Dear Ron, These comments are a little belated. In the February (2013) issue, the story about the trips to Labrador on the Kyle revived a lot of memories for me. I went to Labrador as part of the family crew from 1939-1947. We fished in Murray Harbour, just south of Battle Harbour. As a young male, I did indeed sleep in the hold along with my uncles and grandfather, together with a lot of other crews. We boiled our kettle at the main galley, brought it back to the forward hold, lowered it down with a rope, where it was retrieved by a waiting person, made our tea and ate whatever grub we had brought on board from Carbonear. The trip took about 3-4 days, if not interrupted by ice. While accommodations in the hold were to primitive, I preferred it over the steerage where my grandmother and sister were. On my visits there to see them, all I remember is the oppressive steam heat, babies crying and the stench of seasickness. Despite all the hardship, my memories of many trips on the Kyle, both to and from Labrador, are very positive. On page 17 of the March (2013) issue, there is a picture of three weights - 14, 28 and 56 pounds. I am very familiar with the 56 pound version. This weight was used for weighing codfish at shipping time. In my case, it was when the merchant's vessel came to our harbour to pick up our fish at the end of the season. A large Fairbank/Morse scale was used. Two 56 lb weights were placed on one side of the scale, and fish was loaded on the opposite side until the scale balanced. This meant that 112 lbs of fish, or one quintal, was weighed. Many a wrist was strained by trying to lift a 56-lb weight overhead while trying to keep the arm straight.   Submitted By: NULL