Edmonds, WA 98020
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PROLOGUE AND DEDICATION
Voyage of the Forest Dream
& Other Sea Adventures
Photo Barkentine Forest Dream
A Memoir
Available from the Author
Captain Niels P. Thomsen,USCG (ret)
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| Prologue & Dedication | Synopsis | Crew Photo | Starboard Watch | Port Watch |
| Reviews | Press Coverage | Arctic Photos | The Author | Photo Gallery |
| The Captain &
First Mate |
Acknowledgements |
The voyage of the Forest Dream is contained in book one of three volumes of JOURNEY OF AN IMPATIENT HEART, a chronicle of my life which I commenced writing ten years ago at the age of eighty. It was intended for my children and their children as family history. It was highly personal and written with total honesty without thought of publication.
In the beginning the Voyage of The FOREST DREAM in 1925 was but a chapter in my memory until five years into my story, when by an incredible series of events the seventy year-old diary of my closest friend and shipmate, Malcolm Chisholm, came into my possession. This was the diary that Malcolm read to me almost daily during the fourteen month-long voyage of the FOREST DREAM.
The remarkable set of circumstances which resulted in my recovery of Malcolm’s diary convinced me that as the only survivor it was my duty to my shipmates to present our story, as Malcolm had intended, to those who love the wonder, beauty and mystery of the sea, as did Mac and I, and my watchmate Frank who paid with his life when he fell from aloft one dark night during a gale while we were furling the upper top-gallant sail. To these beloved shipmates of so many long years ago this book is dedicated.
To the renowned maritime historian and noted collector of sailing ship memorabilia, Captain Harold D. Huycke of Edmonds, Washington, I express my great appreciation and gratitude. It is due to his spirited generosity that the seventy year-old diary of my beloved shipmate, Malcolm Chisholm, was made available to me. By virtue of this action, this tale of the sea has become a reality for the enjoyment and edification of those of us who dream or have dreamt of being a part of the adventurous era of tall ships, billowing sails and following seas.
To my Secretary, Diana James, I owe a standing ovation for her enthusiasm over our project, her tactful, unbelievable patience, and the multitude of skills that she brought to this endeavor.
I thank my youthful, tempestuous wife, Airdrie, for her forbearance with my ten-year obsession with the Voyage of the five-masted barkentine FOREST DREAM.
I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Suzanne Price, my former neighbor, who presented me with a copy of an East Coast marine historical magazine, wherein a minuscule "letter to the editor" eventually led me to Malcolm’s seventy year-old diary.
THE VOYAGE OF THE FOREST DREAM IS A PERSONAL CHRONICLE OF THE LAST COMMERCIAL SAILING SHIP TO DEPART FROM THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST ON A PROLONGED VOYAGE TO THE FAR EAST VIA CAPE HORN. IT BEGINS IN THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER, 1925, WHEN A YOUNG SAILOR STRAYS FROM THE SEATTLE WATERFRONT AND FINDS EMPLOYMENT WRAPPING UP FISH IN NEWSPAPERS FOR CUSTOMERS AT THE PIKE PLACE MARKET. IN THE SEATTLE TIMES HE SEES A PHOTO OF A FIVE-MASTED SAILING SHIP SCHEDULED TO SAIL IN TWO WEEKS TIME FROM VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA TO THE ISLAND OF MAURITIUS IN THE INDIAN OCEAN ON A VOYAGE CIRCLING THE GLOBE VIA SINGAPORE.
THIS WAS DURING THE WILD AND VIOLENT ERA WHEN THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES PROHIBITED THE IMPORTATION OF ALCOHOL INTO THE COUNTRY. THE NIGHT BEFORE SAILING FROM VICTORIA, THE CAPTAIN SMUGGLES ONE HUNDRED CASES OF SCOTCH WHISKEY ON BOARD, WHICH THE SAILORS CONCEAL IN THE LAZARET SAIL LOCKER WITH THE INTENTION OF DELIVERING IT TO A RUM RUNNER OFF THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST. BUT THE RENDEVOUS IS TWARTHED BY THE UNITED STATES COAST GUARD, AND THE VESSEL PROCEEDS ON HER PLANNED VOYAGE AROUND CAPE HORN, ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN TO THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE AND ON TO MAURITIUS.
