Ponderings
Sail Ahoy
Frequently, there are so many cruise ships at anchor in the Harbour that much of the horizon is blocked-out.
Seeing their launches and tenders ferrying thousands of passengers to shore, my thoughts transported me back to times long past, when the sighting of a single vessel was an important event in George Town.
The first person to make such a sighting would invariably shout out "Saaaaail-O.
That was the signal, until everyone in George Town from Dixie to SW Point was on the shore singing out "Saaaaail-O.
If the sighting was a turtling Schooner returning home, the "Cimboco" from Jamaica, or the "Nunoca" from Tampa, everyone was interested.
Naturally this excitement was everywhere, especially when there was mail, passengers and cargo.
The old Post Office (downstairs in the Museum building) opened the mail sacks and sorted the letters, packages and catalogs as quickly as possible so that distribution could be made to all those crowding around the door.
Those were always exciting days. As I hear the loud bellowing of the Cruise ship's horns, I say to myself "I wish I could hear those Saaaaail-O sounds again."
(An old sea captain once told me that the Saaaaail-O signal was a colloquialism for SAIL AHOY).