Reminiscences of a Raconteur, Between the '40s and the '20sHam, George H. (George Henry)
History
Reminiscences of a Raconteur, Between the '40s and the '20s
Ham, George H. (George Henry)
Canada; Ham, George H. (George Henry), 1847-1926; Journalists -- Canada -- Biography
only heaved. I would have given a million dollars if I could only have
been put ashore in a swamp without any compass—but I didn’t happen to
have anywhere near that sum about me. Sailors, who are proverbially high
rollers in the spending line when ashore, seldom have that much money on
board ship. But the _Marysburg_ and I were high-rollers all the same
just then, and took every watery hurdle. If it hadn’t been for the
nauseating mal-de-mer, I honestly believe I would have thoroughly
enjoyed the excitement. As it was I merely listlessly looked upon the
wild scenes as an unconcerned spectator; I knew if I were drowned I
never would be hanged. But the storm spent its fury, and once out of
troubled waters, down came the main mast, and the big anchor got up all
by itself and jumped overboard. I threw up my hat—about the last thing
I did throw up. Then I learned something about the law of averages—a
vessel has to sustain a certain amount of damages to obtain any
insurance. When the vessel arrived at Port Colborne, the claim for
damages went through like a shot.
* * * * *
When we were eating our first real meal in the cabin, the Captain
quietly remarked that if I, who had recovered from my temporary
disability, could handle the tiller or the sails in the same way I
handled my knife and fork, I would soon be amongst the greatest mariners
of the age, and would soon be a distinguished officer in Her Majesty’s
navy. Shiver my timbers, how I might have won the war and fame and a
tin-pot title and a pension!
* * * * *
That reminds me that when Port Dalhousie was reached I went to a barber
shop for a shave. My face had been nicely lathered, when I noticed the
barber making furious flourishes through the air with his razor.
Naturally I asked him what he was doing, and he told me he was cutting
their heads off. Then he gave another slash at the, to me, invisible
objects with heads on, and still another and another. It dawned upon me
that he was seeing things that can only be seen by a man with the
D.T.’s. “Hold on,” I said, as I rubbed the lather off my face with a
towel, “Let me help you”, and arising from the chair I said
confidentially to him, “Say, old man, don’t you think we could do the
job better if we had a little drink?” This appealed to him favorably and
we started out for a nearby saloon, where he ordered brandy and soda and
poured out a stiff ’un while I tried to drink a glass of lager, and
skipped out and never stopped running until I laid down exhausted in the
fo’castle of the _Marysburg_. That was the closest shave I ever had.
Stories of Pets
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