Coffee...
- Thread starter GC
- Start date
Not only had it here at home, we get it every time we go to the French Quarter. Cafe DuMonde is our first stop
Reminds me of a funny story. I loaded lots of chemical barges for Union Carbide years ago. They contracted several tug boats, all w/cajun crews, that handled company barges between Brownsville and Institute, WV. These were big boats, capable of handling 6 large barges at a time.
On the Margaret Lewis, the wheel house raised/lowered with a hydraulic lift to allow passage under low river bridges. The WH was only about 8-9' square and was accessed via a long outdoor stairway.
On one winter trip, the captain, who had fought a blue norther all the way down from Seadrift, came into our office and asked if we could find something to occupy Fontenot for a while.
He explained that Fontenot, one of the deckhands, was not happy unless he was standing right behind the captain in the very cramped wheel house and "jabbered endlessly in my ear, making me a nervous wreck". The captain added that the only relief he could get was to send Fontenot down to the galley to bring him a cup of coffee. It was rough water and a trip up or down the stairs in the driving rain was no small task, but to the skippers surprise, Fontenot showed up with his cup of coffee, filled to the brim. After a while the skipper asked for another cup of coffee, and asked Fontenot, "By the way, how did you manage to get that full cup of coffee all the way up those rockin' stairs in the howling wind?" The replay was, "It's easy, cap, I jes take a mouthful of coffee at the bottom of the stairs an put it back when I get to the top."
On the Margaret Lewis, the wheel house raised/lowered with a hydraulic lift to allow passage under low river bridges. The WH was only about 8-9' square and was accessed via a long outdoor stairway.
On one winter trip, the captain, who had fought a blue norther all the way down from Seadrift, came into our office and asked if we could find something to occupy Fontenot for a while.
He explained that Fontenot, one of the deckhands, was not happy unless he was standing right behind the captain in the very cramped wheel house and "jabbered endlessly in my ear, making me a nervous wreck". The captain added that the only relief he could get was to send Fontenot down to the galley to bring him a cup of coffee. It was rough water and a trip up or down the stairs in the driving rain was no small task, but to the skippers surprise, Fontenot showed up with his cup of coffee, filled to the brim. After a while the skipper asked for another cup of coffee, and asked Fontenot, "By the way, how did you manage to get that full cup of coffee all the way up those rockin' stairs in the howling wind?" The replay was, "It's easy, cap, I jes take a mouthful of coffee at the bottom of the stairs an put it back when I get to the top."
