The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1953-02-13
DAYS OF SAILING SHIPS
RECALLED BY MAN WHO
HEARD OWN L Asst RITES

Kill Devil Hills.-A man who
heard his own funeral service reaC
many years ago, this week cele-
brated his 44th wedding anniver-
sary. He's able to get a laugh now
over that funeral" but it wasn't
funny then.
| T. H. Erickson of Norfolk, Va.
who frequently visits on the beach,
recalled that he was a young fell
low, on the crew of a sailing YES
sci caught in a severe storm on
the Atlantic. When it looked as
though the ship could not with
tand the storms oattering
through the night, the skipped call
ed the crew together and read the
funeral service. He closed it with
words Mr.. Erickson never forgot:
"If it be Thy will, we consign our
bodies to the deep. Back TO the
pumps, boys!"
Back to the pumps they went.
The storm subsidized and all was
we'll.
1t was A years ago Monday
that Mr.. Erickson harnessed a
horse for the first time and drove
through the early morning hours,
before light to the home of his
prospective bride. After a cup of
coffee, they, accompanied by her
sister and another witness, went
to Elizabeth City and were mar
ried.
Mrs. Erickson celebrated Mon
day by making a sentimental jour
ney to Elizabeth City, but Mr..
Erickson stayed on the beach to
keep store" for his son-in-law,
w. S. Gregory.
Although the Ericksons live in
Norfolk, they spend a good deal
of time especially in summer, on
the beach with Mr.. and Mrs. Greg
DRY. Retired five years, he is still
young sprout, with a running fire
of jokes and funny stores. It's not
often he can be persuaded to rem
inisce about his experiences.
Even when he does, he leaves
out many of his most thrilling ex-
periences, such as the time, when
he was on patrol duty in New
York harbor he saved the life of a
woman. She was one of the sur
vivors in a wreck which took 40
lives. Although he got her to safe
ty, two of her children were drown
ed and the shock was so great that
she lost her mind.
Born in Sweden, Mr.. Erickson,
whose name was spelled Ericsson
until the telephone company kept
writing his checks with a ''k" in
it,-he went to sea when he was
only 10. His home, Motala, was
beside a lake, in the central part
of Sweden, only 40 miles below
the Arctic Circle. Through this
lake, which is 800 miles above sea
level, runs a canal to the sea. All
his boyhood he had been around
boats and by the time he was IS
he could hold out no longer
against the call of the sea.
He first shipped as cabin boy
on sailing vessel carrying
freight: Within a year he had visit
ed England, Germany and Russia.
After a year, he went home, only
to find that he couldn't be satisfied
away from the sea. Again he ship
ped out, this time on a case oil
ship, before the day of tankers.
Before he was 16 he had been to
Java, around Cape Horn and
around the Cape of Good Hope,
adventures that most boys day
dream about but never experience.
Although he loved the sea, the
boy had his moments of terror.
For instance, when PHOSPHORUS
appeared on the water, sailors tCld
him that was the eyes of drown
ed seaman. The lonely call of a
loon they told him was the hope
less cry of the sailors ghost.
Afraid to look and yet too fasci-
mated not to peek, he spent some
uncomfortable hours.
Drawn partly by the stories told
by an uncle who had spent much
time in the United States, the
young Erickson came to this coun-
try and for some. time after that
shipped on coasting vessels out of
New York.
The young man put his time to
good use, studying navigation, un-
til he became a captain. In 1908,
he came to the Currltuck Shooting
club, to skipper a boat operating
between Munden, Va, and the