WITH Port MacDonnell’s iconic Little Hunter boat soon to be a thing of the past, its last owner has come forward to share its history.
A professional crayfisherman for 10 years, Mr Couldrey skippered the Little Hunter for the last four years of his career.
“It was purchased in 1967 from Apollo Bay and when the boat first arrived she was one of the biggest boats in the fleet,” he said.
“Then she fished out of Blackfellows Caves before I bought her.
“I always fished out of Port MacDonnell.”
Before Mr Couldrey purchased the vessel, other fisherman shared their tales on the seas.
“When she was fishing out of Blackfellows Caves it was almost destroyed,” he said.
“The Little Hunter and two bigger boats were coming back to shore when they copped a breaker.
“She was light enough to go over the breaker and come over the other side but the other two boats had their cabins smashed.
“The Little Hunter came home without any damage.”
Mr Couldrey recalled a significant event when a fellow fisherman lost a boat and required the services of Little Hunter to return them to shore.
“I was heading home past the lighthouse when I found a skipper and his decky,” he said.
“Their boat had sunk after copping a breaker but I managed to pick them up and take them home safely.
“She’s in the memories of a lot of the older generation of fishermen.”
Mr Couldrey left the professional industry during the licence buy-back scheme to work in the timber industry, but has never lost his maritime interests.
He has now put his focus on restoring boats.
“Once a seaman, always a seaman – it is in my blood,” he said.
“I have fixed up a yacht and a couple other boats.
“That is what I do with my days now – you have to keep your mind busy in retirement and do something worthwhile.”
The Little Hunter currently takes pride of place at the Port MacDonnell playground, but will soon be demolished to make way for the second stage of the $700,000 waterfront project.
Although the boat has been part of the Bay for a lifetime, Mr Couldrey said he was not upset to see it go.
“Everything has a lifespan and it is her time now,” he said.
“If it were in good condition I would go down and grab her myself, but she has been in the sand for so long and the wood has gone rotten.
“It is just the way things are – I am not sad.”
