Among the 136 coastal towns in Maine, there are six women who hold the position of harbormaster, according to the Maine Harbormasters Association (MHA).
The harbormasters include Katherine Pickering, for Belfast, who is also the MHA secretary; Melanee Gilbert, for Bremen; Sarah Cox, for Brooksville and Castine; Lora Mills, for Northport; Abbie Leonard, for Rockport; and Helen Gordon, for Sullivan.
Kathy Pickering went to work for Belfast in 1994. She was appointed harbormaster in 1995; the position became full-time in 1997. She is thought to be the state’s first woman harbormaster.
Previously, Pickering worked for the Belfast Boatyard and was a boatbuilder in Lincolnville.
“Working at the boatyard gave me a wonderful knowledge of the harbor, which became invaluable in my position as harbormaster,” she said. “I knew who was who — the fishermen, businessmen, mooring owners, service people. I also learned the geography of the harbor — the channel, wind conditions to be aware of, the mooring field, shallow areas and ledges. I quickly became very fond of both the people on the harbor and the harbor itself.”
Pickering enjoys boating. Ironically, she doesn’t have much time for it. She enjoys walking, hiking, volleyball, gardening, motorcycle touring and watching birds at the harbor.
“Every day, I appreciate having a job that allows me to spend time outdoors — especially here in Maine,” she said.
During her time in the position, Belfast has seen many changes. Then, it was rundown buildings along the waterfront, old, neglected boat, boat parts and lobster traps and “feral cats, rats, pigeons and the ghosts of chickens past,” she said, which “have been replaced by the Front Street Shipyard, restaurants and bars, and quality wooden boatbuilders.”
The port’s offerings attract more recreational and transient vessels these days, she said.
“My office at the waterfront, which I work at year-round, would seem a hundred miles away from civilization during the middle of the winter, 10 years ago,” she said. “Now it’s busy year-round.”
The job was intimidating at first: “The fishermen didn’t know what to do with me, but that changed after a while.”
The job can be intense, she said. Ten years ago, a small powerboat was overloaded with a family. The tide turned and seas built. The boat swamped in minutes, dumping everyone in the water.
Fortunately, another boater saw the incident, called Pickering, and headed to the scene. Pickering and her crew arrived in short order.
“The mother, still in the water, was screaming frantically for her kids, who she couldn’t see. The grandparents, also still in the water, were starting to get hypothermic,” Pickering said.
Everyone made it safely to shore. But every summer sees new incidents, including a plane that crashed, the pilot dead on impact, outside the harbor. These moments remind one “how humble you can feel when you’re out on the water.”
Abbie Leonard became Rockport’s harbormaster in 2008. She previously worked for Yachting Solutions, Sampson Cay Marina in the Bahamas and the Camden Yacht Club.
Her interest in the position came about naturally, given her love for the ocean and boats. An outdoors enthusiast, she skis, sails, bikes, hikes and fishes.
“I love Yankee ingenuity — for lack of a better term — and know I have a lot to learn from folks who have made a living in and around the water in Maine,” she said. “I’ve always enjoyed hearing stories from the old days and believe in keeping Maine’s waterfront accessible to everyone and, in particular, protecting those who make a living on it.”
Three weeks into her new post, she responded to a burning lobsterboat. The two fishermen reached safety, but a breeze blew the burning boat into the harbor, setting two other vessels on fire. Leonard and Rockport firefighters doused the two boats, then used an anchor to grapple the vessel and keep it from drifting further. They hosed the flames while towing the boat to the beach, where firefighters finished the job.
The event, deemed Leonard’s “trial by fire,” she said, “Did wonders for my credibility as a capable boat handler.”
Rockport faces increased demand of town facilities, balancing recreational and working interests, cost-containment while maintaining infrastructure — and demands for more dinghy space.
Among developments during her tenure, Rockport received state funds to install floats and pilings along the Goose River launch ramp, for dinghies and transient vessels, and a grant to install a pump-out station on recreational floats. The town awaits word on a grant for lighting in Marine Park and associated floats. The waterfront has also proved attractive for entertainment fundraisers, with name acts drawing crowds to the area.
Melanee Osier-Gilbert has served as Bremen’s part-time harbormaster for several years. As owner of Maine Fresh Lobster, she was approached by other residents to take the job.
“It’s worked out well for me because I grew up in this town,” she said. “A lot of fishermen I grew up with, I know, and I seem to get along with all of them. Plus, being in the business helps.”
One key to the job, she said, is getting fishermen to community meetings.
Her duties are largely administrative.
“At the end of the year, when they send out billing notices, I run after people and say, ‘Hey, you have to pay your mooring fee.'”
For Osier-Gilbert, the job has been a logical contribution to the town.
“I’m down there, I’m out on the water,” she said. “This doesn’t take up that much time , and I enjoy it.”
Northport’s harbormaster position, held by Lora Mills for three years, is also part-time.
Mills spent summers in Northport as a kid. She discovered her love of the water when she and her mother took up sailing, on the Chesapeake and cruising to Maine.
Mills moved to Northport in 1994, piecing together part-time work. She plans to start a charter business with a 1938 Sam Crocker yawl she’s rehabilitating.
When the position opened up, it was a great fit, said Mills.
The town is small, so duties are mainly directing emergency calls as appropriate, and administrative.
Northport has a main harbor, with scattered moorings elsewhere. The town is seeing more kayakers in recent years. Saturday Cove has several full-time fishermen, and there’s activity from Pemaquid Oyster Company’s mussel raft.
Generally, the harbor is quiet, she said, but the town anticipates the Front Street Shipyard in Belfast might generate more activity.
“We may end up with more transient traffic,” she said.
Sarah Cox is beginning her second year as harbormaster in Castine and her 10th in Brooksville as acting harbormaster.
Her family goes back several generations in Brooksville. Cox spent childhood summers there, settling year-round in 1996. She owns Lyric Tile, specializing in seashell-finished tile.
She likes being on the water and wanted to become involved in town activities. In 2001, she helped write Brooksville’s harbor ordinance and then joined the harbor committee in 2002. She is on the boards of the Brooksville Education Foundation and the Peninsula Ambulance Corps.
Challenges for Brooksville and Castine’s harbors relate to supply and demand, she said. Both, especially Brooksville, lack enough all-tide public access. Parking in both towns, especially for trailers, is limited and inconveniently located. Both towns will face a shortage of dinghy tie-up space in the near future.
Castine’s public docks require significant funds to maintain and the town has limited mooring space. Brooksville has enough mooring space—although some locations are somewhat exposed—to accommodate present demand.
“Brooksville has a harbor plan for Buck’s Harbor,” which has about 300 of the town’s 800 moorings along its 53 miles of coastline, Cox said. A designated channel into Smith Cove, south of Castine, ensures that boats seeking storm refuge will have access, she added.
“We are now improving an access area on the upper Bagaduce River which primarily serves aquaculture lease sites and recreational kayakers.”
All in all, there has been almost no problem with being a woman in the job. After all, said Mills, “I feel like the way was paved well by [Pickering], because she’s such a strong woman and so good at her job.”
Leonard said a sense of humor is a plus.
“When people ask for the harbormaster, they often say things like, ‘Really, you?’ or, ‘Do you go by harbor mistress?’ As long as people are respectful and understand that I have a job to do, I don’t mind having some fun with it.”
Pickering agreed: “There are times when someone will come into the office and automatically turn to any man who might be in there, assuming they are the harbormaster”¦.We do still live in a man’s world to a large extent, but I have to say too, most of the men I work with are the best. From the fishermen to the other harbormasters, I very rarely feel like I’m not accepted, or thought of as less capable. And when I do need a hand, they are always there.”
(Editor’s note: Helen Gordon declined to be interviewed for this story.)