Tramping The High Seas
Growing up on a healthy diet of old movies has left a mark on me. To no one's surprise, I'm a romantic. This shows through in many things I do, and at many times has been an impediment in my life. But true it is, and I guess it's just my cross to bear.
One of the most enduring images in my mind has to be the primary form of long haul transportation for much of the past two hundred years; ships. I used to love the movies that took place on those great ocean liners of the 1930's; even a few of the more adventurous movies, where the action takes place on smaller vessels. Adventure and romance on the high seas didn't have to take place in the days of sail. As a result, I wanted to be on the water (even though I'm a lousy swimmer). Since my family couldn't afford a boat (or perhaps it's just that some members would have preferred that we didn't have one...), I had to settle on the miniature form. It was always a full sized one that I desired, though. Models just didn't cut it.
So, I have dreams of building a boat. Not a big one, mind you, just something to scoot about the coast and nose in and out of the various inlets that run along Florida's shores. I always pictured a flat-bottomed boat; bad for far offshore work, good for the shallows. Simple rig, either a simplified schooner or sloop, something that could take singlehanded sailing. Sturdy, easy to run ashore, not too difficult to put back out to sea.
And that's where the dream ends. I no more have the funds to build a sailboat then I have to buy a house. For now, the boat has to remain a dream.
There are other ways to spend time on the water, though, that aren't as costly, and in 1983, I began scheming a way to do that; a freighter cruise.
No doubt many of us have heard the old term "tramp steamer". My plan, in spring of 1983, was to take a tramp freighter to England. At that time, it cost around a low $450 USD one way... that was damned cheap! There were issues that needed to be squared away before I was to do this, such as passports, work visas, et cetera. To my twenty year old brain, though, it was a rock solid plan.
Pity fate intervened. Or perhaps that was love... I was dating at the time and the two girls who were in my lives at that time weren't so understanding. As with the sailboat, that dream was never realized.
Today, though, it turns out that the cost to do this is not all that different. I just discovered that a single one way ticket to Dublin, Ireland from Baton Rouge, LA would run $800 USD, including food. Deep inside of me, that twenty year old is saying "all right!" Of course, the married forty two year old is saying "can't happen". Still, it's a wonderful idea. Perhaps for those who still have the means, who are still free enough to travel unencumbered, the romantic notion of traveling the high seas in something other than a hotel on the water is a worthy goal. For me, though, it's satisfaction enough to know that that way of travel is still with us.
One of the most enduring images in my mind has to be the primary form of long haul transportation for much of the past two hundred years; ships. I used to love the movies that took place on those great ocean liners of the 1930's; even a few of the more adventurous movies, where the action takes place on smaller vessels. Adventure and romance on the high seas didn't have to take place in the days of sail. As a result, I wanted to be on the water (even though I'm a lousy swimmer). Since my family couldn't afford a boat (or perhaps it's just that some members would have preferred that we didn't have one...), I had to settle on the miniature form. It was always a full sized one that I desired, though. Models just didn't cut it.
So, I have dreams of building a boat. Not a big one, mind you, just something to scoot about the coast and nose in and out of the various inlets that run along Florida's shores. I always pictured a flat-bottomed boat; bad for far offshore work, good for the shallows. Simple rig, either a simplified schooner or sloop, something that could take singlehanded sailing. Sturdy, easy to run ashore, not too difficult to put back out to sea.
And that's where the dream ends. I no more have the funds to build a sailboat then I have to buy a house. For now, the boat has to remain a dream.
There are other ways to spend time on the water, though, that aren't as costly, and in 1983, I began scheming a way to do that; a freighter cruise.
No doubt many of us have heard the old term "tramp steamer". My plan, in spring of 1983, was to take a tramp freighter to England. At that time, it cost around a low $450 USD one way... that was damned cheap! There were issues that needed to be squared away before I was to do this, such as passports, work visas, et cetera. To my twenty year old brain, though, it was a rock solid plan.
Pity fate intervened. Or perhaps that was love... I was dating at the time and the two girls who were in my lives at that time weren't so understanding. As with the sailboat, that dream was never realized.
Today, though, it turns out that the cost to do this is not all that different. I just discovered that a single one way ticket to Dublin, Ireland from Baton Rouge, LA would run $800 USD, including food. Deep inside of me, that twenty year old is saying "all right!" Of course, the married forty two year old is saying "can't happen". Still, it's a wonderful idea. Perhaps for those who still have the means, who are still free enough to travel unencumbered, the romantic notion of traveling the high seas in something other than a hotel on the water is a worthy goal. For me, though, it's satisfaction enough to know that that way of travel is still with us.
posted by Robert at 9:51 AM
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