By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
To his friends, Wes Lucas was known as “Mr. Nice Guy.”
But when he was working on a commercial fishing boat, he shed the Mr. Nice Guy persona and was a perfectionist.
“He was a good guy,” Sea Isle City commercial fisherman Eric Burcaw Sr. recalled of Lucas. “We were always calling him Mr. Nice Guy. But for anyone who worked with him, he was a stickler for detail. If you didn’t do it Wes’ way, it wasn’t the right way.”
Burcaw said Lucas died of a heart aneurysm while working on a fishing boat in Atlantic City on March 12, 2012, just seven days short of his 44th birthday.
People can get a sense of who Wes Lucas was from a granite memorial that bears his image and incorporates a collage of photos showing him with some of the large fish he caught.
Burcaw, 54, commissioned the memorial in tribute to his friend, Mr. Nice Guy. Lucas, who lived in Dennis Township, had once worked for Burcaw. His formal name was Weston Thomas Lucas.
The memorial also includes the names of four other late commercial fishermen from the Sea Isle area. They include Homer “Hooper” Pratt, Andrew P. Karanozinsky, Paul “Snapper” Callahan and Capt. Lou Bufalo.
It takes some searching to find the memorial, which is tucked next to a building at Burcaw’s commercial fishing business along 42nd Place, adjacent to Sea Isle’s public marina.
The memorial is located in the heart of the Fish Alley neighborhood, an enclave of family-owned restaurants and fishing boats rooted in Sea Isle’s early history as a small commercial seaport.
“People think it is a nice tribute to remember the old-time fishermen who used to be in town,” Burcaw said.
Burcaw’s commercial fishing operation is based at Bob’s Dock in Fish Alley. His father, Bob Burcaw, known locally as “Capt. Bob,” started the business in 1965 when he acquired 150 feet of waterfront property along the lagoon in Fish Alley. Eric Burcaw, his brother, Robert, 59, and his business partner, Tim Getz, head the five-boat operation now and are joined by Burcaw’s sons, Eric Jr., 27, and Kevin, 23.
Burcaw recalled it was pure luck that Lucas ended up working for the Burcaw family’s commercial fishing operation. It happened when Bob Burcaw pulled into a gas station where Lucas was working as an attendant.
“He saw my dad pull into the gas station with a big (boat) propeller. My dad told him, ‘If you’re ever interested in a job, come see us.’’’
Following Wes Lucas’ death in 2012, a fundraising effort collected $6,000 in just two weeks to pay for the memorial. Lucas’ father sends money to Burcaw every year to help take care of the memorial, although Burcaw said the money really isn’t needed. Last year, a light was added to the memorial.
Burcaw noted that Sea Isle is better known these days as a “tourist town” instead of a commercial fishing seaport. The memorial serves as a poignant reminder of Sea Isle’s commercial fishing traditions – as well as some of the brave men who were part of the industry.
Under the words “In Memory of Wes” and Lucas’ image, the Fisherman’s Prayer is inscribed on the memorial. It reads:
I pray that I may live to fish …
Until my dying day.
And when it comes to my last trip,
I then most humbly pray:
When in the Lord’s great landing net
And peacefully asleep
That in His mercy I be judged
Big enough to keep.
