Sarah Fortin
Workers on the New Bedford Waterfront
These oral histories were produced in 2017 as part of the Workers on the Waterfront Oral History Project conducted by New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center with funding from an Archie Green Fellowship provided by the Library of Congress.
Millie Rahn
Sarah Fortin describes herself as “a Jane of all trades.” She’s now 29 and has been working at Reidar’s since she was in high school, first starting part time after school to learn specific skills, and then went full time and has been there ever since. She talks about being a woman in a largely male industry, her knowledge of nets and other tasks, what she’s learned on the job from her co-workers, especially Tor Bendiksen, and how gear has and hasn’t changed over time, describes the tools of her trade, the physical demands of the job, learning from physical mistakes, and the state of the fishing industry and its potential impact on her own job and that of companies like Reidar’s.
This oral history was produced in 2017 as part of the Workers on the Waterfront Oral History Project conducted by New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center with funding from an Archie Green Fellowship provided by the Library of Congress.
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