Authentic Nautical Accessories, and Custom Furnishings
It had seemed such a good idea in the dry warmth of our favorite bar. Let’s head out to Baltimore and visit Bob and Chris. We got as far as New York before the rain started and kept up all through the Turnpike.
We’d remember this night and laugh about it years from now. Yeah, Right.
That’s right, the booze-filled evenings with crazy dance tapes. Dancing till four AM, even if it was sometimes with enemies, was normal. Tomorrow in the colloquium was tomorrow. Tonight we danced our unity as a tribe.
The parties could start as early as Thursday, and run through the weekend. An utterly successful round of parties might see a group of beached graduate students washed up like whales at our morning coffee spot, desperately seeking to replace fluids with coke and coffee—a subdued first class on Monday, routine.
After grad school, American Anthropological Association meetings had to do. Hoteliers were happy to see us. Once I asked a hotel manager how we were as a group. He smiled and said that Anthropologists drank more, but broke less than other groups. Which I guess was his way of saying the company made money on our stay – we attended meetings during the day, then drank and danced all night.
Dance was how I met the professor who was to have the most profound influence on me. It was at an Anthropological meeting In Toronto. At the time, I barely knew what the term Anthropology meant. I was visiting friends in Canada, and having lunch in the same hotel as the meetings. During lunch, a stocky man got up on a table and started dancing. Hotel management seemed OK with the performance. Years later, I learned who he was and what he was dancing. At the time, he was just an oddity.
It’s been long years, but on occasion, I recall the mornings ( around four AM) that a group of us would wake up sober while line dancing to Greek music.
At the end of the process, the work ethic of the short-timer frequently got summed up in one phrase- “He’s short.” He doesn’t give a damn.
When it came my time, I didn’t bother with a rope. I became detached from my squadron due to a hospital stay, and after the hospital stay, I got assigned to a variety of temporary duty assignments. I was waiting for my time to be up. Some of this work was only scut work. But then there was a pool hall.
The management of the pool hall was a pair of petty officers under the watchful eye of a Lieutenant JG. Meaning that the POs had free rein while the Lieutenant worked hard to get promoted on the other duties he had. Being that the pool hall ran itself, this worked out well all around. I got sent in to round out the team while others took leave time.
First, I had to get vetted. Inquires got made: can he be trusted?
I was not familiar with the duty rotation. We worked twelve hours on and then off for four days, and then we had three days off. After an orientation period, I got introduced to the pool hall’s racket. It was simple. Reservations for tables got recorded in pencil on a legal pad. Reservations could be made secretively for a bit of cumshaw *. All the workers got included in the division of spoils. In the Navy, this was smart because the tar got smeared equally if the racket was exposed. Everyone had an interest in protecting the racket.
All of a sudden, I had more money than I ever had during my enlistment. At the suggestion of one of the PO’s, I went to his tailor and had my issue uniforms tailored to fit. On my days off, I stationed myself in my old digs on Grove Street in Boston. Life was good.
It couldn’t last. When the regular’s returned, I was returned to other duties, not nearly as lucrative. I didn’t care. I was now truly short! I spent my last full day working with a surgeon performing a short-arm inspection on returnees from Asia. ” OK, skin it back…” a final and low point to my Naval career. The next day I carried my seabag to a depot, turned in my kit, signed some final paperwork, and became a civilian.
*
The word Cumshaw derives from a Chinese word for “grateful thanks.” Cumshaw was a late 18th or early 19th century add to a sailor’s vocabulary picked up on voyages to China. It can reference a gift or payment for a service. I know that some people refer to it as a bribe. But the way I learned of it from my father and other mariners, it was a sort of lubricant between cooperating parties.
See my post on Cumshaw:https://loucarrerascarver.com/2019/10/24/sailors-english-cumshaw/
• Thank a mariner – Naval or Merchant Marine for their service
• Remember that all those beautiful goodies you buy online are transported on ships crewed by merchant mariners.
• Remember that while the cruise industry is closed, thousands of crew are still stuck on board their vessels.
• If you enjoy seafood, remember it was caught by folks who daily participate in one of the most dangerous occupations.
By contrast, there were thoughtful customers designing name boards for summer homes, boat owners looking for the unique and the nonconventional. One of the nonconventional customers was a woman with a gorgeous canoe. For her, I carved a pair of thin cherry bow boards that complemented the canoe’s style.
If you’ve listened to my story, but still want to engage in the traditional work of carving quarter boards, transom banners, and the like, here is my advice. Get a subscription to one of the graphics magazines that cater to signmakers ( Google is your friend). Many of these produce annual guides to production costs. Unless things have changed, pricing guidelines for hand-carved work is included.
There is a parable in the boat building Trades, it also applies to maritime carving: Want to know how to make a small fortune in the trade? Start with a large one—best of luck.
