Log of Sloop RED WOLF
4/27/36

Pirates Cove- Casino Island. It’s been a long month, but good to be back onboard my own boat again!  The past may be a nice place to re-visit, but I don’t think I’d want to live there again!

It was late March when Capt Andy of the “Liki-Tiki” dropped by my usual table at Shanghi Sadie’s with a proposition.  Some big Hollywood Studio was planning on shooting another pirate movie in the Spontoons & as the Tiki was the only  3-masted sailing ship in the region, had chartered her for the role of the “Pirate Ship”.  So far so good, but since the schooner didn’t “look” like a pirate ship,  they were having her converted from a fore & aft to a square rig.  They’d put up enough money to pay for converting her back again after the movie was shot, but the owners were getting other ideas.  Old trading schooners like the “Liki-Tiki”  had been, weren’t all that hard to come by.  A full 3-masted square rigged ship, on the other hand, hadn’t been seen in these waters since the days of the real pirates, and they sniffed the scent of money in the wind! 

In addition to the Schooner “Voyage to Cannibal Island” tour they ran now, Inter Island Tours Inc. was thinking about adding a second  “Pirate Ship to Treasure Island” tour.  The destination would be the same place, Albert Island, but landing in a more deserted part of the Island & the natives playing a more “hostile” role before being “placated” by the  leader of the expedition & putting on the usual luau festivities for the visitors.  After that the tour group would be separated into two search parties, each with map & native guide, to see which group could find the “hidden treasure” first.  As Inter Island Tours was communally owned by the Albert Islanders themselves, and these tours were the Island’s main source of outside income, they were all for the idea. 

The only problem, though, was if the “Tiki”, built as a schooner, would be seaworthy as a square rig?  Since I’d learned to be a sailor on the old square rigged Cape Horners, what Andy wanted was for me to take her out as skipper on a “shake-down cruse” so the speak.  He’d act as my 1st Mate and I would teach him what he needed to know to sail the ship himself while I put her through her paces & gave my opinion on keeping her with the Ship rig, or recommend reconverting her back to a schooner.  It sounded like it might be fun, so I agreed to sign aboard!

 The shipyard had done a good job on the “Tiki”, adding a raised quarterdeck & forecastle, in addition to large “crow’s nests” on the tops, to give her a more “old time” look in addition to the new sailing rig.  They had kept it simple; just main & top sails with spanker & single jib.  No topgallants, royals, skysails, flying jib or studs’ls to deal with.  Still, she’d still need a larger crew than a schooner did.  Until the Albert Islanders could train their own people, a group of willing hands from local schools had been hired on as a temporary crew.  Capt Andy assured me that they all had basic sailing experience in costal fishing boats & the like, and should learn their duty quickly. 

 About two weeks of heavy work followed, but Andy and his regular schooner crew finally had everything aboard the re-rigged “Liki-Tiki” properly trimmed and ship shape.  The fore and mizzen masts were still too tall for my taste, as the masts of a schooner are of near equal height whereas in a ship the main mast is taller that the other two. Still, until we knew if the “Tiki” wasn’t going to have to become a schooner again, it were best to leave the sticks their original length. 

 On April 10th the volunteer crew came on board.  Mixed boys and girls from the Meeting Island High School, and an all-girl contingent from Songmark Academy.  The crew was told off into watches with a mingling of green and experienced sailors, and the rest of that and the next day were spent in teaching them their duties and stations.  Most seemed enthusiastic about the “adventure” and learned quickly.  The only grumbling I heard was that some of the Songmark girls were disappointed the ship’s biscuits they had with dinner weren’t full of weevils!   I could understand he disappointment of the one ant-eater girl, but I had to wonder about that of the English house-kitten!  Maybe all those horror stories old sailors used to tell about English cooking were true? 

The evening of the 11th the movie people came on board, under the Lordly direction of one Stanton Sturdey II, Executive Producer of X-Zan-Do Productions.  He also brought along his two half grown & (to my mind, half-witted!) sons.  I’ve occasionally been asked why I continue to smoke an old fashioned pipe instead of the new-fangled cigarettes?  As the two Sturdey Boys proceeded to make obnoxious pests of themselves for the entire voyage, I was many times thankful for my old pipe!  Keeping it firmly between my teeth went a long way in helping me to keep my mouth shut! 

