“There was Lighthouse Sam for one,” Mr. Barker answered. “They called him that because he had once worked in a lighthouse. He was the most reckless man I have ever known, and always getting into trouble. Again and again his boat was capsized and several of his partners were drowned; but Lighthouse Sam seemed to have a charmed life. I well remember the day when one of our men came running in—it was Phil Williams, from Orkney Island—and shouted: ‘Lighthouse Sam is gone at last!’ Then he told us that the poor fellow’s boat was pitching about, bottom-up, in the breakers, and that both hands were drowned. It seemed that he had left two men trying to rescue the boat—which they did not succeed in doing until an hour afterwards. Then they made an amazing discovery. Lighthouse Sam was underneath, and, although exhausted, quite unharmed, there having been enough air in the bottom of the boat to keep him alive. His mate, as usual, was drowned. After that, I am sorry to say, Lighthouse Sam took to drink, and in the following year he stole a boat, and, securing a partner, sailed up the Pacific coast to do a little fishing on his own account in Shoal Water Bay. The wind blew strongly from the south-east; they were in danger of being swamped, and the reckless mariner headed straight for the shore, undeterred by the sight of heavy breakers. The boat was smashed to pieces, the partner was duly drowned, but Lighthouse Sam got safely ashore. After that he was put into the penitentiary for stealing the boat, and I lost sight of him. “By the by, Lighthouse Sam was not the only salmon fisherman who survived a cruise with his upturned boat on top of him. A man named Harriman was capsized at the mouth of the Columbia River one Friday at midnight, and when his craft was recovered, on the Monday afternoon, the poor fellow and his boat were high and dry on the beach. He was uninjured—in fact, was soon feeling quite fit again, and, so far as I know, he is fishing there to this day. “Among the fishermen are a lot of English, Scotch, and Irish, and some of the very best are Norwegians and Danes. There are also many Italians and Greeks. On the Columbia River the boats and nets belong to the fishermen, while here on the Fraser the canneries own all the vessels and gear. The pay is very good while the work lasts, varying from 150 to 350 dollars for a month and a half or two months.