The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-23

And the mister and the merry maiden
| Fled, and found justice, and were made I'm.
| -Clipt.
THE BUMBOAT BUSINESS.
What Is Left of the Business Founded by
| Danny Noonan.
Here's your orders, ladies.
The tars crowded to the buiwarks and leaned
far over to noisilv greet the only bumboat
| woman who plies the trade in New York harbor.
| She was wrapped up snugly in homespun clothes,
had an old bonnet tied down over her gray hair.
| a bright red shawl folded over her shoulders,
and she chewed tobacco like any regular focastle
| lad. Two sun burnt boys sat cross-legged in
| the boat with her, and tumbled lot of tobacco,
and papers of needles, and variety of other
knickknacks into big pail, which stalwart
sailor let down from the man of-wars deck by
stout rope. 1t was hauled back chock- full and
while hundred tars waved a spontaneous adieu
with their blue caps, old Buttercup Murphy
plugged her left cheek with fresh chew of to-
bacco, and shouted shrill Good by" as the two
| oarsmen dipped their oars and shot homeward
through the white-caps.
While the ancient and picturesque marine
dame was homeward bound two bronzed and
rough clad boatmen sprang into big row boat
that rocked against the battery wall, and, seiz-
ing two pairs of oars, pulled with great energy
toward a dimly outlined German steamer that
was marked like silhouette against the Grim
son of he.sky. Mounds of apples oranges and
big layers of cake were piled under an aged tar
paulin in the bow of the boat, and in the stern,
propped up so that the rocking of the waves
couldn't upset it, was battered milk can filed
with lemonade
Twenty minutes Of work at the oars brought
the boat alongside the stern of the German
steamer, where many hundreds of motley
| dressed immigrants swarmed to eagerly watch
| the coming of the bumboat men. sailor
| slung rope from yard arm, and, grabbing it
as hungry fish catches bait, the bumboat man
| w har tic
wares for the small coin of the immigrants
Whenever the weather is fair and an emigrant
| ship comes In, any one anxious to see how the
| few remaining veterans of the bumboat trade
| can work can view the same animated scene by
| simply standing at the battery with field glass,
| or going over to the navy yard and watching the
| bumboat woman ply her Pinafore trade.
In years gone by, before the advent of steam
propelors, New York harbor had as many of the
picturesque bumboat tradesmen as ply an active
| trade nowadays along the water front of foggy
| old London and Liverpool. Now there are only
| three bumboat men and bumboat woman
| century ago and more, when ocean going
| craft and packet ships bad to be
off the battery in cluster for
| three or four days before they could
ashore. In those old fashioned days, when Cas-
| tie Garden used to be concert hall and echoed
| with the melody of Jenny Limbs voice, a young
lrishman, with blind eye and stont and rug
| around the American metropolis for something
| to do He saw the bunch of vessels at anchor in
the harbor, learned that they had to wait there
for days before the passengers or crew could get
| fresh bread or anything else American to eat,
and decided that it would be good thing to sup
ply the fresh bread. He hired big boat from
the old pioneer boatman, who then, as now, took
people out fishing from the Battery, stocked
it with bread and cake and other edibles, and
started out for the packet-shps riding at an
Choir. He came back with all the eatables gone,
and the boat piled up with old clothes. He
started next day with coffee and rice. and came
| back with more old clothes and small cargo of
| pumpernickel.
| He was Danny Noonan, the founder of the
bumboat business in New York. He kept at the
/ business until the Cunard line astonished the
| stajd old Knickerbockers by gliding UP into the
harbor with new tangled ship. Noonan feared
that this would knock the prop from under his
| business, and three years later he sold out. A
| dozen battery fishermen had meantime followed
his lead, became bumboatmen, and made con-
| siderable money. He died some years ago, hav
| ing lived long enough to see the man to whom
| he sold the things he got in exchange for his
wares from the immigrants build whole row of
houses out of the profits OF his eighteen years of
| dealing with the pioneer bumb0atman of New
| York The three men who will stick to the
business are named Wall, Clune and Reilly.
They carry it on i'll the same old fashion of half
century ago. One of them leaned negligently
| against stone pillar looked out on the harbor
waters pensively, and recalled old times between
| the whiffs of tough looking cheroot.
/ 'Tn them old Noonan times" he said, ''the
| packet ships used to ride at anchor off there
| sometimes for week at time, and the bum
| boats used to shoot out three times day, and,
| in addition to taking fruit and fresh bread to
the passengers used to load up with all sorts of
| knick-kn for the sailors. 1t used to take
over month to make the ocean trip then and
fresh bread and fresh tobacco were such nov
city that the bumboat men got regular ovation
when they came up alongside the ship, heavy
| laden with great baskets of fresh baked bread
and mounds of tobacco. The passengers paid
cash down, and the sailors gave the bumboat
men orders to buy jack knives, tobacco plugs
and lots of other luxuries when they got ashore
The bumboat men got commission from the
cutters and tobacco men for the trade.
IA great thing in them days, too, that was.
AS good as cash down was that Dutch pumper-
| nickel that the German emigrants fetched from
| the other side. 1t was so stale and hard by the
| time ii got to America that it would take an ak
to break it. We took it with the old clothes, in
| exchange for good fresh bread, and sold it over
again to erocers. They used to say they mixed
it up with chicory in the coffee to give it flavor
Perhaps they did, perhaps they didn't At any
| rate it was staple article with bumboat men,
| The business has gone down to almost nothing
nowadays, though and there's hardly any Gus
tom except on the man of-war ships. The tars
have TO stay aboard there for a long time, and
we get things for them that they can't get them
selves. Then we strike emigrant ships when
the man war clears out But if there was
wouldn't be worth pinch of snuff for living pur-
poses There's hardly enough of it to keep three
men busy more than half the time"
|
Performing Owl.
Savannah News.