THE VOYAGE BECOMES A NIGHTMARE OF MANY MONTHS AT SEA, WITH THE CAPTAIN AND THE FIRST MATE TOTALLY CONSUMED BY THEIR ALCOHOLIC APPETENCY. THE RUDDER OF THE SHIP IS DAMAGED, AND THE CAPTAIN, FEARFUL OF THE HEIGHTS OF THE TREMENDOUS FOLLOWING SEAS OFF CAPE HORN, DECIDES TO DEFY SAILING SHIP TRADITION BY DIVERTING THE SHIP’S COURSE TO PASS SOUTH OF AUSTRALIA ON A WESTWARD COURSE AGAINST HEAD WINDS TO REACH MAURITIUS VIA THE INDIAN OCEAN, A FATEFUL DECISION. ENCOUNTERING INCREDIBLE HARDSHIPS, ONE OF THE CREW FALLS FROM ALOFT DURING A GALE AND IS BURIED AT SEA. FOURTEEN MONTHS INTO THE VOYAGE THE SHIP THEY HAVE GROWN TO LOVE IS SOLD TO A FOREIGN COUNTRY, AND THE SURVIVING CREW MEMBERS ARE STRANDED DESTITUTE IN AUSTRALIA.BY THIS TRUE NARRATIVE, THE READER WILL RELIVE THE DAYS OFMUTINY OF THE BOUNTY, AND RICHARD HENRY DANA’S TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST. IT IS ALSO THE STORY OF A BOY’S PASSAGE INTO MANHOOD.
It was September 1925. I was eighteen and on the beach in Seattle, Washington. There was little or no shipping out of the Sailors' Union Hall, and no work to be found on the waterfront. In those days any area North of Seneca Street and above Second Avenue, and the Pike Place Market was out of bounds for Sailors and Prostitutes. Being broke and out of work, this edict did not deter me, and I walked up First Avenue to the Pike Place Market, and inquired at the various food stalls. The third place I asked, I was given a job at two dollars a day wrapping fish in newspapers for customers. I found the work at the Market new and interesting; meeting and conversing with a family class of people, a rare experience for me.
After working for a few days, and while in the act of wrapping fish, I spotted in The Seattle Times, a photo of a five-masted sailing ship, together with an article saying the ship was loading in Victoria, BC for a voyage to Mauritius, an Island In the Indian Ocean. The vessel was named FOREST DREAM. I still had dreams of Joseph Conrad's wooden ships, towering masts, billowing sails and following seas, and I knew instantly that come what may, I must be off to British Columbia, Canada; where waited the FOREST DREAM.
At the Union Hall of the Sailors Union of the Pacific I had made the acquaintance of a sailor by the name of Frank Garlock. Frank was two years older than I, of Polish descent, quiet and reserved. His father, a widower, worked as a janitor in a large New York apartment building.
I had loaned Frank several of my Joseph Conrad novels, and together we had mourned the fact that sailing ships were a dream of the past. We habitually ate dinner together at one of the skid row Japanese restaurants on Washington Street, where a steak dinner with soup, salad, and pie alamode cost fifty cents. That evening I showed Frank the newspaper clipping, and so after dinner we headed for the downtown City Library to look up the Island of Mauritius. We learned where Mauritius was on the map, along with a brief description of the Island. One reference in particular, which made a deep impression on both of us, was the following; "The Island is renowned for it's beautiful, exotic Creole women." We also learned that the Island was bilingually French and English. It had at one time been a French possession, but was now under British rule. For many years it had been used by the English as a place of exile for recalcitrant Indian Royalty and a number of Rajahs and Maharajahs with their families and retainers resided permanently on the island, living in grand style.
The following day, filled with excitement, we boarded the bus to Victoria, and made our way to the ship, whose masts were visible for miles.
With lumps in our throats, we drank in the sights of the towering square-rigged foremast with its tracery of spars and rigging etched against the sky, guarded by it's four schooner-rigged masts. On arrival at the ship we called to a man pacing the poop deck aft, who as it turned out, was the First Mate. He nodded his head in response to our request for permission to come on board. Once on board, he informed us that there were vacancies in the crew, and that the Forest Dream would first head for the Island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean via Cape Horn at the tip of South America, then past the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa, and on to Mauritius. From Mauritius the ship would load sugar for Singapore, then load hardwood for Vancouver, circumnavigating the world.
Frank and I were dazzled, and we were eager to let him know we would like to sign on as Able Seamen. The Mate then went below and returned with the Captain. After some questioning we were told to report to the ship the following Thursday with our passports and sea bags. We did not discover until later that the ship was being boycotted by the Sailors Union in Vancouver, and had been trying to find a crew for several weeks. The reason for the boycott being that a sailing ship of her size and rig normally required a minimum of twelve deck Seamen to hoist the heavy yards and booms, and that the FOREST DREAM was being manned with only six Seamen. The FOREST DREAM was a "One time" shipping venture by two Vancouver lumber merchants, who had contracted to deliver a cargo of creosoted railroad ties for the construction of a railroad on the Island of Mauritius. They had contrived successfully to legally circumvent the normal crewing requirements by installing a gasoline hoist to replace the six additional Seamen required by the Sailors Union in Vancouver, British Columbia.
