Stevedore
Posted: Sat May 28, 2022 5:38 pm
Yes, I know this was covered long ago, but this morning, reading how things had changed on the waterfront where I grew up, I got to wondering whether anyone born in this century knows who a stevedore is and what one does.
The Baltimore waterfront used to be commercial and industrial, and a few times every summer I would go with my mother to take an excursion on a steamboat to a beach resort to spend a day playing in the waters of the Chesapeake. On more than one occasion, we would see stevedores unloading bananas from a cargo ship docked at one of the wharves. No small pleasure boats, no aquarium, only a lot of noise and bustle. And the water was certainly not something a mother would want her child to be swimming in.
I do appreciate the "new" look, and enjoy exploring the aquarium, but I miss the steamboat rides! (I think that's where I found my fascination with how steam engines work). My high school class had its senior outing on the Bay Belle, and years later I was delighted to have the opportunity to take passage on her once more, from Narragansett Bay to New York. But sadly, the Tolchester, with its *much* more interesting engine, had been scrapped. So now I have to rely on pictures, which really can't do justice to the scene.
The Baltimore waterfront used to be commercial and industrial, and a few times every summer I would go with my mother to take an excursion on a steamboat to a beach resort to spend a day playing in the waters of the Chesapeake. On more than one occasion, we would see stevedores unloading bananas from a cargo ship docked at one of the wharves. No small pleasure boats, no aquarium, only a lot of noise and bustle. And the water was certainly not something a mother would want her child to be swimming in.
I do appreciate the "new" look, and enjoy exploring the aquarium, but I miss the steamboat rides! (I think that's where I found my fascination with how steam engines work). My high school class had its senior outing on the Bay Belle, and years later I was delighted to have the opportunity to take passage on her once more, from Narragansett Bay to New York. But sadly, the Tolchester, with its *much* more interesting engine, had been scrapped. So now I have to rely on pictures, which really can't do justice to the scene.