As I walked through the woodland garden this morning, white doll’s eyes ( when the fruit ripens, that’s what they look like) cranesbill ( a native geranium), Solomon’s seal, and Jack in the pulpit, have all started to bloom. This progression of flowers continues from early April to late September when the little asters start blooming. Where I lived in Maine, a long time ago, some people used to call those late-season asters frost flowers because they turned a lavender color as the days of frost approached.
For now, I am on the upswing of the flowering curve. It peaks around the middle of July. Some of this is very showy. But, some like the Mayapple, require you to bend down and look for the flower below the leaf.
Some of these are only rarely seen, like the flower of the pitcher plant.
In an earlier post, I referred to the woodland garden as a wander, stoop, look, and mumble type of place. Its primary value is in offering up little insights on nature daily.
I can’t look at the new seed catalogs until the middle of January; then I can start taking notes and slowly placing orders. The seeds start arriving at the end of the month, and I begin to plan how I can claw back some greenhouse space in the greenhouse from all my tools. About the end of January, I begin to monitor day and night time temperatures. At some point between the last week of January and the middle of February, I’ll start tapping the maples.
These, and other rituals, go on until we begin bud break and sapping stops. Gardening rituals then commence. At which point, I intend to slow things down and enjoy every moment of spring.
We make haste slowly.
Typically, I budget about a quarter of my project time to research, unless the portrait is a well documented one design, or a small boat for which sufficient illustrations or plans are available. It’s when you start work on less documented material that you wind up in the weeds. The halibut schooner was in the deep underbrush.
Regardless of the craft you serve, there are documentation needs: patterns, illustrations, methods, notes on materials, or historical information. Over the years, I’ve grown a small but healthy collection of print and visual content. My urges to add to this depend on my current and proposed projects and general interest. Practice a craft long enough, and you wind up with at least a small library. If you love books, the affliction is much worse. Obtaining the material that you need can be a bit of a circus.
You might notice that booksellers don’t tend to hold onto extensive stock these days, and publishers have little motivation to make excess print runs for materials that they might have to sell as remainders. I suggest that you haunt library sales, befriend local used book shops, and support independent booksellers wherever you find them. But, this method of growing your collection can be hit or miss. If you are a chronic browser, this is a great way to expand your collection slowly. It won’t yield specific results when you need something for a project now.
As a sidenote for the public library user: I love libraries. However, except specialty libraries, like those associated with Maritime Museums, they don’t tend to have much for me. Sadly, every year I buy books for my collection that were initially library copies but got withdrawn and sold.
Which, of course, leads you to the internet and the realm of search engines. Depending upon the popularity of what you are researching, sources can be very rich or impoverished. For those of you who claim that they can always find whatever they need online, I’d posit that whatever it is they are doing, it is what many others are doing as well. Take an excursion further afield, and you will soon find out that the internet is not an equal opportunity provider.
This precisely why sites like Biblio, Abe books, Thriftbooks, and other places are your friends. Their search engines index the holdings of associated book dealers. The descriptions can be sparse. So, you have to be on top of your game in terms of what you are seeking. The photo I am using for this post shows part of the workshop library. I bought a number of these books used online.
Here are a couple of pointers:
1.) learn to read and evaluate the descriptive methods sellers use to describe books – keep them honest – if a book is described as having a tight binding, but shows up with loose pages complain.
2.) compare listings among various booksellers for price, condition, and shipping.
3.) Research your purchases. Not all sellers describe the contents of the book accurately.
4.) Develop wish lists for content that you are seeking. It may be available next month.
A current project I am working on is a portrait of a 1900 Victorian Steam Yacht. Thin online prospects and lean sources in my library led me to four online book dealers. I was able to find several low priced additions to the library that fill in some of my collections deficiencies. As the books arrive, I can fill the knowledge gaps in designing and executing the steam yacht.
A post on that should be forthcoming.
When I taught media, I would always remind my students to take the time to listen for the little audio contaminants that your mind edits out of your mental soundtrack, but which will be incredibly hard to eliminate in post-production.
It was during the Second World War, and it was my father’s second time in the water following a torpedo attack. Just moments before the crewmen off watch were sitting down to their evening meal. The sound and force of the torpedo exploding sent everyone flying. My father had succotash all over the front of his shirt. Little things like that tend to stick with you.
In the following minutes, men attempted to rush to damage control stations and assume their parts in fighting for the ship’s life. Before most made it to their stations, the tanker was in flames, and the order was passed to abandon ship.
My father was not among the ones who made it to a lifeboat. His life now came to depend upon his abilities as a swimmer. Not having a life jacket proved to be a blessing as he swam beneath a burning oil slick; the life jacket would have been a liability. Eventually, he was picked up by other survivors in a lifeboat. But, it would be almost a week before they were rescued by a passing vessel.
The memories were not mine. They were my father’s. For some reason one afternoon, he decided to tell his nine-year-old son about how to survive the sinking of a tanker. His descriptions were vivid, and I discovered that they abided with me throughout the years. That and an aversion to succotash.
Authentic Nautical Accessories, and Custom Furnishings
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