What a fantastic coincidence after all these years to type into Google "Great Lakes Ore Boats" and find your John A. Topping mentioned on my second click.
I sailed on the Topping in I think the summer of 1928 ----as a 10 year old passenger! I Later as a 16 year old I started working summers-----First on the C. Russell Hubbard , one trip as a Porter, then became a coal passer (couldn't stand the early & long hours in the galley)----Then the Leonard B. Miller, & finally the S. B. Way.
Where you say the crew lived on the forward end please be advised that the "Black Gang" lived on the aft end with the heat and engine and cable steering noise ! The deck gang in their quiet & cool forward quarters were so envied. God how loud that steam whistle was when you were within 50 feet of it! I was at 6 Ft. tall, 118 lbs. You had to weigh 175 to handle deck cables. Deckhands made $72 a month--Firemen $72----Coal passers $67.50.
I was trying to earn money for college. This period was simultaneously the most traumatic period of my life but now the most nostalgic! At the time, I studied and got my engine room credentials as a fallback if college didn't work out. It did so I have never looked back except as a survival experience.
Enjoyed your revival of all these memories!
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What a fantastic coincidence after all these years to type into Google "Great Lakes Ore Boats" and find your John A. Topping mentioned on my second click.
I sailed on the Topping in I think the summer of 1928 ----as a 10 year old passenger! I Later as a 16 year old I started working summers-----First on the C. Russell Hubbard , one trip as a Porter, then became a coal passer (couldn't stand the early & long hours in the galley)----Then the Leonard B. Miller, & finally the S. B. Way.
Where you say the crew lived on the forward end please be advised that the "Black Gang" lived on the aft end with the heat and engine and cable steering noise ! The deck gang in their quiet & cool forward quarters were so envied. God how loud that steam whistle was when you were within 50 feet of it! I was at 6 Ft. tall, 118 lbs. You had to weigh 175 to handle deck cables. Deckhands made $72 a month--Firemen $72----Coal passers $67.50.
I was trying to earn money for college. This period was simultaneously the most traumatic period of my life but now the most nostalgic! At the time, I studied and got my engine room credentials as a fallback if college didn't work out. It did so I have never looked back except as a survival experience.
Enjoyed your revival of all these memories!
Comments may be edited for appropriate language and HTML.
All fields are required.
Not all comments will be posted.
Your email address will be stored so that we may contact you again about your comment, but will not be displayed to the public, or otherwise shared, without your permission.
Comments will not be posted until they have been reviewed.
To make a a simple paragraph break, simply hit [Enter] twice