Austin lived behind me when I was living on the Floating Hilton. He was my protector. He used to do a middle of the night dingy drive around the houseboat to make sure it was all safe for the night. Also a hell of a backgammon player. Biggest, ugliest, nicest black man I ever new
Austin at one point put an outboard on each corner of his houseboat and motored to Christmove Cove and back to prove to DPNR that his home was in fact a navigable vessel, I think to get his boat registration or mooring permit. I happened to be in Christmas Cove when he came thru. What a sight !
I remember that!! He was an incredible guy..His houseboat was really tricked out too....DPNR hated houseboats. They were always after the Hilton for some infraction or another. The Hilton was built in Compass Point in 1958 out of spare materials left over from WW2. Then it was moved to Red Hook in the 60's...Stayed on the end of e dock until Dennis bought is from Bill Peters (inheriting me in the process). Dennis moved it out to anchor. At one time we even had a phone line run under water out there (thanks to Mike Woodward) and would freak people out when the phone would ring. (no cell phones then).
In 1980 I arrived in STT on a whim and my first morning I wondered into Johnny Harms marina to have breakfast. I started talking to a guy who did finish carpentry on new houses and he asked my what I was going to do. "No idea" I said. Ten minutes later he introduced me to the manager of the marina who asked me if I could fix things. Bravely I said yes and he asked if I could start work right now. Again, "Yes". Then he pointed to 'B' dock where an enormous, not so friendly looking man was standing waist deep in the water repairing something under the dock. "If you want to start now, go help Austin". I can tell you that Austin didn't really look like he needed or wanted any help, especially from someone who had only been on the island for about 18 hours at that point. But he grudgingly worked with me for most of the morning and eventually started conversing sometime around lunch.
Later that day I was asked if I wanted a full time job at the marina doing maintenance. One perk of the job was being able to live in the building (shack) at the head of E dock where the Floating Hilton was at the time.
I did that job for about a week and the then dockmaster (who had been the maintenance guy) asked me if I would switch jobs with him. He missed fixing things and didn't like having to deal so much with the boat owners.
Now this was a job made in heaven for me. I got to meet and be met by everyone in the place. Austin finally accepted my presence and I spent several fairly wild nights on his houseboat. I fixed the shack up pretty nicely and lived like a king.
At the time Johnny Harms was in the hospital and the marina was being run by his sister (I think). When Johnny got out of the hospital we had discussions about me staying on there for some time but by that time I had an offer to deliver a boat to the Mediterranean and so I left in the summer of '81.
But that was an awesome time in the life and thanks for putting together a place to share the memories. I may have to go try and dig up some old photos.
5 comments:
Austin lived behind me when I was living on the Floating Hilton. He was my protector. He used to do a middle of the night dingy drive around the houseboat to make sure it was all safe for the night. Also a hell of a backgammon player. Biggest, ugliest, nicest black man I ever new
Austin at one point put an outboard on each corner of his houseboat and motored to Christmove Cove and back to prove to DPNR that his home was in fact a navigable vessel, I think to get his boat registration or mooring permit. I happened to be in Christmas Cove when he came thru. What a sight !
I remember that!! He was an incredible guy..His houseboat was really tricked out too....DPNR hated houseboats. They were always after the Hilton for some infraction or another. The Hilton was built in Compass Point in 1958 out of spare materials left over from WW2. Then it was moved to Red Hook in the 60's...Stayed on the end of e dock until Dennis bought is from Bill Peters (inheriting me in the process). Dennis moved it out to anchor. At one time we even had a phone line run under water out there (thanks to Mike Woodward) and would freak people out when the phone would ring. (no cell phones then).
Ah, I remember helping him when he went to war (and won) against the DPNR.
...Chief Sutton wasn't happy!
Cap'n Fatty
In 1980 I arrived in STT on a whim and my first morning I wondered into Johnny Harms marina to have breakfast. I started talking to a guy who did finish carpentry on new houses and he asked my what I was going to do. "No idea" I said. Ten minutes later he introduced me to the manager of the marina who asked me if I could fix things. Bravely I said yes and he asked if I could start work right now. Again, "Yes". Then he pointed to 'B' dock where an enormous, not so friendly looking man was standing waist deep in the water repairing something under the dock. "If you want to start now, go help Austin". I can tell you that Austin didn't really look like he needed or wanted any help, especially from someone who had only been on the island for about 18 hours at that point. But he grudgingly worked with me for most of the morning and eventually started conversing sometime around lunch.
Later that day I was asked if I wanted a full time job at the marina doing maintenance. One perk of the job was being able to live in the building (shack) at the head of E dock where the Floating Hilton was at the time.
I did that job for about a week and the then dockmaster (who had been the maintenance guy) asked me if I would switch jobs with him. He missed fixing things and didn't like having to deal so much with the boat owners.
Now this was a job made in heaven for me. I got to meet and be met by everyone in the place. Austin finally accepted my presence and I spent several fairly wild nights on his houseboat. I fixed the shack up pretty nicely and lived like a king.
At the time Johnny Harms was in the hospital and the marina was being run by his sister (I think). When Johnny got out of the hospital we had discussions about me staying on there for some time but by that time I had an offer to deliver a boat to the Mediterranean and so I left in the summer of '81.
But that was an awesome time in the life and thanks for putting together a place to share the memories. I may have to go try and dig up some old photos.
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