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Over the
Cocktail
shoulder -
Some Reminiscences by "Eddie"...
Our father is an old sea Captain—one of the good old sailing
ship types—and his three sons followed in the family tradition.
A t the age of 15 (1923) I went to sea as a Deck Boy and studied
Navigation. During the Seamen's Strike (1926) I found myself out
of work, and I took, on a shore job, at the same time signing amateur
forms for a very good senior soccer team. Indirectly, it was through
football that I changed my occupation at sea, and instead of a
prospective Ship's Officer, I became a Ship's Bartender in 1926.
On the C . P . R . liner
Empress of Scotland
in the winter of
1927 I did my first cruise around the world, playing my favourite
sport of soccer in all the various ports, as well as shaking cocktails.
It was on the
Empress of Scotland
in 1927 that I first made
drinks for Royalty—the Prince of Wa l e s and Duke of Kent returning
from Canada—•" Bronx " being their favourite cocktail during the
voyage.
I left the
Empress of Scotland
after doing a Mediterranean
Cruise in the winter of 1928, and was posted to the latest cruising
ship of the C . P . R . , the
Empress of Australia
On this ship I
went round the world again and completed also three We s t Indian
cruises and another Mediterranean cruise, also three Norwegian
cruises. During my voyages on this ship to Canada on the Mail Run ,
I made drinks for the Duke of Gloucester.
In 1932 I was transferred to the new
luxury liner
Empress
of Britain,
in
which I completed two more Wo r l d
Cruises, and met a host of famous person
alities. During one Mail Run to Canada
we had as passengers all the Ottawa
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