We also found out later that several crews had been hired, but after finding out that six sailors would constitute the entire deck crew, had quit. Had we known of such happenings, in all likelihood, it would have made no difference to Frank and me. It should be borne in mind that finding an experienced crew of officers and sailors with sailing ship experience in the year 1925 posed some difficulties. It was twenty years beyond the time when there were over a dozen sailing ships plying the Oceans of the World. In the Pacific Northwest were the four-masted Arctic trading schooner CS HOLMES, the cod-fishing schooners WAWONA and SOPHIE CHRISTENSEN, and the four-masted schooners COMMODORE and the VIGILANT of Captain Matt Peasely fame, both sailing out of Bellingham in the Hawaiian lumber trade. Another was the E.R. STERLING, a five-masted barkentine in the Australian lumber trade. Most sailing ship Masters and Mates had died, retired, or carried on in steam vessels.
The same condition applied to Seamen with sailing vessel experience. The only sailors available were alcoholics unable to hold a job in steam vessels because of their alcohol addiction, or some starry-eyed romantic like Frank and me, lured by the stories of tall ships and following seas, as described by Tennyson, Joseph Conrad, and Dana's Two Years before the Mast. To sail on the FOREST DREAM seemed the fulfillment of our dreams. Even the ship's name set bells ringing in our ears. We blinded our eyes to reality, and closed our ears to the dire predictions of certain disaster expressed by seamen passing by the ship. What innocents we were.
Frank and I took the bus back to Seattle to make preparations to return to Victoria the following Thursday. Frank was a mature, conservative person, and felt that we should take out some life insurance, offering to lend me the money with which to pay the first years' premium. As a result we each took out a three thousand-dollar policy with New York Life Insurance Company with a double indemnity clause in case of accidental death. We bought heavy clothes, and oilskins for heavy weather and on Thursday boarded the bus to Victoria and reported on board the FOREST DREAM. The hold was fully stowed with creosoted railroad ties, and most of the deck load of timber was in place. Later we would be strapping the deck load down with heavy chains and turnbuckles. Truckloads of ships stores were being taken on board and stowed in the storeroom under the poop deck. Louie, one of the sailors told us that during our absence two hundred cases of Welch grape juice belonging to the Captain had come on board, which he hoped to sell at a profit in Mauritius.
It was obvious that this was the owners’ first maritime venture, and we could see from the stores that were coming on board that it was a real "shoestring operation." There were casks of flour, sacks of beans, casks of corned beef in saltpeter (salt horse), and casks of salt pork in brine. It was as though the ship's owners had reached back two hundred years into the pages of history, and revived an English Frigate's list of stores.
By the end of the first day, Frank and I had met the rest of the crew. I will describe them as I came to know them by the time the voyage ended in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia fourteen months later.
A tall heavy-set Dutch Boer from South Africa, with a florid face and veined, bulbous nose from over-consumption of alcohol. He was in his late fifties and a product of the foc'sle, who had achieved the position of Shipmaster by being ruthless and energetic. In earlier times he would have been called a Slave Driver. A cruel, uneducated person, on the downhill path in his personal and professional life, and who became violent when drinking. Even I, with my limited education and deprived cultural background, viewed him as a crude individual. At one time in his career, his Master's License had been suspended because of brutality towards his crew. Such a man would be the undisputed master of eleven men on an anticipated four month-long sea voyage, with no contact, not even by radio, with the outside world. The winds of the earth would carry those of us who survived, through 20,000 miles of the world's oceans, with this man having the power of life and death over us, without having to answer to any higher earthly authority. His name was Walter H. Myers, and his power over us was as absolute as that of the Holy Roman Emperor, Gaius Julius Caesar over his subjects.
The First Mate was a fitting companion to the Captain; with whom he had served on other sailing ships over the years. He was an extraordinary-looking person, who resembled and behaved exactly like a Hollywood casting office version of a pirate, except that he was for real. Of French descent, he spoke with a heavy accent. Of short, stocky build, very bow-legged, and with bare feet encased in a pair of knee-length, black rubber boots. He was bearded, with long, black, greasy hair to his shoulders, and his face seemed wrapped in a perpetual snarl. One-eyed Louie told me that he was a man to be avoided as much as possible, and that on the voyage that the Captain had his license suspended, Louis Huet, A.K.A. (French Louie) had been the Captain's First Mate.
