Shelly Miranda
Karl Schlemmer was remembered as “a family man, a hard worker, a well-respected fisherman, a motorcycle buff, a sometimes prankster, and a man who could show a gentler side to the more rougher exterior of a fisherman.” Source: Lost Fishermen from the Port of New Bedford
Shelly Miranda is the daughter, sister, wife, and mother of three fishermen. She has also worked at the Harbor Development Commission/Port of New Bedford for the past 21 years. She lost her father, Captain Karl Schlemmer, who tragically passed away on November 21st, 1994, when his fishing vessel, the Wanderer, capsized in heavy seas.
“Something’s not right. I said, Just feel it. And my uncle said, “Well, the EPIRB went off on your father’s boat, so they think it capsized. My mother in law came over to watch my kids, and I went to my mother’s house and told her. And from that day on, it took two weeks to get his body, but my husband went out every day with his friend because he knew, he just knew the spot, and he located my father. If it wasn’t for the State Police dive team, Jill Simmons and her team, I don’t think we would have got my dad. My husband found where my dad was. The State Police went down two weeks later because of the weather, and they brought him up, him and the other person.
But the main thing is, we got closure, whereas some families don’t have that closure when they lose somebody at sea.”
“When I was younger, I think my mother had us on quite a routine. She was a strong woman. When we got home from school you did this, you did that, you can go out for a while. The streetlights came on you got to be home, you know, bath time, watch TV, go to bed. It was a routine. We always kept busy. So, I learned to be strong when my dad was out fishing. I’ve learned from her that this is the life you have. You have to be strong. You raise kids, you work, you come home, make supper, do homework. I think seeing her do it, it was natural that that’s the life it is. You learn to do everything alone.”
“I think I didn’t realize until I was older the toll it took on my mother, you know, raising kids alone, everywhere you go alone, every function alone. You can’t depend on them being home. It was the same thing when I got married. My husband, right out of school, went fishing. So, it was, it was lonely. It’s lonely because it’s weddings and funerals. I think the only time my husband was home was when the babies were born. He always stayed home for that. But other than that, he was always fishing.”
“My mother, she was strong. She still is strong. She’s going on 85 and she’s keeps going. She used to work at a bakery, and then when my dad died, my uncle asked her to work for him, which was the best thing for her because she was home alone and so she went to work for my uncle. She’s been working with him for 30 years now since my dad died, she’s never missed a day. She just retired. Well, semi retired. She’s still working two days, so you can’t keep her down.”
“My oldest son, Gabriel, when he was younger, he used to go fishing with my dad. He was like a second father to my son. My father used to take him out fishing and my son was about 10 or 11. Just day fishing. He always wanted to go with his Grampy. That was his life. I always told my dad, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I want him out there. He’s too young.’ But he used to say to me, ‘It’s only for the day.’ And then I used to say, it’s ironic because I used to say to him, ‘I know it’s only for the day, but you know, you can’t stop Mother Nature when you’re out there. Things happen.’ He said, ‘No.’ he said, ‘I’d give up my life for him.’”
“My sons were still in school, but then when they came out of school, they started fishing with my husband. I think a mother is always nervous with that. After losing my dad, I really didn’t want them fishing because I didn’t want to lose them. And you never know what can happen out there. I know my husband would risk his life for his boys, but like I say, I always have that in the back of my mind, Mother Nature. You don’t fool with Mother Nature. You just never know. But they all wanted to go fishing.”
“After my dad died, I was driving in the car with Kyle, and he said, ‘Grampy is here.’ I said, ‘Grampy is not here.’ He said, ‘Yeah, he’s here. He’s chewing gum back here, Ma.’ I said, ‘Okay…he is?’ He said, ‘Yeah, he’s got gum.’ I said, ‘Okay.’ I’m thinking, ‘Well that was weird’ Because my father always used to give him gum. He’d go to the flea market, take Kyle, and Grampy always bought candy for all the kids, like they needed that, and he had gum all the time.”
“My dad was a clown. He was a jokester. He loved Halloween. He used to dress up in this gorilla costume and scare the neighborhood kids. You know, that was tough. They’d come after he passed, the following Halloween, and they’d be like “Where’s the gorilla?” So, things like that are hard. He loved Thanksgiving. I mean, he loved turkey, the whole family get together. And Christmases, he always made it good for the kids. Even when I was younger, he to make sure we were taken care of. It was just fun with him, going to the beach and he loved going to amusement parks. So, my kids have a lot of good memories, and so do I. Yeah, but you can’t go back. You’ve got to hold them dear and move on.”
“I think fishermen get a bad name because they feel like a lot of people, when you say a fisherman, they look at it like, ‘Oh, he’s a drug addict’, or he’s this, or he’s that. I tell people when they say that to me, I say, ‘You know, there are a lot of good fishermen out there and in every walk of life, there are drug addicts, there are alcoholics. I mean you can’t just single out fishermen. They’re hard-working people.’ I think they get one of the hardest jobs in the world, and once they leave, you don’t ever know if you’re going to see them again. And so when somebody puts down a fisherman, that really offends me.”
Photos:
Top left: Shelly’s middle son, Luke.
Bottom left: Shelly’s youngest son, Kyle.
Photo above: Shelly’s oldest son, Gabriel, Jr. at the wheel with his father, Gabriel, Sr. on the right.
Photo below: Shelly’s youngest son Kyle fishing at sunset.
The following adaptation of the 23rd Psalm is important to many fishing families. A framed copy of it with photos of each of her sons hangs on Shelly’s wall.
The Lord is my Pilot,
I shall not drift.
He lights me across the dark waters
He steers me in deep channels
He keeps my log.
He guides me by the star of holiness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I sail mid the thunders and tempests of life
I shall dread no danger: for you are near me.
Your love and your care shelter me.
You prepare a harbour before me in the homeland of eternity.
You anoint the waves with oil so my ship rides calmly.
Surely sunlight and starlight shall favour me on the voyage I take:
And I will rest in the port of my Lord forever.
The 23rd Psalm paraphrased in 1874 by Captain John H. Roberts.
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The following links are to the Lost Fishermen from the Port of New Bedford website:
