Every day, we were up at 4 A.M. and fished until 8 P.M. My primary job was to clean the fish and ice them in the hold, and that kept me plenty busy. Still, I had time to appreciate the beauty. We fished a mile or two off Cape Addington and Cape Chirikof. I was having the time of my life, and was beginning to wonder if I might be able to think up a fishing story that would put my readers on a salmon troller, too.
In his fourth decade trolling for salmon, George Yates was ever patient with my greenhorn questions, both on the boat and afterward. In addition to George and Julie, I would like to thank others on Prince of Wales Island who provided considerable assistance and inspiration. The Castle brothers, Brian and Kevin, teachers and commercial fishermen, provided hospitality and telephone consult, as did Julie’s husband, Chad Fulton. Chad grew up partly at Port Protection. A jack of all trades from a young age, he commuted to school by himself in a skiff.
At the docks in Craig, I met the Sebastian family from Point Baker, an isolated fishing community near Port Protection. Joe and Joan, along with their children Forest and Elsa, inspired the Daniels family in my novel. The Sebastians fish the inside waters on their classic 1937 troller, the Alta E.
I returned home with an armful of books to add to my library on southeast Alaska. For months I immersed myself in the reading. By late fall I was writing. My early attempts at the novel died out. It was only when I remembered a plaque I’d seen in the Bishop’s House in Sitka that I began to picture a way to make the fishing story into something more. The Russian possession plaques were the key, opening the door to a multilayered story. With the help of Sitka National Historical Park, I found their history in “Symbols of Russian America: Imperial Crests and Possession Plates in North America,” by Mary Foster and Steve Henrickson, which appeared in the November 1991 issue of Concepts, a publication of the Alaska State Museums.
For readers looking for more detail on the Russians in Alaska and Rezanov’s saga, I would suggest the work of Hector Chevigny, author of Russian America: The Great Alaskan Venture 1741–1867 and Lost Empire: The Life and Adventures of Nikolai Rezanov (both Binford & Mort Publishing, 1965). I would also recommend Otter Skins, Boston Ships, and China Goods: The Maritime Fur Trade of the Northwest Coast, 1785–1841, by James R. Gibson (McGill-Queen’s University Press and University of Washington Press, 1992).
I would point readers who would like to learn more about salmon trolling to Pacific Troller: Life on the Northwest Fishing Grounds by Francis E. Caldwell (Trafford Publishing; first published by Alaska Northwest Books, 1978). Caldwell’s book includes the fishery on the Fairweather Grounds and an account of the giant waves in Lituya Bay caused by the July 1958 earthquake, complete with photographs of the bay after the event.
Durango, Colorado
May 2003
About the Author
WILL HOBBS is the award-winning author of many previous novels for young readers, including FAR NORTH, JASON’S GOLD, DOWN THE YUKON, WILD MAN ISLAND, and JACKIE’S WILD SEATTLE. Seven of his books have been chosen by the American Library Association as Best Books for Young Adults.
LEAVING PROTECTION was inspired by Will’s experience as a deckhand on a salmon troller in southeast Alaska during a king salmon season that was the most productive in many years. He also drew on his longtime interest in the history of Russian Alaska.
A graduate of Stanford University, Will lives in Durango, Colorado, with his wife, Jean.
For more information about the author and his books, please visit Will’s website at: www.WillHobbsAuthor.com
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DON’T MISS THESE BOOKS BY WILL HOBBS
CHANGES IN LATITUDES
BEARSTONE
DOWNRIVER
THE BIG WANDER
BEARDANCE
KOKOPELLI’S FLUTE
FAR NORTH
GHOST CANOE
BEARDREAM
RIVER THUNDER
HOWLING HILL
THE MAZE
JASON’S GOLD
DOWN THE YUKON
WILD MAN ISLAND
JACKIE’S WILD SEATTLE
Credits
Cover art © 2004 by Vince Natale
Cover design by Hilary Zarycky
Cover © 2005 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
LEAVING PROTECTION. Copyright © 2004 by Will Hobbs. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Adobe Digital Edition August 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-196370-4
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