Merchant Marine Memories
Freighter Life in Hong Kong, 1954
In the 1950s I was a radio operator on the President Pierce. We were on the
Around the World run, which would take three more months back to San
Francisco via the Suez Canal and Europe.
In those days unloading a ship took three to four days so we had plenty of
shore leave.
Here is my Hong Kong report.
The first thing we did after docking in Kowloon was go to Joe Jung's Tailor
Shop. He was the number one tailor and every ship's crew went there.
He greeted us, "Hello guys! What do you want to drink?" This is about 10 a.
m. in the morning. You could have all you wanted.
After he mellowed us up, he showed us all the latest fabrics from England
and we were measured for suits and sport coats. They were very reasonable,
$40 or so in 1950s value. He could do them up in two days.
Then we went to a comprador, a Chinese agent for trade.
This is where we bought our liquor. Gorden's Gin, .90 cents a liter; cases
of Beck's Beer.
We hailed rickshaws and were off to the Peninsular Hotel, a remnant of
British life and very laid back. More drinks on the patio, where we could
watch the world go by.
Although we went to a lot of dives with women in other ports... Yokohama
especially, we did not in Hong Kong. Too busy shopping I guess.
The day the Pierce sailed a line of coolies carrying crates of clothes,
liquor, and beer headed down the dock. It was something to see!
Then we had a farewell to Hong Kong party and all of us got pretty loaded.
As the radio operator I did not have to go on watch until we dropped the pilot.
But the helmsman was another story. He was feeling no pain as he steered us
through the crowded harbor and we narrowly missed other ships as we zig
zagged our way to sea.
More ports later.
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San Francisco memories