Page 11 - Chiasson from Cheticamp: Working on Coastal Vessels

ISSUE : Issue 65

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1994/1/1

steer?" I said, "Yes, I've learned to steer." One of the sailors had quit in Hal? ifax, so he was short of one man. So, that's the reason he asked me to steer. So I did my turn at the wheel, same like the old fellow that was with me. We got as far as Port Hawkesbury, and I was going to get off at Port Hawkesbury; I had some rela? tives there. So I told him, I said, "Would you mind if I got off after the cargo is discharged at Hawkesbury?" He said, "No, but I intend to hire you." He said, "You're doing your work pretty good." So, that was it. I stayed with him for two seasons. (Was this a sailboat?) No, it was a motor- boat. It was an ex-rumrunner; she was called the Reo. When he bought her there was no mast in her. And he had to equip her for handling cargo, because those rum? runners had no mast. Everything was done by hand. Passing the cases, whatever it was, all by hand. So they had to put masts and derrick and a deckhouse. I went on that little coaster, that Reo. We used to leave Halifax--today, it wouldn't even be (allowed) to (carry what we carried). You know, there were no tank? er trucks like today. The gasoline used to come in 45-gallon drums. And we used to have a deck load. Because the gold mines DIXONS SATELLITE SYSTEAAS All Your SATELUTE & CELLULAR Needs! BADDECK ?? 295-3208 ?m'i.-tjji,uw.iij.-tMd=KiMJHL-t<.iinn?? veil plus Boards & Programming • Rent • Lease-to-Ownfrom$49.99/monthO.A.C. CELLULAR PHONES & CANTEL AIRTIME ?... 'S'' ' • m- • 'sSiW* Left: a coastal boat at the wharf in Cheticamp. Above: view of Cheti? camp with the busy shipping wharf, at the time of the gypsum. (See "La Mine de Platre a Cheticamp" in Issue 24 of Cape Breton's Magazine.) in Gold Bar and Isaac's Harbour, they were working then. So we used to leave Halifax. As a rule, we might have had a carload of dynamite, and about 25 or 20 boxes of dy? namite caps. Down in the hold. And 125 drums of gasoline on deck. No radar or nothing, in dense fog. A real time bomb! Today, if you load dynamite, you've got to have an escort ahead of you. In those days-- all the freight along the shore used to come by these little coasters. And Briarhill KENNELS 295-3255 Box 22 BADDECK BOE 1 BO Glenda Kaiser PROPRIETOR BOARDING & GROOMING for DOGS & CATS (INDOOR/OUTDOOR RUNS) Certnicale ot vaccination required PetSupplies |AMS*= TeAl'fR" (7pT??Tlgi) Techni-Cal Leo Fownes Trucking & Contracting 295-2888 • BIG BADDECK FLOAT SERVICES: • Excavator • Loader • Dozer • Backhoe TRUCKING SERVICES: -Sand .Gravel .Fill .Topsoil LANDSCAPING . Well Digging .Septic Bed Installations . Fuel Tank Installation & Disposal • Road Building . Custom Skidding & Hardwood Sales . Demolition Services GENERAL CONTRACTING SERVICES MANAGEMENT SERVICES AVAILABLE FOR WOODLOTS IN VICTORIA COUNTY (under Federal/Provincial C.A.F.D. Agreement) SERVICES RECENTLY EXPANDED TO COVER: Boularderie Island and North of Smokey to Pleasant Bay Baddeck Valley Woodproducers Co-'op Ltd Yellow Cello Cafe Bakery Pizza ' / 295-2303 ;f Welcome to Baddeck, on the Bras d'Or Lakes!

Cape Breton's Magazine