CRUISE VIGNETTES 01

AN IMAGINARY CRUISE
Our first “cruise” was imaginary, but a lot of fun. Ever since my short stint in the Merchant Marine, starting at age 17, I had wanted to spend time on the Ocean, but the cost was out of sight. One time we were able to get permission to tour one of the Matson Line ships, the famous “SS Lurline,” while it was in the Los Angeles Harbor for a night.

As we walked around in this exquisite, luxurious floating palace, and were about to enter one of the dining rooms (just to look around, before dinner was served), an officer said, “Are you a member of the crew?” We didn’t know that in those days, on these ships, men at least wore a coat and tie at dinner time, and many often wore a tuxedo in the evening. This officer thought a member of the crew was showing his wife around the ship. No one but a member of the crew was seen without a tie at this time of day, and the “under-dressed” crew members were not allowed in this part of the ship at dinner time.

To this day, Emmy will occasionally say, “Are you a member of the crew,” when she thinks I’m not dressed appropriately. Hey, I can tell a few stories about her too, and most likely have, somewhere in these pages.

STANDBY, SAN FRANCISCO TO LOS ANGELES
In the 1960s, we were on “stand-by” for several years to get an overnight trip on a Matson Liner from San Francisco to Los Angeles. In those years Matson passenger ships sailed a triangle from San Francisco to Los Angeles, then to Honolulu and back to San Francisco. Sometimes a cabin would be available for the San Francisco to Los Angeles leg of the trip.

They finally called one Thursday noon, and said we must be in San Francisco the next morning. We didn’t want to be in such a rush, and had hoped to spend a couple of vacation days in San Francisco along with the ship ride. So we refused that time, and never got another opportunity.

Some people had told me that in the 1920s and ‘30s, passenger ships made overnight trips between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Businessmen used that as the way to travel between those cities.

That sounded just fine to me, since two or three times a month, I had to fly to San Francisco on a business trip. Other businessmen I talked to said they also would appreciate service like that, so I telephoned several ship companies, and visited the main office of one company, to see if anyone was interested in starting overnight trips between Los Angeles and San Francisco. They didn’t think it would be profitable.

WE VISITED THE BOOM-DOCKS
One time we were visiting the docks in the Los Angeles harbor, looking at the accommodations on a Matson Lines freighter ship that we would have liked to enjoy as passengers. There were a half-dozen cabins, beautifully furnished, with public rooms for reading, writing letters, and playing cards. The passengers ate in the officer’s dining room, on the ship. It appeared to be all we had hoped we could take advantage of, some day.

Some friends were with us, and I was showing my supreme knowledge of the shipping industry, based on my long, extensive three or four months experience in the Merchant Marines.

The cranes that are used to load and unload a ship are called “booms.” And of course we were on a dock, a place where a ship is tied while loading and unloading. As I pointed out these important facts, Emmy said, “Oh, that’s why they call this the boom-docks.” The driver of the passing fork-lift was laughing so hard he almost ran off the dock into the water.