The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1953-02-13

which, he said, looked like box,
had one engine and two propel-
lors.
After year in New York Mr..
Erickson bought a schooner and
sailed her south. He recalls that in
1911 he sailed into Manteo and put
the schooner on Creef's marine
railroad. 1t was at Manteo that he
had an engine put in the schooner.
At that time, the elder Creef's
son, Herbert, was a gay young
blade who was fixing up a speed
boat.
1--WE always wondered how he
came out with it," Mr.. Erickson
said.
After he had the engine INSTALL
ed in his schooner, he carried
freight for year or two. By that
time he decided that he'd rather
be with his family than anywhere
else, so he quit and went to Nor
folk to work for the telephone COM
pany.
That lasted until 1920, when
again he went to sea, this time
for Benefits North Caroline Line,
which operated steamboats,. Pref
ty soon he went back to Norfolk
to work for the city IS years.
For a last fling at feeling the
roll of a vessel under his feet, he
took yacht from Norfolk to Du-
luth, Mimi, for the brothr of
former Governor Osborne of Mich
igan. 1t was quite jaunt and even
today he recalls the wonder of the
lift at Peterboro, Canada, which
raised the yacht 60 feet straight
up, this avoiding a whole series
of locks which otherwise would
have been necessary. At another
place, a canal under construction
paralleling a river too rought for
navigation was not complete, but
the vessel was raised up and over,
to be slid by cable again into wat
err.
Returning to Norfolk, Mr., Erick-
son also returned to the telephone
company, for which he did subma-
rine cable work. In both world
wars, he was lent to the armed
services to do similar work in
Chesapeake bay.
1t was while thus engaged in
World War II that something
broke and struck him on the fore
head. Although he was thought to
be in such a serious condition when
he was taken to the hospital that
his wife and four children were
summoned, he still could not re-
sist playing joke. Left unattend-
ed in a corridor a few minutes be-
fore he was rolled into an exami-
nation room, he Strengthened his
body neatly and stiffly, pulling a
sheet up over his face. He was
careful to leave a peep hole so he
could enjoy the expressions on the
faces of hospital visitors who mis-
took him for a corpse lingering in
the hall.
Thinking back to his boyhood,
Mr.. Erickson said that he was ice
skating by the time he was 5 years
old 1t was not long before he was
skiing with the best of them, he
having learned on a pair of skis he
made out of barrel slaves. All the
youngsters in that part of Sweden
were as much at home on skates or
skis as walking.
Although he had done no skating
for a long time, the sound froze
over while he was with the Curri-
tuck Shooting club. When he voiced
a wish that he had skates, some
one phoned to Norfolk and had
them sent down by the beach pa
troll. The next day, he went skating
and stayed out for hours. Meeting
a friend who was going hunting,
he skated ahead to get the ducks
up off the ice into the air. The
ducks kept skidding on the ice in
their efforts to get aloft. Two of
them were too slow,-he caught
them in his hands.
In fact he had such a good time
that his friends at the shooting
club became anxious about him
and on the way home he met a
searching party, led by his broth
er-in-law. They were sure he had
drowned.
Maybe if steam hadn't replaced