Day Trip to San Diego: Part III. Talk About Tuna Towers--Here's the Real Thing

By Jim Field

Way back on February 15 I traveled to San Diego for the day on business--early morning flight out of Dulles and returning that evening on the evil Red Eye. Killing a few hours before my meeting, I stopped by the San Diego Marlin Club and a monument to the city's renown tuna fleet, both located on Shelter Island. (See prior posts covering both of these.) Well, my third quick stop that day was the tuna fleet itself--or what's left of it in the modern era--which is moored in a marina just a few minutes away from the USS Midway, now a museum.

Walking towards the tuna fleet, I noticed that the access gate to their slips was opened, no one was around, and so I walked right down to the boats, which were tied up bow first against the walkway. I checked them out up close--their bows were huge and I could reach right out and pet them--and at some point my eye took note of their tuna towers, which were....tuna towers, yes, but the real thing, "real" as in functionally designed from the ground up to do just this, and only this, on a commercial vessel licensed to harvest tuna.

Of course, the Sea Ya Bea has a tower, and we have indeed looked for and spotted tuna from it (Fran Junior being the most seasoned tuna lookout), thus making it a tuna tower. But here in front of me were the "originals."

As it turned out, each boat has a distinctive tower--no two are alike--which is an interesting feature by itself. I wonder, if you asked the fishermen, which one worked best or was preferred most, and for what reasons? Alternatively, which design was hated most by crew members, and why? Did they have padding in them to ease the ride in rough seas, or were the lookouts thrown around (and bruised) like a marble in a tin can? All good questions we'll never know.

Hope you enjoy the photographs (taken using my Blackberry).


Approaching the tuna fleet from shore


Profile of a port side


Walking down a valley of bows


Up close and personal--touching the steel


Design #1: Cylinder with small 180 degree observing slit


Design #2: Box with pane windows--are they Andersons?

Design #3: Pepsi can with hole on top (hope there's Plexiglas)


A nice view with sun setting on Pacific