Cape Breton's Magazine

story to go in a magazine, I guess! I guess it's going to go, but I don't give a damn. This is right. It's all true, what I'm telling you. And our old cooks,used to cook puddings. And you couldn't eat it--there was no way you could eat it. And when we got out of the ice, you'd look back and there was a big pile of puddings, big as this house! About 5000 gulls trying to eat it. It was made out of hardtack! I guess they couldn't do that today with a bunch of people, eh? I was only young, right young. I was the youngest one aboard perhaps. Fifteen, I suppose I was. Perhaps 16. (Where did you sleep?) Well, they had bunks, all around the wall, like that. A- bout 3 high, 3 or 4 in a bunk--there wer.e 4 in ours--right around like that. It was on the deck. But down, right there (below us), she was full of coal down there. And when the bunkers got empty, we had to hoist that coal out of there. So you know what kind of a mess there was--there was ice and coal everywhere we slept. We had to hoist it back, carry it back to the bunker in wheelbarrows. (Through the place where you slept?) Through the place where we slept. (And the place you slept, was it cold or warm?) Fair. (Fair. Nothing was good.) No, there was nothing good a- bout it. (And where did you eat then?) Eat right there. And no table. We never had a table. Just stood up wherever you could, and eat. Just sitting up like I and you, and eat away. So, after the 6 weeks was up, there was an? other big storm come. And a swell got un? der the ice, and opened it up, opened it up. And we got back. When we got to St. Paul's, we came out of the ice. He landed us in North Sydney. There was nothing run? ning then, no roads. You had to walk it. Or run it! We got down by an old boat from Ingonish. An old fellow was up after freight. He brought us back here, landed us in Neil's Harbour. Jimmy Brewer from Ingonish. So we landed. We made 2 dollars and 40 cents each. We ended up with a dollar and 8 cents. Anybody had oilclothes, and stuff like that--they took that off of him. (From the $2.40?) Yeah, that's right. Well, they'd pay for a few suits of oilclothes, out of everybody. A dollar and 8 cents, that's what we got, when we were cleared up. Well, 240 seals among that many men. And the spring before, she got 12,000. They made $400 apiece, the spring before that. (Did you ever go back again?) No, I never went back again. But I would have. 'Cause I know that times changed after that. I'd have gone back next year, yeah. (Why didn't you go?) Well, I never got a chance to go. That old boat was seized in New York, with a load of rtim. It was a good experience in a way. We nev? er had any tobacco, and we never had any grub. And I'm telling you. The holes in hardtack? Some of them had maggots in them. (Couldn't have been worse.) No, couldn't have been any worse. We all gained weight! All the young fellows gained a lot of weight--it must have been the fresh air out in the Gulf of St. Lawrence! It wasn't the grub, eh? WE HAVE INFORMATION ON YOUR PROPERTY - AND YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT IT IS! We have over 20 pieces of information on every number you see on this map, and we have a number on every property in Cape Breton, Richmond, Victoria, and Inverness Counties. That means we have a number on every property in Cape Breton Island. - A SERVICE WORTH INVESTIGATING - 1506533? 8 1506,53 29 I50653II - - 15065303 . '150652.95 15065-'87 15065360 15065402, l-5O?54l0 15565963 15065444 15065460 15065477 15065493 151344 06 (54) Land Registration / and Information Service ' Property Mapping and Records Division 66 Wentworth Street, Sydney, N. S. BIP 6T4 CONTROL SYSTEM of concrete monuments for surveying BASE MAPS: Orthophoto for rural areas. Line Maps for cities, town, villages PROPERTY MAPS with boundary information and ownership information REGISTRY ASSISTANCE for government and private users Your Property Is Our Business • Ask Us About It TELEPHONE (902) 539-2011 or (902) 539-2622 An Ap''ncy of the Council of. Maritime Premiers