Fortunately, the rest of the movie crew were generally a fine bunch & got along quite well aboard ship.  The chief cameraman was able to answer one question that had been bothering me about the whole set up.  If this was supposed to be a pirate movie, why had the crew been outfitted in classic “sailor suits” instead of something more Buccaneerish?  Well, it seams the Tiki wasn’t going to just star in this one movie, but the studio planned to take enough of what they called “stock footage” of her to use in maybe a dozen or more other lower-budget movies.  In fact, the studio writers were already finishing up the scripts of a 12-episode matinee serial “The Adventures of Capt Horatio Hornbill” in which the “Tiki”, shown from different angles, would play the part of every ship in the series!   While the crew would only show up as long-distance background extras in most shots, they wanted them to be as non-descript “sailor” in appearance as possible.

As we finally came up on Albert (or “Cannibal”) Island, Mr. Sturdey told me he planned to file the entire approach through the reefs and into the lagoon harbor.  Andy shot me a meaningful look. This would not do!  The myth of Albert Island’s dangerous waters, too dangerous for even a sea plane to set down in, was one of it’s best kept defenses against uninvited visitors!  In fact, I could sail the approach nearly as easily as I can the home waters back in the Spontoons, but it would not do at all to have the fact recorded on film for the world to see!  Thinking fast, and talking faster, I began to spin a yarn of exactly how dangerous the rocks, reefs, and wild currents and whirlpools we had to somehow get past  before we made safe anchorage really were!  As Mr. Sturdey and his sons were looking a tad greenish by the time I was done, I guess it had the desired effect.  Too keep it up, I had the crew clear all the ship’s boats for action as lifeboats, & assigned lookouts to all the tops.  That one English House-Kitten from Songmark, Amelia something-hyphen-something, had shown good promise working the tops, so I assigned her to the more dangerous lookout station on the bowsprit, where her claws would give her some advantage. Then it was just a matter of taking some unnecessary zigs & zags as I made our way towards the lagoon.  The three Sturdeys were more interested in keeping their tight grip on the ship’s side rail than in shooting any more film!

The next few days involved filming the “Tiki” & shipboard activities, and I was able to give the crew some shore leave before we were due to leave the movie people behind to shoot on the island while we took the “Liki-Tiki” out into the open ocean for  two days of full and rigorous sea trials.  I admit I ran the ship and her crew pretty hard for those two days, but I was generally pleased with the way they and the old girl came through!  Capt Andy was also coming along well in learning to sail his old ship in her new rigging.  I’d be able to give the new “Liki-Tiki” a good recommendation to stay as she was now.  As none of the film crew were aboard, I didn’t have to bother about the “lifeboat drill” in returning to the anchorage.

After some final shooting of the ship (and explaining for the 5th or 6th time to Mr. Sturdey why he couldn’t film the ship sailing into the wind!) it was finally over & we prepared to head for home port!  Unfortunately, the Sturdey Boys had heard some whisper about the “Treasure Island” idea & jumped to their own conclusions.  They also decided to jump ship to go “look for the treasure”!   Naturally they had to pick a Taboo section of the Island to get themselves lost in, where the natives refused to go after them.  I had to call for volunteers from the “Tiki’s” crew to go find them.  I think some of them only agreed to go in the hopes they only find the two idiot’s hats floating on a pool of quicksand, but they still went & one of the parties even managed to bring them back none the worse for wear (unfortunately!)  They’d been hiding in a fever swamp of all places, & wouldn’t you know it but most of the party that had rescued them were down with the jungle fever themselves before we finally dropped anchor back at Spontoon. 

A poor end to what had been an otherwise good voyage, but it was a sad memory that back in the days when ships like this had been common, so was the sight of sick sailors being carried ashore; those that hadn’t, made their last trip over the rail sewn inside their hammocks first.  It had been nice to revisit the Old Days and ways of the 1830’s sailors for a while, but I think I’ll be happy to stay with my own little Sloop in these modern 1930’s, where I can disappoint ant-eaters with my biscuits!