John Gillett was born in the small outport of Hart’s Cove, Durrell, Newfoundland and Labrador. He grew up in Twillingate in the 1950s, always listening with fascination to the sea stories shared by his father, Captain George Gillett, and the other sealing captains in the area when they came by for a yarn. The sea became a way of life for John at the tender age of eight, when he would go on sea voyages with his father, who was captain of the schooner Grace Boehner. At sixteen, John went to sea on the El Amigo, a cargo boat that carried lobsters from Placentia Bay to Gloucester, Massachusetts, then later collected salt fish from around Newfoundland. When he became a young man, he put aside the life of a fisherman to find work in Toronto. However, the sea continued to beckon him and, a few short years later, he returned to Newfoundland and didn’t look back. On his return to his home province, he secured a berth on a ship carrying freight to the Arctic. When that season ended, he returned to school to become a journeyman electrician. But fishing would always be in his blood. In late 1970, he made the decision to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a full-time fisherman. In 1971, John secured a berth for the seal hunt with his uncle, Captain Jim Gillett, which signalled the beginning of a lifelong career for John. Today, he continues to fish and participate in the annual commercial seal hunt. John Gillett lives in Twillingate with his wife, Linda. They have two children, Sherry and Richard, and five grandchildren. In his spare time John likes to paint folk art.

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