My dad first said that phrase to me a long time ago. They were old words of wisdom and what they mean is that you should form your opinion of someone based on your direct dealings with them and not based on what others may say about them.

I tell you that before looking at someone I met and interviewed some years ago and who turned out to be much nicer than I had expected.

That person is Farley Mowat. He was a controversial Canadian writer and environmentalist. His books have sold more than 17 million copies around the world, but he came under criticism for some of his writings like Never Cry Wolf which critics say is as much fiction as fact. He was a larger-than-life character and liked centre stage in the world of Canadian writing.

Anyone who lives here knows the story of Farley Mowat. He was very much attached to Newfoundland and its ways but left here eventually after being vilified for writing A Whale for the Killing. That book chronicled the senseless killing of a trapped whale in Burgeo where Mowat was living. You may remember some residents of that community had fired shots into that trapped whale using the beast for target practise. Eventually the whale died. Farley wrote about that. Although he pointed out it was just a tiny minority of Burgeo residents involved, the writing about it didn’t sit well with the community or with the province. Newfoundlanders are like that, but we are slow to admit it. Mowat was an outsider. It didn’t matter a whit that the substance of what Mowat had written about the killing of the whale was all true.

Years later he was back in St. John’s, and I interviewed him at some length. He was a real charmer. Mowat was friendly and bright and freely acknowledged that he had “soiled his own nest” by the book he had written about the Burgeo experience. He told me about those things without any hint of bitterness but with some regret. We then had a wonderful chat and interview about his work. That chat included thoughts on his book and about the process of writing. It was great.

Mowat had also written The Grey Seas Under. I have always been and still am a fan of stories about matters related to the Atlantic Ocean.

When I was growing up before the days of television, I have vivid memories of listening every week on the radio with my dad to a show called Strange Stories of the Sea. The memories of those evenings in our home remains with me.

The Grey Seas Under was published back in the late 1950s. It is the story of the work of the Halifax salvage tug Foundation Vigilant. I read it by flashlight under the covers in my bedroom and it was one of my favourite books about the Atlantic Ocean. I still pick it up occasionally. Because it was an important book in my life, and you can imagine what a pleasure and a surprise to have sat with Farley Mowat himself and talked about the book.

Mowat’s work was translated into more than 50 languages, and he sold millions of books around the world. His stay in Newfoundland was complicated and it has many aspects to it. I found him to be heavily opinionated but willing to explore any subject brought forward. I also found him to be a nice guy. He was to me anyway and as dad said: “Speak as you find”.

You can contact Jim Furlong at [email protected]