2022 Prompt - #2 Favorite Picture "Walking on the Wild Side"

Picking my favorite picture was no problem at all - this is my Dad, John Alexander Inglis, taken in the "Two Brothers' Bar" in Havana, Cuba on April 6, 1939. He is the one on the far right.

Dad was born March 14, 1914, in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Canada. His parents were Charles Clement Inglis and Mary "Minnie" MacPherson. Charles was a miner.  He and Minnie had three sons, the eldest of which was my Dad, and one stillborn daughter. I don't know for sure what his parents' ambitions were for him, but I would be surprised if it included plying the seas from Montreal to the West Indies.

Exactly how his employment came about I don't know but at the age of 24, Alex as he was called, began an adventure. Through the years 1838-1939, he worked for the Canadian Nation Steamships Line that operated a fleet of five luxury liners sailing from eastern Canadian ports to Bermuda, the West Indies, Cuba, British Honduras, and British Guyana carrying both passengers and freight. The liners were called "The Lady Boats" - Lady Drake, Lady Nelson, Lady Hawkins, Lady Somers, and Lady Rodney - all named after wives of British admirals with a connection to the West Indies. Dad served primarily on the Lady Nelson and the Lady Drake. He also served on the T.S.S. North Star which was operated by the Clarke Steamship Line and sailed essentially the same routes as the Lady Boats. All these ships were similar in capacity carrying about 335 cruise passengers. 

He began working on the Lady Boats as a steward however he was offered the opportunity to work in the ship's print shop. In those days, the ship provided passengers with printed material outlining the characteristics of the ship, ports of call, passenger list and daily menus. 

As noted above, one of the ports of call was Havana, Cuba and one of its most famous restaurants is "The Three Bothers". Originally called Dos Hermanos, after its original Spanish owners, the influence of northern sailors and tourists caused the name to be anglicized. In its heyday, the bar was frequented by merchant mariners docked at the port and during prohibition, by many Americans, including gangsters like Myer Lansky. 

I remember Dad talking about how people would swim out to the ships and people would throw coins to them. On one trip he said someone had a lion cub on board, assumedly as cargo. The crew would let it out for exercise, and everyone seemed to enjoy playing with it. I can't imagine something like that happening on a cruise ship now!

His most memorable experience however was when he caught malaria and was confined to hospital in Jamaica. He was so ill that the hospital cabled his family that he might not survive. He did, of course, but suffered lung damage and experienced episodes of bouts of intense coughing for the rest of his life. 

After returning home, he worked as a travelling salesman and an insurance adjuster. While he was good at his job, he always dreamed of working as a printer again. In the 1960s, he was able to achieve his dream and he became the owner and editor of the Liverpool Advance, a weekly newspaper.

It's sometime hard for us to think of our parents being wide and crazy but for a few years at least, this young man from a small town in Nova Scotia lived a pretty exciting life. The pattern socks and white shoes make be laugh every time. Miss you, Dad !