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The major drawback to being a fishennan's wife is worry. YOli never gCI
lIsed to it, especially when "it comes up blow." When the weather is
rough, I sit up all night in the kitchen andjusl hope he's all righLl
I worry about him when he's fishing. I read the barometer, listen to the
5:00 marine forecast, and listen for him on the CB. or marine band radio.
When you get to worry too much anything can set you off. YOli yell at the
kids and keep going from window to window to watch the sea. 2
In safety, her worry projects the "phantom ofdeath" in front of her eyes,
I wouldn't want to be a man here, the fishing sure takes a lot out of them.
Sometimes I feel so sorry for him, he comes in from a trip looking like
death wam1cd-over. 3
in tragedy, she is haunted by the "phantom of life":
She still thinks that he's coming in; she just can't believe that he's dead;
she sits by the window and waits for him to come home again. 4
Early research on the depression and emotional problems encountered by wives of
offshore workers in Scotland attributed these to stress induced by their husbands being
periodically absent from family life, a condition known as "the intermiltent spouse
syndrome."5 Asking Cat Harbour women about what they thought about their husbands
risking their lives "on the ice," and how well they might do, Faris was struck by their
marked reticence to reply at all, until one woman explained: "you don't dare say anything,
cause if it goes bad, they'll say you witched it."6 Such avoidance of the whole subject of
hazards still prevailed among Ocean Ranger widows confiding that insecurity was a major
factor in their worry:
Men preferred not 10 talk very much about life offshore when they came
back to their families and friends onshore, Seveml mothers and wives of
the mothers fell that one of the reasons for this was that their sons and
husbands did not want 10 worry them about accidents and unsafe working
conditions.?
IDavis, "Woman," 142.
2Davis, "Woman" 142.
3Davis, "Occupational" 136.
4Davis, "Woman" 142 and 144.
SHouse, BUI 47.
6 Faris, Cal 73.
?Housc, BU149.