14 14 the dredge left seabrook (where new orleans lake- front airport is now) for aruba. my brother signed for me because i was only 17. i was so scared on that trip. i had never been so far from home and had never been on the water that long. in aruba, the dredge worked there digging a harbor for an oil company. i was promoted from ‘hand’ to ‘mate. ’ of course it was more money. then, i got into a humbug with the captain and quit. after that i went to work on another dredge, the ‘jefferson. ’ it was a dipper dredge and the skipper was johnny yasik. before long, i was made craneman. you stand on the side of the boom and make the bucket dig in when it comes out. after two or three months, we went to cartagena, colombia. the dredge was there about 17 or 18 months before it went back to aruba. so now it was 1929, and i got tired of working down there so i bought a ticket on a tanker as a passenger. i wanted to see mama again. the tanker landed in boston and then went back to new york. two months or so, ...after