These photos from July 2025 show the fish hold of the Crystal S, as revealed after the boat’s middle section floor boards and hull liner pieces were removed to expose the hull framing.
The Crystal S fished primarily for Sockeye, but occasionally Chum salmon too.
They would generally remain around the Fraser River and the local strait, but sometimes travel as far North as Rivers Inlet or Namu, depending on which rivers had the big runs coming in.
From the time the boat was built to about the mid-seventies, Packers or Collector Boats like the Iona, were called on short notice so that they could simply toss the fish on deck and have the Packers pick them up within the day.
They would often fish overnight and have the Packers meet them first thing in the morning to collect. From the late-seventies and into the eighties, they installed large vinyl bags into the two side compartments (seen in these photos) to accommodate an ice and water slush, for when they would be catching more fish in a trip or have longer periods between collection.
In these later years, the Packers were bigger (Seine boat-sized) and would load up with ice at the plant before heading out, then meet up with the fish boats and load ice onto the boats for them.
