Paul Stubing said that this photograph was of a Bernard wharf around 1946. The date on the back is July 29, 1946. There are lobster traps piled on the wharf. There is a working lobster boat next to the wharf on the right side of the picture. There is a square punt tied to the ladder on the same side of the wharf. There is a boat on the left side of the picture which is partially visible. In the bottom right is a lobster car grounded out.
The boat at the dock belongs to Clarence Harding and he is on the boat. This is the boat that rescued Ralph Stanley's dad when he was adrift by Mt. Desert Rock. The temperature had dropped to below zero that night and blew a gale and the only protection was a canvas hood, spray hood, on the boat. (There is a full account of this event in Ralph Stanley's Tales of a Maine Boatbuilder.) Ralph said the boat which is grounded out is owned by Merle Black.
Ballard, W.H., “Bernard Wharf, c. 1946,” Mount Desert Island Historical Society, accessed April 17, 2025, https://mdihs.digitalarchive.us/items/show/13046.Item 13412
