Join me in the continuation of this sailor's tale as I share a seagull's unfortunate choice of dinner and describe this sailor's close call.

While the men worked hard on the Watson, a sailor had to have a little fun once in awhile. The deckhands were getting tired of cleaning up after the seagulls, which constantly used the deck as their personal bathroom. After scrubbing the deck yet again, all three deckhands went into the galley for a quick bite to eat. Much to the sailors' delight, it appeared there may not be fried potatoes for once. Instead they each grabbed a doughnut, only to find they were as hard as a brick.

All three deckhands were horsing around a bit, and instead of attempting to eat, they busted open a doughnut and filled it with Tabasco sauce. Seeking revenge on the seagulls, one of the sailors threw the Tabasco-filled doughnut over the side of the Watson. A seagull flying in the vicinity surely couldn't believe his luck at being tossed a morsel, and he quickly swooped down to grab the supposedly sweet treat before it had a chance to hit the water. Doughnut secured in his beak, he began to ascend, but as soon as the gull ate the first bite of this fiery concoction, he dove straight into the water. With his beak open, the gull hit the water hoping to put out the fire. The deckhands found great humor in this at the time and laughed like crazy as they went back to swabbing the deck!

On one occasion, the Walter E. Watson was traveling light en route to a dock in Superior, Wisconsin. Traveling at approximately two to four miles per hour, the freighter was attempting to make the turn at the dock, but the deckhand walking amid the ship could suddenly see the back end of the ship wasn't coming around fast enough. It was pretty windy, and in no time at all, the wind and waves hurled the Watson against the side of the dock. The dock didn't budge, and the sailor was thrown down from the force of the collision. Damage to the boat resulted in a hole 150 feet long.

Because of the collision, the Watson was out of commission for almost two weeks. Between the cargo hold and the outside skin of the ship, there are saddle tanks and webbing. The Watson traveled into a nearby slip for the repair work. The ribs on the inside had to be replaced as well as the webbing and outside skin. This delay barely affected the deckhands, though. They resumed their work of scrubbing and painting.

On one occasion, the deckhands were unloading their load of iron ore, and the cargo holds needed to be cleaned out well, since the Watson's next load would be coal. The Hewlett was used to scoop out the coal, which consisted of a 25-ton bucket hanging from cables. The Hewlett was also used to lower the bulldozers down into the cargo hold to round up any remaining product. Four cables, one for each side of the front and back of the bulldozer, would be attached to the Hewlett, and down the dozer would go.

The Mate, who couldn't stand to see a sailor standing around, instructed the deckhand to crawl down the bulkhead. As the deckhand was descending, he happened to look up in time to see the bucket coming directly at him. In his haste to keep the men working, the Mate didn't realize the Hewlett was coming back for one more scoop of coal. The fellow operating the Hewlett was almost 100 feet above the sailor, and the bucket was not on a direct arm, but rather it was fastened to cables. The deckhand stopped his descent as soon as he saw the bucket, and fortunately it missed him - but only by about two feet. The Mate then hollered at the deckhand to get out, which was quite obvious to the sailor anyway. What really rankled the sailor was the Mate was the one who had told him to go down in the first place.

Once the coast was really clear, the deckhand descended again to clean the cargo hold, which consisted of "H" beams welded together. Down in the cargo hold, the deckhands had to watch out for the bulldozers as well, sometimes running to get out of the way. The deckhands swept out the area with a broom that had steel fingers on it before using a regular broom. After the dozers were removed, any remaining debris had to be hauled up to the deck via a five-gallon bucket. About a half of a pail was all a man could lift since the iron ore was just like cement.

After the dozers were removed and the boat left the dock, the cargo holds still had to be washed out with a fire hose as some fines remained in the corners. A watchman usually directed the spray from the hose. If the watchman had to be up by the bow in foggy weather, then the deckwatch directed the spray with the deckhand pulling the hose. A sailor had to lean right into it, since there were 100 pounds of pressure to handle. The sailors often put the hose between their legs to give them more control. If the sailor spraying changed direction too quickly, he might be thrown, causing serious injury. When the cargo holds were cleaned thoroughly and deemed ready for the next load, the deckhands then went to their next duty of cleaning the deck. When the sailors washed the deck down, the iron ore gave the water a purplish color, and before long the boat was back to its pristine condition.

Safety was a big priority on the freighters, and the company would award each sailor a gift or token at the end of the season as a reward for not having any serious personal injuries. Sometimes this meant if a sailor did get hurt, he chose to suck it up rather than report it and ruin the crew's good record. In 1960, the deckhand received a silver lighter. One side was inscribed with '1960 Safety Award, Interlake Steamship Company,' and the other side was engraved with the letters 'PM', which stood for Pickands Mather and Company.

Although it was only August, the season was coming to an end, at least for the sailors who didn't have a lot of seniority. The company was starting to lay up the ships and lay off the sailors. The deckhand's brother arrived into port, possibly at Duluth, and someone with a little more rank was waiting for his job. While the deckhand had less seniority than his brother, he was still out on the lakes, so he couldn't get bumped. He was able to get in one more trip before another sailor replaced him. It worked out alright, though, because the deckhand was looking forward to a few months on solid ground. He had worked hard, and he had learned a great deal. Not only did he learn about life on the lakes and how to tie an effective knot, he also learned how to work with and get along with people from varying backgrounds.

Look for the continuation in next month's issue as I describe some rough weather the sailor encountered along with some of his daily activities.