Document text
17
Forms to be Filled out for Each Interview FOLKLORE
NEW YORK
FORMA
Circumstances of Interview
STATE New York
NAME OF WORKER Saul Levitt
ADDRESS 557 West 144 Street, New York City
DATE April 18
SUBJECT Maritime Folklore
1. Date and tim. of Interview
April 14th
2. Place of interview
National Maritime Union, 11th Avenue and 21st Street
3. Name and address of informant
I O'Brien
4. Name and address of person, if any, who put you in
touch with informant.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
6. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
National geritime Union; office of Educational Director.
O'Brien was painting the 'traveling libraries'., that is, boxes containing sets of
books which are pioked up by the crews of different ships to be placed on board
ship.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, for any of the forms, each
bearing the proper heading and the number to which the material refers.)
FORM C
Text of Interview (Unedited)
STATE New York
NId OT JORKLR Saul Levitt
ADDRESS 557 West 144 Street
DATE April 18
SUBJECT Maritime Folklore
FOLKLORE
NEVI YORK
WORD FOR WORD
Pride under this system? don't make me laugh. We're just living
a step above the mission stiff. I leave that pride stuff to them long
hairs you got in Greenwich Villa7e. You can put pride in the wastebasket
as far as I'm concerned. I was born right on the waterfront. I'm no
yo -ho -ho an' a bottle of sarsparilla adventurer --you know what I mean? I
knew it was a friggin phony life the first day I tackled it. My old man
worked in this industry. Rigged up the first tow -boom ship on the White
Star Line. WHY? MAN, I WAS BORN ON THE WAERFJONT DONCHASEE. I'm in a dif'ren
class then these adventurers that goes to sea for the kick in it. Belin a
sailor is no life, it's a friggin unnach'rel life. The seaman knows where
he's gonna end up that's what drives him to the bottle. It's an unnach'rel
life, ylsee. NOW, HERE'S THE REAL STORY AND NO BULL, FPLLER. Ninety eight
percent of the seamen ain't married. It makes a man high-strung. I'm just goin'
off into the sexual line which ain't exactly my line it's a deep subject. But
the guy that don't get married is a frigged out article. After years of roAmint
around some of 'em try to settle down. It takes 'em years to get used to livinl
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ashore inna majority of cases ant some of 'em don't ever get used to it
nach'rlly. So the first thing you know you're floatin' back to sea. There's
no enticement to hangin' around a furnished room. Hey, here's somethin' you don' la
know. Do you know what feels like a ship ashore? It's a jail. You wake up in
a bunk ant if it wasn't for the bars you'd think it was a ship. So hep MB
Jesus there WRS a friend of mine that was trustee in a jail over in Jersey
City. Three quarter bunks --white sheets —an' the deck was spotless. It was
more sanitary than half the ships --sanitary as hell. The windows -this was in
the trustees mess room --they were like friggin French windows. Conditions
WAS so good I bummed a guy for a shave. A ship is like a jail, the same kinda life
in a way; I'm referrint to the federal type of jail, y'see, where the conditions
is improved over the old type of jail. Sure, we've improved conditions on the
ships but here's the story on what has retarded the improvint of conditions.
Do you know the worst type that goes to sea. It's the adventurers, those
friggin college boys. Nachlr'ly they don't give a damn, y'see. Rotten grub,
unsanitary conditions it's all in the fun 'understand. Strange things
happening and so on and so forth. China ant Japan an' the South Seas --why
I worked under one skipper that had that type spotted. This skipper was
after two kinds on the ship. The first was the licensed man that signs on as
an A.B. an' then tries to undermine the officers so's he can get the job.
Number two if he caught somebody readin' an adventure story that was the
end of him. The Leviathan was one of the ships that had so many adventurers
on it she just managed to stagger into port. These kids from the various
colleges—puttint up with rotten °auditions, lousy grub --see what I mean?
It was fellers like them that put the hammers in American ships, them
that sailed for a summer and then graduated from the various colleges.
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WHAT THE HELL DO THEY KNOW ABOUT GOINI TO SEA? It was the old-timere
that really fought. They knew where they were goin,---everybody turning
out the same in the end. They knew they were headed for the Bowery. It
put some fight in tem. I never read an honest book about the sea except
one. It was by a guy by the name of Dana. ihe sonofabitch he was word
for word. He was frigsin legitimate. He was tellin, the truth an' he was
talkin, about them old sailing ships but it's still true today the most
of it. it was word for word.