Richie Hennessey, back from a European tour with his band, Dirty Rotten Vipers, and Margarita Antova, a semi-regular deckhand, share a laugh on the Kimberly Ann.
By Doreen Leggett
Keith Rose knows a lot of people:
Max Deacon, the main character in the movie “Art Thief;” Rose plays a bodyguard in the film.
Barry Clifford, the treasure hunter known for discovering the Whydah pirate ship; Rose worked for him.
The late Anthony Bourdain, celebrity chef and author; Rose’s oysters and painting appeared in a Bourdain TV episode.
Ben Zehnder, well-known local attorney and car aficionado; Rose was borrowing Zehnder’s 1972 Buick GS454 convertible, parked on MacMillan Pier on a hot September day.
Many Rose knows end up fishing on his boat, F/V Kimberly Ann. Sometimes they are a deckhand for a few days, other times a few years.
Dozens have signed their names in the wheelhouse, on the beams above the beige captain’s chair with a square of visible stuffing in the right corner.
Rose, wearing a battered hat over long wavy hair and black sunglasses, stood on his boat in Provincetown Harbor and scrolled through hundreds of contacts on his phone.
“Everyone has worked here,” he said before looking up at some names on the beam:
Ryan T., now a captain on a local sea clammer; Sarah a professor at Columbia; Matt McP., a successful welder; Noah S, a builder; Lola, from Brooklyn; McFly, “an endearing guy no longer with us”; Margarita, a local bartender who still comes aboard and was in a recent documentary “The Hand That Holds The Line” with Rose.
One section of names has faded.
“Some of these are going to be lost to the ages like the pyramids and sh#t,” said Rose with a laugh.
Judd St. Aubin’s name is still clear.
“I know Keith well, just being a townie,” St. Aubin said. “He is real people. There is no B.S. with Keith.”
St. Aubin has been fishing for decades and said sometimes people have some trouble in their lives and the fishing family saves you.
“He is a kind guy,” St. Aubin said.
He remembers Rose driving a local band around in his convertible with one of the male band members in women’s lingerie.
“That’s what’s cool about Keith, he can get along with anybody,” St. Aubin said.
Rose doesn’t need to know you before considering you for a spot, although if you have kids he will be looking harder at the weather.
Cheryl D., ran into Rose one night at the ‘O.C.’ – Old Colony Tap bar – in Provincetown about a decade ago.
She mentioned she would love to go fishing. Rose asked to see her wingspan, he wanted to make sure that she’d be able to reach across to the center of culling board so she could sort quickly.
“That’s Keith,” she said with a laugh. “He’s a character in the best way. He is super bright and caring.”
She stayed for a season and spent her days surf clamming, bay scalloping and oystering. Cheryl started on the Clamnation, but filled in on the Kimberly Ann over the years and her name and number are immortalized there.
“I loved it. It was an adventure,” she said. “He meets people where they are at.”
Rose was born on the Cape, at Otis Air Force Base, and although his family had property in Wellfleet, his early years were spent moving around. His dad, Ernest Henry Rose, met his mom, Mary, overseas. She was 11 years older and had survived the London Blitz in World War Two.
Rose said he spent formative years in England, but he attended kindergarten in Wellfleet before returning to his “air force brat” life. He and two brothers ended up in Wellfleet for good when he was around 13.
Rose mentioned he is a descendant of Stephen Hopkins who came over on the Mayflower and signed the Compact in Provincetown Harbor. There are some possible similarities; Hopkins’ friendliness was legendary, when Samoset and Squanto began their visits to Plymouth they stayed at his house and Hopkins was chosen to meet Massasoit. Hopkins supposedly had some trouble with law; the same could be said of Rose.
Growing up, Rose didn’t do much fishing but he shellfished with his family. And he did surf – quit college to catch waves – and loved cars. His dad started Rose’s Auto Service.
“I have his first car, a 1931 Model A,” Rose said.
After he graduated from Nauset High in 1980 he worked with Electronic Space Systems, Esco, building radar domes all over the country and as a diver. He saw some friends making good money fishing and figured he’d give it a try.
One of boats he worked on early on was the Kimberly Ann, but he was working on other boats when he heard she was for sale.
He phoned a friend to see if she wanted to be a partner and made the deal.
“I bought the boat on a handshake at Jimmy D’s,” a legendary scene in Eastham, said Rose.
He has since bought out his friend; her name and number are on the beam in the wheelhouse.
His other boat, Clamnation, needs a new engine and is shoreside. Rose said the Kimberly Ann rarely comes out of the water.
She was a navy utility boat on the aircraft carrier America before she started fishing.
“I’m proud of that,” Rose said. “That’s why it’s tough and still here.”
He is 64 and still a full-time commercial fisherman but will readily admit it is harder than it once was, “hard on your body,” he said.
He has broken both arms trying to navigate the steep stairs to the boat at low tide carrying catch or gear. Rose also has a nagging shoulder injury from youth when he tried to sneak into a Ziggy Marley and INXS concert and a more recent rib injury from an inopportune moment on an electric skateboard. He promised his daughter, Vanessa, he wouldn’t ride it anymore.
Rose will work for 14 hours straight filling the Kimberly Ann with sea clams – he humorously compares the process to fracking, injecting high pressure water into the seabed to send clams into a dredge.
“I enjoy it. It’s how I eat,” he said. That’s not to say it’s always easy. Two boats he fished on sank to the bottom and he had to swim for his life.
He often tries to foster fishing success and innovation by participating in various scientific studies. One funder, a doctor, of a recent project meant to bolster the sea clam population in Truro crewed one day, then jumped off and swam to his home on the shore.
Rose likes to have a roster of six or seven crew he can call.
“Some people come fishing with me and then leave for a week and make $20 grand (on scallop trip boats out of New Bedford),” he said. “I want that for them.”
He prefers to make a trip with two crew, but he can go with one if they are good.
One who was good is Ray Rowell, who now works for the Fishermen’s Alliance and crewed for Rose for a couple of years.
Rowell ran into Rose at a party and struck up a conversation because a classmate was running the Kimberly Ann and Rose needed help on the Clamnation.
Rowell heard about good money to be made and a few days later he was fishing. He remembers Rose’s MacGyver talent for fixing things and how he always gave part of his catch to old timers who came down to the dock.
“He just wanted to go,” Rowell said.
They recently shucked oysters together at a party; Rose has an oyster grant and was the first-ever winner of Wellfleet OysterFest’s famous shucking contest.
Max Nolan, a successful scallop captain and businessman, crewed for Rose and ran one of his boats for a short time about 15 years ago.
He describes Keith as a great character, impossible to sum up, one of the few people who, like Elvis or Beyonce, only needs one name to be recognizable.
A young couple stopped by to talk with Rose and pepper him with questions while he was in port. They seemed thrilled to meet him.
“This is the best place in the world,” Rose told them. “I know nothing but acceptance and coolness.
“I’m happy for every day.”