The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1920-04-09
4 TRUE STORY OF THE WONDER
INGS OF AN OCALA BOY
Chapter 1.

way. | was born and bred in Ocala,
Florida, which you all know is long
way from the sea, except for seeing
a few vessels at such small ports as
Fernandina and Tampa, and now Jacl
sonville when the appearance OF all
craft seemed like wonderland TO ME,
and | longed for the time when I'd
grow big enough to be member o.
the crew and sail away to the great
sea ports of which knew not whittier.
write of time quite different from
today, when there is shortage Ct
labor, sailormen il particular
In those days almost thirty years
ago, it was quite the reverse.
There was a glut of labor on the mar
ket, the supply greatly exceeded the
demand. To look for ship, the sail
ors term OF hunting for job. was
only TO find a great many applicants
ahead of you, consequently only the
best fitted physically and most expert
enced were accepted, so needless 10
say, was frequently dissappinted in
my efforts.
AS time flew On | had made few
voyages to the West Indies. and Mex
leo, and one day / found myself in
Boston. OF course, / was looking for
ship, but berths were few and far be.
tween, and soon my money was run,
ming very low. About the only en-
ployment available was on cattle
steamers, running between there ant
England, and at very low wage a,
that, but as my money had completely
given out, could see nothing else tl
do but ship.
1t was on the British Steamship
Alaska, a big freighter, of about nine
thousand tens, on which / cleared out
of Boston. The cargo consisted OF
several thousand head of cattle, sheei
and several hundred horses. While It
was in the month of March, winter in
the north Atlantic, the weather wa
not particularly rough, now it seem
strange that the most frequenteC
ocean passage in the world, between
Europe and North America, is tn,
most dangerous. Off the banks of
Newfoundland we ran into a fog ant
came near colliding with another lire
which passed so close that one coule
have jumped to the other deck; other
than this there were no casualties, ex
cept for numerous deaths among til,
horses which were of daily occur
renee. When l say casualties. must
not omit the quarrels and brawles
among the crew, especially the cattle
men, to which class it was my mis-
fortune to belong temporarily. They
were composed for the most part OF
the jestsam and floatsan of society
The Jail and work-house class pre-
dominated, crime and criminals were
the usual topics of conversation, anG
ones social status depended entirely
upon his knowledge OF such institu
tons, and the various times he had
been sent up. consequently my stand
ing among them was not very high
You may form your own conclusions
as to the bill of fare, when IteI yo,
that We We're INDUCED the luxury d
fresh bread twice week.
The work was very hard al. irk.
seine; in addition to working all day
We frequently had to take one.halt
watches for the night. After alnios,
Two weeks of such sailing, the noun,
tains of the south of old ireland be
San to loom up, and funny shiue
about it all, the sea took on a g ZEE !
ISL color, all of which tended gr n y
to relieve the monotony. At length
we We're off the Welsh coast. Now, il
has been handed TO me that | am Of
Welsh extraction. and as I looked
longingly at those shores, thought
OF my ancestors, wandered what thes
looked like, and how ard why thel
left, as it was from there that i,
forefathers sprung. and that |, a lons
since European transplant, was view
ing the land OF my origin. But to &c
back to the story.
We landed in Birkenhead which i
a sort Of Jersey City to Liverpool
and landed the cattle there Now.
does not take very long to unloa
live stock. as they walk off: no nee
Of trucks, etc, as with other freight
and soon were in Liverpool. MOI
that port differs from other seaport
in MANY WAYS that Is ftoro ;S ;,