San Francisco – Page 2 – intheboatshed.net

Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 4

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Three more chapters from Shanghiaed out of Frisco in the Nineties. This time, religious material in the lazaret; a trip ashore; and a sea possum.

‘To practise this black art of tarring, one hand clutches the jackrail; the other hand clutches a piece of canvas that serves as a brush; the tarpot is slung and moved in the best way available. The performer then stoops to conquer. And God help him if any drops reach the holystoned decks below! The great expanse of view exposed to me from the masthead gave me a good idea of the coast-line.’

For the rest of this series of posts:
Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 1

Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 2

Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 3

Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 4

Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 5

Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 6

Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 7

Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 2

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‘For some minutes Ben and I stared stupidly at the dark triangular dorsal fins of the sharks silently cleaving the unruffled surface of the sea.’

Two more chapters of Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey today: Chapter III Hungry Sharks and Chapter IV The “Old Man” Struggles With Algebra.

Why not print these out so you can read them at your leisure?

For the rest of this series of posts:
Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 1

Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 2

Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 3

Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 4

Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 5

Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 6

Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 7

Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties by Hiram P Bailey – part 1

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‘It is to be understood that the author is not a sailor, but merely a civil
engineer Shanghaied as one.’

The winter holiday season shouldn’t be all work, so I’ve decided to put up some cracking reading – the wonderful Shanghaied out of Frisco in the Nineties, by Hiram P Bailey. I trust some of you find time to look at it, but if you don’t these pages will still be just as good in the coming year or any other time.

I don’t know whether the tale told here is exactly true, but it makes a wonderful romp. What’s more, the various scenes including the dead horse ceremony, crossing the equator and the return to San Francisco (including a splendid villainous melodeon player) have a real ring of truth about them – Hiram P had clearly either done a lot of research or had spent time on ship himself.

My particular copy clearly belonged to someone fascinated by sailing ships, as just about every blank page has a cutting from a Cornish newspaper about sailing ships pasted over it.

PS. Some of Mr Bailey’s biographical details can be found here.