Fairhaven, MA

Interviewee Collection Sort descending Description Interviewer Date of Interview Location of Interview Affiliation
Arne Ole Andersen The Working Waterfront Festival Community Documentation Project

Arne Ole Andersen is a retired boat owner. He was born in 1929 in Denmark and grew up in a fishing and farming village. He began his maritime career at fourteen, working on Baltic traders and later on larger ships, including Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish vessels. He sailed on American ships during the Korean War and settled in New Bedford, where he fished primarily out of the port. Throughout his career, Andersen faced various challenges, including shipwrecks and adverse weather conditions. He engaged in different types of fishing, including ground fishing and swordfishing. 

Millie Rahn Fairhaven, MA Working Waterfront Festival
Antonio "Tony" Macedo Workers on the New Bedford Waterfront

Antonio (Tony) Macedo was born on September 7, 1970, in San Miguel, one of the islands of Azores, Portugal. He immigrated to New Bedford, United States, in 1978 at the age of seven. After living in New Bedford for four years, he moved to Acushnet. Macedo is a marine carpenter by profession and has a rich ethnic background of Portuguese. He learned the shipbuilding trade on the job and eventually bought his own business. He has spent his career building and repairing wooden ships by hand, a craft he learned during his teen years.

Fred Calabretta Fairhaven, MA New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center
Gunnar J. Gundersen Workers on the New Bedford Waterfront

Gunnar Gundersen describes his work as the head of Scandia Propeller Services and Supply, Inc. located in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Scandia works on marine propellers and hydraulics. Gunnar is thirty-seven years old and is a third generation worker in this family-owned business. His great-grandfather immigrated to the United States from Norway and founded the company in 1961.  He has been working at the company since he was sixteen years old. His father recently retired from the day-to-day business operations and Gunnar has stepped in and now heads the company.

Fred Calabretta Fairhaven, MA New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center
Jose Magalhaes Workers on the New Bedford Waterfront

Jose “Joe” Magalhaes describes his work as a paint shop foreman for the Fairhaven Shipyard located in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. He is a Portuguese immigrant who is fifty-seven and has been working at Fairhaven Shipyard since he left high school at sixteen years old. He talks about how he got started “back in the day” and learned his craft from his highly skilled co-workers.

Fred Calabretta Fairhaven, MA New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center
Kevin Hart Workers on the New Bedford Waterfront

Kevin Hart is a former lobsterman who now runs the only water boat delivering water to fishing boats in New Bedford and Fairhaven. He grew up in Westport, where his father was part-owner of a lobster boat; he now lives in Dartmouth. He talks about being the only water boat provider, the decline of the industry and its current status in New Bedford, even with current prosperity of scalloping, as well as voicing future ideas for New Bedford with and without the industry.

Madeleine Hall-Arber Fairhaven, MA New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center
Peter Heleen Workers on the New Bedford Waterfront

Peter Heleen, fifty-six years old, has been involved in the fishing and shipping industry since he was a teenager. A graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, he worked for a variety of companies, including C.E. Beckman Company, a marine supply company, until 2013, when he became the yards purchasing manager for the Fairhaven Shipyard.

Fred Calabretta Fairhaven, MA New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center
Petter & Sharon Ulrichsen Workers on the New Bedford Waterfront

Petter and his wife Sharon own Harbor Hydraulics in Fairhaven, which he started with his brother some years ago. Petter graduated from New Bedford Vocational school, worked fishing with his father-in-law for a while, then at Scandia propellers, and eventually opened his own shop doing both installations and the business end of the paperwork. Sharon does the computer work and their son works in the shop and doing installations on the boats.

Fred Calabretta Fairhaven, MA New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center