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Snapshots of Petit-Cap wharf in the 1970s resurface

Photographs taken by the late Tamra Farrow are being digitized by her friend, retired fisherman BIll Cook, and reveal a snapshot of life on the Petit-Cap wharf in the late 1970s.

Tamra Farrow died in December, but before she died, Farrow sent negatives she'd taken over the years to friends who might want them.

Bill Cook, who now lives in Sackville, received hundreds of them.

Tamra Farrow
Tamra Farrow

"It shows quite a different time, a different era," he said.

Cook spent 40 years fishing off the wharf in Petit-Cap, on the Northumberland Strait about 11 kilometres east of Cap-Pelé. It wasn't an obvious line of work for a man who grew up in Ontario.

"A friend and I got it in our heads one night that maybe we'd like to go fishing, that it would be fairly easy work and you can make some money at it," he said with a laugh.

"We blew it on both counts."

Tamra Farrow
Tamra Farrow

It would have been the mid-1970s, when Cook and a friend bought a boat and a lobster fishing licence. They didn't let a complete lack of experience stop them but friendly neighbours did come in handy.

"Definitely we stood out, but everyone in Petit-Cap was very accepting of the way we were."

The small francophone fishing community wasn't accustomed to newcomers, especially ones with long beards and wild hair.

"I think the big thing was we were quite a bit of entertainment and they were showing us the ropes, a couple of novices."

There to capture those moments was Farrow and her 35 mm camera. She arrived in New Brunswick around 1976 with Marilyn Pigott, who ended up taking Bill Cook's last name.

"I came for two weeks and never left," said Marilyn.

For many years, Marilyn worked in the smokehouse.

"It's cold work, you're standing on cement all day the fish just keep coming and everyone that is now my age that has worked in the fish plant their bodies are paying for it."

Farrow also stayed in the Maritimes for a number of years, becoming involved in the arts community and helping Cook on his boat, before going on to complete her master's degree. Farrow's obituary credits her as being one of the first art therapists in the country.

Marilyn Cook
Marilyn Cook

But during her time in Petit-Cap she turned her camera toward the local community. Many of the people in the photos are members of the Brine family, and Cook was sure to send them copies of the pictures.

Kevin Brine still lives in Petit-Cap and makes a living fishing from the wharf, as do two of his brothers, his son and two nephews.

"They're nice photos, they brought back memories," he said.

Marilyn Cook, Tori Weldon/CBC
Marilyn Cook, Tori Weldon/CBC

Brine said it was especially nice to see pictures of his father, Norman, who died in 1999.

According to Marilyn Cook, few photos exist of that time and place because there weren't a lot of cameras around, and developing film cost money.

"These are actually people working and doing their thing, the subject matter she chose is definitely from an artist's perspective."

Tamra Farrow
Tamra Farrow

Marilyn and Bill Cook agree the photographs are a gift that brings back memories of an earlier time, but they also help them to remember the woman behind the camera, Tamra Farrow.

"She'll be missed by a lot of people."