Described as “saltier than a Scully Joe” by his daughter, Ashley, master fisherman Peter Cabral, who earned his first full share on a commercial fishing boat when he was eight years old, died on May 13, 2024 at Royal Cotuit Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Mashpee. The cause was heart failure induced by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 70.
The son of Anna (Corea) Cabral and Louis Cabral, his adoptive father, Peter was born on July 17, 1953 in Gloucester. He grew up on Pearl Street in Provincetown, surrounded by the extended Corea family: his grandparents, Joseph and Virginia Corea; cousins Frank Domingos, Bruce, Joey, and Donna; his aunt Florence; and especially his uncle Joseph Corea, who was like a father to him.
When he was a boy, fishing was as natural to Peter as riding a bike. He started commercial fishing at eight. “He earned his full share of the catch, the same as the men on the boat,” Ashley said. “He worked on Papa Joe and on Miss Sandy with Louis Rivers. He was a fishing prodigy.”
Peter went to Provincetown High School, where he lettered in football, basketball, and track for all four years. He was voted the Class of 1971 “pest,” and the quotation he chose for the yearbook as a gloss on his life was “I will go back to the sweet mother and lover of men, the Sea, close with her, kiss her, and mix her with me.”
After high school, Peter joined the Coast Guard and managed to get himself stationed in Provincetown despite the Coast Guard prohibition against posting service members to their hometowns. He served from 1971 to 1975, was awarded a National Defense Service Medal, and held the rank of E-3.
The year he joined the Coast Guard, at age 18, he also married. His son Jarrod was born in 1974, and the marriage ended soon after. He remarried, and his son Adam was born in 1980 and daughter Ashley in 1981. After the second marriage ended in 1986, Peter gained custody of both children and raised them as a single parent.
“He was always kind,” Ashley said, “always loving. He was always there for me growing up, no matter what. He was my best friend.”
After the Coast Guard, Peter returned to commercial fishing and worked on a plethora of boats. He worked with Kenny and Gene Macara on the Ruthy L for 10 years as first mate and engineer, on the Nauset with Joe Frances, and on the Gerda Riva and the Jimmy Boy. He also worked on big money-making highliners in New Bedford.
In 1998, Peter bought the Terra Nova, which he fished with his longtime partner Jeremy Santos for more than 10 years. “Jeremy was more than a friend to him,” Ashley said. “Jeremy was like one of his sons.”
Peter and Jeremy had their challenges on the water. Fishing off Pollock Rip with Tony Thomas, Ashley said, “the fog rolled in like pea soup.” With no visibility, they were taken by surprise when a giant tanker appeared out of the fog. In danger of being immobilized and then driven to the bottom because of the dredging lines, they let the lines out as fast as they could, the tanker coming within a foot of their boat. “The crew could touch it as it passed,” Ashley said. Peter’s son Adam, also on the boat, was “on the bow ready to jump.”
By 2010, Peter was struggling with poor health and needing to lose weight for hip surgery. That summer, Adam returned from California, where he had settled, to support Peter and to fish together.
Peter was financially successful, but as regulations began to change in unpredictable ways, he had to give up most of his permits — first the dragging permit and then the scallop permit. He restricted himself to sea clamming until he sold the Terra Nova in 2013.
But he continued to fish on multiple boats; his last boat was the Leonardo out of New Bedford. He retired in 2017.
Peter was “an old-school fisherman,” skilled and generous, said Ashley. “He would help any fisherman get started. He was always there for everyone. He had a big influence on the younger fishermen coming up behind him.”
In 2017, no longer able to fish, Peter moved to upstate New York, where he had gone deer hunting over the years with friends. He often took his grandson, Ocean Rego, who got his first deer on one of those trips.
When Peter’s health began to fail in 2019, he came back to Massachusetts, settling in Mattapoisett, where he worked for the Pilgrim Transit Company until his final hospital admission. During the last two years, Ocean, who had become a successful welder working on tugboats in New Bedford, joined him in Mattapoisett.
“My dad had his faults,” Ashley said, “but he had the biggest heart. He was always thinking of other people.”
Peter is survived by his son Jarrod and wife Kate Cabral and their children, Zoe and Xander, of Wellfleet; son Adam and wife Emily Cabral of Woodland Hills, Calif.; and daughter Ashley Cabral of Wellfleet and her children, Ocean Rego of Mattapoisett, Autumn Cabral, and Keira Cabral, both of Wellfleet; his lifelong friend Sonia Nurczyk and her children of Bristol, Conn.; and many cousins, friends, and fellow fishermen.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Peter’s name can be made to the Shaw Fund for Mariners’ Children (founded in 1853) at shawfund.org.
A celebration of life and Viking burial, including the burning of a wicker boat containing Peter’s ashes in the center of a circle of fishing boats, is planned for September. A party will follow. Further details will be announced.
