BRIAN JOHNSON

 I had the good fortune of growing up in the 1960’s on Bainbridge Island’s waterfront.   As a child I would sneak into Charlie Tayler’s boat yard and watch with fascination the forms that rose from the timber piles.   At the launchings the whole neighborhood showed up, and there it began, my career as wharf rat, dragging home every derelict boat that washed up on shore.  My practical father had been a radioman on the USS Nashville in WW2 and my uncle served in the Coast Guard. Growing up my ears were filled with tales from days at sea.  At age 10 I announced I wanted a rowing dory for Christmas. That year under the tree was a cardboard tube about two feet long, containing plans for a Glouchester Gull rowing dory.  The next year and a half I spent lofting lines, building forms, cutting and fitting wood. It was launched in 1966 and still hangs in the loft of my father’s shop 54 years later. Here began my passion for rebuilding boats.

At 18 I went to sea on a Shrimp trawler Fritz K. out of south Texas.  We brought the boat around to the west coast to rig for Albacore Tuna thus ending the childhood life on the waterfront and beginning my life as a mariner and shipwright.  I signed on to the NOAA ship Miller Freeman in 1978, and promptly moved to Kodiak, Alaska. I sailed on the Miller Freeman for three and a half years working in the engine and deck departments.   I spent another six years deep sea fishing until I had three children. At that point I started working in the fall, winter and spring in the shipyards rebuilding Kodiak’s extensive fishing fleet - wood, steel, fiberglass and aluminum boats, and all their systems.   In the summer time I focused on Salmon seining and Halibut fishing. At the same time I served 6 years as a Volunteer Fireman, developing a love for fire investigation. In the mid 1980’s I put on the captain’s hat running a Dungeness crab boat on the Alaskan peninsula and continue to captain Salmon seiners, tenders and other vessels to this day. In 1984 I got my 1600 ton Mates of Ocean license.  During my 22 years in Kodiak I participated in 12 different fisheries on the west coast and Alaskan waters doing extensive rigging, gear and mechanical work as part of the daily operations.  

Back in Seattle in 2000 I renamed my ongoing business Ocean Bay Marine. I worked as a subcontractor with Jensen Motorboat from 2015 until they closed. Concurrently I have run Ocean Bay Marine with a focus on historic ships. l am presently involved in maritime museum projects working with the next generation of tradesmen.  This is my 46th year in the marine trades.  

The years of intense commercial fishing in Alaska drilled into me that whatever job I perform on a vessel starts with the ocean and the conditions the vessel will work in and comes back to the tool in my hand.