In his first book of Gloucester history, The Stream I Go A-Fishing In, Chester Brigham told the story of a 19th century fisherman who entertained his fellow schooner crewmen as a shipboard  foddler.

After surviving a shipwreck in a fierce gale, John Jay Watson moved to New York, where he taught music, performed as a violin virtuoso, became an impresario who staged musical programas at Cooper Union, and composed popular parlor music melodies.

Late in life he found his way back to Gloucester - a little-remembered but remarkable figure from the Gloucester waterfront whose fiddle had transported him from schooner decks to New York concert halls. The late Gloucester historian Joseph E. Garland described the book as "superbly written."

About the author

Chet Brigham is constantly astonished by the many facets of life on Cape Ann, and has sought to describe this rich variety in his nonfiction books. In "The Stream I Go A-Fishing In" he tells the story of a "fiddling fisherman" who became a concert violinist and impresario in Manhattan. In "Gloucester's Bargain with the Sea" he explores the factors that atttracted noted artists and writers to Gloucester in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most recently, in "On Opposite Tacks," he compares an iconic Gloucester fishing captain with a major artist and finds unexpected parallels between the careers of the two men.

• 100 pages


• 6x9"
  


• Bibliography


• 18 illustrations


• Published in 2003