THE SECOND MATE
A Swede about fifty years of age, a quiet, inoffensive man of rather slight build. He was a gentle, pipe-smoking person with ruddy cheeks, who had spent most of his life at sea, and had no family connections. He was unauthoritative in manner, and was no match for the Captain and the First Mate, who belittled him and pushed him about at will. He had the sympathy of all the Sailors in his relations with them. His name was John Johnson.
THE STEWARD
This was the fourth member of the afterguard who lived aft with the three officers, sharing a small room with the Carpenter under the poop deck. His duties were to take care of the needs of the ship's officers, such as bringing meals aft from the forward galley to the after cabin. He also had the responsibility of issuing ship's stores to the Cook from the Captain's storeroom, as well as keeping the after cabin spaces clean. He was an Englishman, and spoke with a pronounced Cockney accent. Because he lived aft in close contact with the afterguard, none of the crew forward trusted him, as people in his position were always suspected of talebearing to the Captain and First Mate, although he may have been perfectly innocent. The crew forward never discussed any matter of significance in his presence. Actually, I think he was a good enough little chap, who must have been very lonely. He seldom talked, and life became extremely difficult for him later in the voyage when the Captain and the First Mate began their voyage-long drunken orgy. His name was Hood, and he was thirty-one years old.
THE DONKEYMAN
The title of Donkeyman is always given to the man whose primary task on board the vessel is the operation and maintenance of any type of machinery, in this case the gasoline engine used to hoist the heavy yards and booms when setting sails. He tended the oil lamps, keeping them filled with oil and the wicks trimmed. He was also the ship's carpenter. He was forty-two years old; a Scandinavian named Emil Nelson. Because he lived aft we never felt that he was one of us.
A chubby round-faced Estonian by the name of Lars Timmerman, whom I never saw without a pipe clenched between his broken teeth. He was a pleasant person with a fine sense of humor, always cheerful, never lost his temper, or showed anger. A fine cook with a wealth of experience, and no matter what the weather, or how the ship threw itself about, he was always ready with a cup of coffee and something to eat. A real stalwart when things got rough. I do recall that he was not the cleanest or tidiest cook I ever knew, as I never saw him with a clean apron. He had a love affair with Victoria, a little black stray cat he found on a street in Victoria one rainy night, which helped him retain his sanity. He was forty years old.
LOUIS GIMEL - ABLE SEAMAN
Louie at fifty-four was the eldest of the seamen. He was from Steilacom,
Washington, and had been going to sea in sailing ships since the age of
fourteen. A gentle sensitive man with craggy features, and an excellent
seaman. He had little or no schooling, and had never married. Louie had
lost one eye as a small child, and was known up and down the Pacific Coast
as One-eyed Louie. He had been a confirmed alcoholic since the age of fifteen.
He never drew a sober breath after two hours ashore until his money was
gone. No matter how large his payday after a long voyage, he was always
broke after a week ashore. He would teach Frank and me the art of seamanship
in sail in his friendly, kindly way.
HUBERT SCHLEE - ABLE SEAMAN
Hubert was German, about thirty-five years old.
A tall blond man, with a
close-cropped Teutonic haircut. Garrulous and argumentative
in his views, but a
cheerful and good shipmate. He had run away to sea
from a deprived home life
when he was fourteen years of age; life had not been
kind to him. He liked to tell
us that his sister was a well-known Wagnerian opera
singer in Germany - a
statement we accepted with a grain of salt.
FRANK GARLOCK - ABLE SEAMAN
Frank was twenty-two years old. A short round-faced
Polish lad from New
York City. Frank's father was a janitor in a large
New York apartment building,
was a widower, and Frank his only child. I had sought
him out, and enlisted him to
come with me on the FOREST DREAM. Though our friendship
was fairly recent,
we had much in common, and there was a strong bond
between us. Frank was
quiet, alert and soft- spoken. A romanticist in search
of adventure as promised by
the FOREST DREAM. Because of my having seen a newspaper
article in a fish
market, his life would end in my arms.
NIELS THOMSEN - ABLE SEAMAN
At eighteen, the youngest of the crew. A mind
and heart filled with Victorian
ideals and romance. He was strangely naive and light-hearted
in his approach to
life among this mixture of men drawn together on this
ship of another time and
place. Along with other lessons in life he would wear
deep scars of sorrow before
this fateful voyage ended. Of such stuff was our crew
composed. Twelve men of
totally different ages, personalities and backgrounds,
one of whom would be
buried at sea before three months had elapsed.
