boat,
he returned to Puget Sound where
he fished salmon and bottom fish
for nine years before returning in
1939. He and his wife Margaret
have maintained their home here
since.
Skipper Pat, an inveterate and
successful highline salmon fisher
man who hasn’t missed a summer
salmon fishing season since he
started, was one of the very first
to investigate the king crab in Ko
diak waters. Back in the winter of
1947, he and Tiny Cichoski went
out after king crab and proved
that the creatures were here. How
ever, at that time the crabs were
unsaleable here due to the lack of
any processing plant to handle
them and Pat, content with the
salmon fishery, gave the crab
bing venture up until a later profit
able date.
During the summer salmon sea
son Skipper Pat can count on the
help of his youngest son, Terry, 16,
(“be 17 in July”) who has been a
member of the Swallow’s crew ever
since he was 14 years old. Terry
a Junior in Kodiak High School, a
ware of the military obligations
waiting all young men nowdays,
plans on joining the Air Foroe
after he graduates from school.
Active in community affairs,
Skipper Cannon Is a member of the
Elks Club, the Masonic Lodge, and
the Shrine Temple ... in fact he
was the first one initiated into the
Kodiak lodge.
Wm. Damery
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