Salt Lake Telegram | 1929-04-28 | Page 22 | The Collegiate Sailors

J The Collegiate Sailors Sailors' I J. J j r. r pJ IpE boys in the mi middle e west will n n no 1 t longer dOnger be able to sp spend their s summer Vacations a M ns as deckhands on I Great Great Lakes akes 1 eight fl steamers t 1 The Lake Carriers Carriers' association has deJ de- de J I Jq dl that tha since these thes lads always ys J leave a y j just justat s t at L' L the he height of the season to tb resume their studies q udies ies they are more trouble tha than they are orth jorth orth Hence hereafter Great Lakes takes crews I ill hy-ill not include college e men l t. t For FOT many years the deckhands deckhand's job JOD ob has lIas e l a popular vat vacation Uon calling for thousands f students throughout the interior Each J rt ieA young hopefuls from scores of c cam cam- m. m pus 4 jes St have descended on the lake ports to fo tot t sign up as ts S ordin ordinary y seamen and spend three months lo sor or less traveling back and forth on t the le Gig big steamers that ply ply- between the tIle tower lower lake cities and the Lake Superior ports To ro young men bt brought u up in the land- land g f. cocked locked ed interior this his brought the thrill of open pe i tC ater a t taste of adventure that was often J 4 a t high spot in life for years ears to come T-f T Fresh from commencement week a ijo n chap would he head ld for some Mme such sU h city l. l t is b ta Toledo or or Gary There There There- c ted by some policeman he he he would wend wend- his way to the waterfront waterfront- and seek out the fo ms of f the Lake Carriers' Carriers association He r f o ld be shown into a bid bi barren room foor 1 lined with wooden b benches p which dozed a 1 dozen toen or more ungainly seamen their PO posses posses- S fons in la bags and suH suitcases ases at t their feet l Here Here after filling out a blank form with i W r T clerk he would i sit to toJa Ja wait t for tor his turn r t r lr Presently e. e after several hours of w waiting itin his j ranie ime would be called He would sign arti arti- i at it the desk and then follow a guide guid t. t waterfront streets shadowy and nd my mys- mys f I U If in the night to the docks ocl s. s Usually re would be a maze of railroad ad tracks track to b cross SS a tangled network of byways ai and alid t. t canals a to go through through and and finally the the sleepy y er would woul c come m out on a pier to Scramble aboard a dark steamer and be de de- livered by his g guide ide to a second who t would v uld show him to the crews crew's quarters 7 All AU of this commonplace ac enough ough would 7 like high adventure to a youngster er fresh iT i f from the study of English literature calculus and nd political science In th the morning when the vessel Would auld clear dear for Duluth or Esca Esca- haba or Superior he d feel as if le lie were beginning a voyage no no less tess thrilling and momentous than Drakes What if it would only take a fortnight to complete the trip and return For the moment the inland seas had exp expanded to oceans and the Lake Sutor ports were vere as distant a and d mysterious rious as Shanghai or Callao Many hY a man living liying for y years ars in dry land dry sec security nty a thousand miles from salt water still feels a kinship with the sea because of a summer of of this kin kind l. l The Great Lakes freighters have h helped to giVe th thousands of or ormen men a t glimpse of roving adventure that they could not h have ve had otherwise The alumni of t the and lakes fakes and you'll find them in every town from Buffalo to O Des bes' Mo nes ne's and ahil be- be yond vond will regret the new ruling that will willbar bar college men henceforth from this pleasure