Hi Gang, I spent some time in St. John's, Newfoundland back in about '53 - '54, and I can vouch for the fact that Screech exists, and was well thought of by Goofie-Newfies back in those days. Another specialty in St. John's was cod tongues, and cod cheeks - a delicacy... Marconi sent his first radio signal across the Atlantic from a hill just outside St. John's. When I was there, the cod fishermen had one lung make and break gasoline engines in their boats, and the sound of the thump....thump was delightful to hear as they left the sung harbor to go out and fish for cod The harbor hillside was covered with drying racks where the fresh split cod was hung to dry. There was a narrow gauge railroad that went from St. John's to the west side of Newfoundland, Port Aux Basque, and the ferry to Novascostia. The train ran once a day, and stopped at various mile posts to let off hunters and fishermen. It's main stop was Corner Brook, where the train from Port Aux Basque, heading for St. John's would stop on the adjoining track. Then newspapers were exchanged; news was exchanged "Mollie's daughter had her baby...." and then the trains departed. Connie Steve and Diana Parsons wrote:
Hey Jerry,
One thing old Farley did know was his booze. In "The Boat That Wouldn't Float", he referenced a poison known as "Newfoundland Screech" and its traditions. The traditions include never set the bottle on the table, because then you have to open it. If you open it, you have to drink it, 'cause it will otherwise go bad... And so on.
The stuff really exists, and Mowat was right. It does go bad. In fact it is so bad that you can't finish the bottle. so it's a self fulfilling prophecy. I bought a bottle in British Columbia, and when going through the wicket to purchase it, the clerk asked me whether or not I was going to drink it or wash my feet in it. I knew I had some classy stuff.
Regards,
Steve
On Jul 2, 2008, at 8:43 PM, jerry wrote:
By Farley Mowat, do you mean Hardley Knowit, the guy who wrote the book about wolves? To be taken with a grain of salt, I think. Probably inspired what's-his-name, ah, Algore. Actually, Hardley's book called "People of the Deer" was very interesting and a real adventure, but he was really screwed up on wolves and caribou, I think.
Jerry jerrymontgomery.org
----- Original Message ----- From: "W David Scobie" <wdscobie@yahoo.com> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 7:20 PM Subject: Re: M_Boats: Salvage
for folks wanting a 'good read' about salvage check out GREY SEAS UNDER by farley mowat. info link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ The_Grey_Seas_Under
for those having 'issue' with their boat you may find his THE BOAT WHO WOULDN'T FLOAT a good read.
in general mowat's books are great (he has written many).
dave scobie M15 #288 - SCRED visit Scred's www-site: http://www.freewebs.com/m15-named-scred
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