CHESTER JACKSON: This was among the pix given me by Vermilionite Dawn Full a few weeks back. The pic is "posed" of course. I doubt that Ray Full (the gent doing the pointing) ever had to give any directions to the man with the hose - Chester Jackson.

Chester was a premier - an ace - Vermilion fisherman. That's not to downplay the abilities of any of the men who worked the tugs out of the Port of Vermilion, O. But Chester was an exceptional fisherman. He knew his business, and made it work for him.

While he was not, by his own admission, what one would consider to be a "teetotaler", he was not what some might consider to be a stero-typical fisherman; or one who lived hard and drank harder.

Mr. Jackson certainly worked hard. But he left the drinking to others. He was interested in making a living - and knew his trade. He was, in fact, known for his very strong work ethic. And in the book "Lake Erie Fishermen" by Timothy Lloyd and Patrick Mullen Jackson says as much: "In fact, I had the reputation that a lot of people wouldn't work under me because they called me "Slavedriver"Jackson. You can put that in the article. I don't mind it. I am a slave driver. I'm still a driver. But I worked right with my men. I always wanted to be top-notch. To be top-notch, you had to give the extra effort, put in the extra hours.

Sometimes I think it's a shame that today's young people and / or folks new to the area never had the priviledge of knowing some of these old fishermen. "Them" days is long, long gone. And those guys were well worth knowing.

http://www.vermilionohio.org/vermviews/vermviews-351.htm

Chet is on the far right.

Chester H Jackson