He called Pass-a-Grille -- and the sea -- home

Capt. Kenneth Merry had his first boat at age 7; by 10 he was taking anglers to choice fishing spots for cash.

By SCOTT TAYLOR HARTZELL
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 25, 2002

ST. PETE BEACH -- The uncertainty of fishing hooked Kenneth B. Merry for life.

"The reason (fishing) appeals to me so strongly is that you never know what may happen next," Merry said. "Fishing just came natural to me."

For more than seven decades, Capt. Merry was a Pass-a-Grille fixture. To some, he was a grocer. To others, he was a staunch supporter of his three children's school. But to nearly everyone, he was an unparalleled skipper.

"He could pilot a cruiser around the world," said his daughter Shirley Merry Lynch.

"He impressed you with the knowledge of the sea he had," said Realtor and historian Frank T. Hurley Jr. "If you were out there in a rocking boat, you wanted Capt. Merry at the helm."

On April 23, 1898, Merry was born in a two-story home that later became the site for the Soreno Hotel. He came to Pass-a-Grille at age 4. Within three years he had his first boat; by age 10 he was transporting anglers to choice fishing spots for cash.

"I had two little boats while still a young boy," wrote Merry, who attended St. Petersburg schools. "One was a 12-foot sailboat which I taught myself to sail; the other had a small motor. I called it the Kenneth."

On land, Merry hunted deer and killed rattlesnakes (35 in all). He climbed Edwin Tomlinson's tower and unearthed Indian and Spanish bones. "They were just pieces of junk to me," he said. "They would crumble soon after being exposed."

Merry took chickens and canned goods from his father's store for camping trips to Pine Key (Tierra Verde). The store, at 107 Eighth Ave., the first on the gulf beaches, carried such items as pickles, shotguns and frying pans.

During World War I, Merry served locally in the Merchant Marines. His wife, Blanche, a St. Pete Beach postmaster, wrote:

"When Kenneth came back from the Merchant Marine, we were married in Tampa (1920) and lived there three months. Then we came back, took over the store and ran it for eight years."

Then came the Depression. "It ruined us," Merry said. "We fed a lot of families."

For 26 years beginning in the early 1930s, Merry was an organizer and chef at the Sunshine School's celebrated fish broils. Mullet was cooked on mattress springs over a bed of buttonwood; proceeds benefited the school.

"Rumor had it the springs came from a house of ill repute," said Hurley, 77. "They came from an Ohio couple."

Merry, an agile man with small feet who loved leaping from boats and never used profanity, shared his savvy with local youth in the 1930s with his Sea Scouts.

"I learned boatmanship," said William P. McArthur, 84. "Knot-tying, water safety, longitude and latitude. How to navigate. How to handle a boat without drowning yourself."

In the 1920s and early 1930s, Merry piloted passengers, including Babe Ruth, on his boat the Margaret. Anglers landed fish, Hurley noted, because Merry knew the bay better than most people knew their property.

Hurley records that from 1930 to 1934, Merry was Sir Charles Henry's right-hand man. Sir Charles, an inventor, big-game hunter and Britain's largest landowner, resided at 2812 Pass-a-Grille Way and had a cruiser named Tim.

"We'd make test runs from Pass-a-Grille to Bradenton or Captiva," Merry said of the experiments that studied the speed, time and mileage attained by various propellers.

On March 21, 1937, Merry helped Harry Harker land a 106-pound amberjack, a world record.

About Christmas Eve 1946, Merry rescued a husband and wife who had run aground. "I remember them knocking on the door saying they needed someone who knew what they were doing," Mrs. Lynch said. "Daddy got out of bed and went."

By 1951, Merry had a new boat (the Merry) and had built a home at 2701 Pass-a-Grille Way. When his wife retired after 29 years as postmaster in 1963, Merry joined her. "He enjoyed life when he retired," said Mrs. Lynch, 76. "He was always doing something."

Merry saw the Eighth Avenue Pier named the Kenneth B. Merry Pier in 1979. "It's quite an honor," the captain said. "My father rented poles and sold bait" from this pier he built.

On Sept. 30, 1981, Merry died at age 83. "Mom had become, well, they called it dementia then," Mrs. Lynch said. "(Dad) just couldn't handle it. It took him down. Mom died one year later."

McArthur said: "Merry was the mainstay of the town, and everyone revered him. He was the beginning like God, and the end like God."

-- Scott Taylor Hartzell can be reached at hartzel@msn.com.

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