The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-07-12
By F. F. Bingham.

threatening, the captain weakly con-
Guided TO go into port.
He had the choice of Vera Cruz,
Coatazacoalcos or Frontera, and he
made the worst possible use Of his
choice by choosing Frontera.
The schooner was drawing ten and
nalf feet. At Frontera bar he learned
that there was only eight and a half
feet of water on the bar. Even then
Re should have stood off for COata
ZacOa ICos, but apparently he was wild
to get inside. and he wrote in to the
FrOntera consul that he was out of
provisions Though only three weeks
out of Pensacola )and that the crew
refused 70 proceed.
The consul in reply ordered the cap
tain to send him the ships papers.
which the captain wrongly did The
consul then engaged lighter and tug
boat from a friend of his, Don Pope
Pooh. at the rate OF $500 PER DAY,
to tighten the schooner so that she
could cross the bar.
Then the work was humhugged and
six days were used to lighter fifty
thousand feet of lumber (abOut one
hundred t0nS), at 4 cost of $500, or
considerably more than the schooner
viii get for carrying the whole cargo
from Pensacola to Belize.
1t is plain robbery, but the consul
and the captain say I must submit.
The S1,8UC is just g starter. The
schooner has been here a month and
all hands eating and drinking day
and night. The captain has drawn
money from the consul, and wherever
he could, without keeping a record of
it, almost daily, and he has made ad-
VanceS to the crew on demand without
keeping a record or taking a receipt.
There absolutely isn't a thing wrong
with the schooner. The seventy-five
thousand feet of lumber that is still
aboard is as dry as it was the day it
went into her at Pensacola. She Still
has q good share of tho provisions
aboard that she left Pensacola with
There is half a barrel Of beef that has
never been opened. | am told that one
member of the crew. having access to
the stores, has been trading canned
goods in the town for rum.
Besides the $500 for getting into
port and the outrageous expenses
since the schooner has been here,
there will he a heavy expense in re-
loading and reprovfsioning for the
voyage from F'rCntera to Belize, so
that altogether the schoner's ran
SOM is about 81 900 Mex, and should
have that amount on me instead Of
only about $1,000.
The crew blames the captain and
the captain blames the crew and the
consul While the captain has used no
Judgment. and has been extremely
fender is the consul.
When the captain is with me he
curses the consul most horri bly,. /
trembe for tie Consurs life. But
when the three of us are together the
captain IS as meek as Moses and ac-
quiesces in everything the consul says.
In a Way il is amusing.
Really too. the consul is a charming
fellow He is chock full of patriotic
sentiments. He ate dinner with me
aboard the schooner today. For desert
we had very ordinary dried-apple pie.
Dried apple pie reminded the consul
Of the states and of his own dear old
Pennsylvania: il sent boyhOOd recol-
lections surging through him and all
of a sudden he was homeSlCk. The
tribute which he paid to the great
country that had produced those dried
apples was touching and had the true
ring. He lauded too the ship that had
brought these dried-apples to this
overlooked Garden Spot, and her own
err and the cook that had baked the
pie. and for a moment, Dust for
mOment). | was proud of my COnneC-
ton with the affair.
He hands me lots OF flapdOOdle but
says firmly that there is nothing for
me to do but to pay-up or leave the
ship here. He IS partner with Don
Pope Pooh (they call it Pee Pee
Pok-ee) in two or three enterprises, |