86
BARBARA E. WARD
bitter quarrels had occurred, leading first to changes in the order of pairing, then to the de facto breaking away of one brother who left Kau Sai for a different anchorage, and finally in the early 'sixties to formal division de jure. By 1970 two of the brothers were dead, the sons of both of them working as hired men either on shore or on other junks, one brother had gone back to employment on an ocean-going ship, and two, including the shopkeeper, were living ashore. Only two were still fishermen, one a purse-seiner, working a single boat based upon Kau Sai, the other (who had never returned) running a quite separate (and successful) middle-sized long-lining business based upon Sai Kung. It was probably not accidental that the two who remained successfully at sea were those with the largest number of sons.
But this, together with other cases and similar matters connected with the composition, cyclical development, structure and viability of Kau Sai boat families, forms the subject matter of later chapters. Here I am concerned more with fishing crews who, in a sense, "just happen" to be composed mainly of members of the same family. In other words, the significance of crew membership for family structure is discussed later, it is the significance of family membership for crew structure that is the main theme of this chapter.
Boats' Masters
The earlier phrase "father is captain" requires modification. Not only did senior authority on a boat sometimes rest with someone who was not "father", but also the term "captain" smacks too much of naval traditions to be entirely appropriate. Boats' masters in Kau Sai were essentially managers, in charge of fishing operations and matters ancillary to them, the marketing of fish, hiring and firing of employees, maintenance, repair and replacement of boats and gear, negotiation of loans, and so on and so forth. Decisions of all kinds rested with them, and although personality differences accounted for quite wide variations in the style with which they exercised their authority and the degree to which they kept control over every aspect of boat and household organisation in their own hands, there was seldom any doubt about the locus of that authority. Both locally
Page 105
Page 106
86
BARBARA E, WARD
bitter quarrels had occurred, leading first to changes in the order of pairing, then to the de facto breaking away of one brother who left Kau Sai for a different anchorage, and finally in the early 'sixties to formal division de jure. By 1970 two of the brothers were dead, the sons of both of them working as hired men either on shore or on other junks, one brother had gone back to employment on an ocean-going ship, and two, including the shopkeeper, were living ashore. Only two were still fishermen, one a purse-seiner, working a single boat based upon Kau Sai, the other (who had never returned) running a quite separate (and successful) middle-sized long-lining business based upon Sai Kung. It was probably not accidental that the two who remained successfully at sea were those with the largest number of sons.
But this, together with other cases and similar matters connected with the composition, cyclical development, structure and viability of Kau Sai boat families, forms the subject matter of later chapters. Here I am concerned more with fishing crews who, in a sense, "just happen" to be composed mainly of members of the same family. In other words, the significance of crew membership for family structure is discussed later, it is the significance of family membership for crew structure that is the main theme of this chapter.
Boats' Masters
The earlier phrase "father is captain" requires modification. Not only did senior authority on a boat sometimes rest with someone who was not "father", but also the term "captain” smacks too much of naval traditions to be entirely appropriate. Boats' masters in Kau Sai were essentially managers, in charge of fishing operations and matters ancillary to them, the marketing of fish, hiring and firing of employees, maintenance, repair and replacement of boats and gear, negotiation of loans, and so on and so forth. Decisions of all kinds rested with them, and although personality differences accounted for quite wide varia- tions in the style with which they exercised their authority and the degree to which they kept control over every aspect of boat and household organisation in their own hands, there was seldom any doubt about the locus of that authority. Both locally
!
Page 105Page 106
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.