The Key West Citizen Newspaper, December 4, 1953, Page 5

Pridey, December 4, 1953 ’*You’re suppose to write a col- mn about the waterfront.” The city editor was standing be- side my desk, flicking the big, black whip she customarily car- ries, I've worked for a lot of city editors but this is the first one who was a woman. However, sex doesn't make any difference. They all carry big, black whips. “You're suppose te write a col- ‘emn about the waterfront,” she re- - “and f you learn to write well, some day you can get « ) lean on Foe pignature from City Loan mobil C! TY | GAN co. of Key West 2-5681 524 Southard St. THE KEY WEST CITIZEN Page 5 BLUE WATER by DENIS SNEIGR \ “Very likely,” | “What waterfront?” I asked. stalling. “Beats me,” she said, “but I hear Key West is supposed to kave! one ripsnorting big waterfront.” “You know those folders of post- cards they sell to tourists?” i ask- ed. “Yes,” she admitted. | “The kind that have all the cards strung together so you never get them folded back like you unfold-, jed them?” “Yes,” “Right,” I agreed. “Well, the printed matter on one of those, folders they are foisting off around town says that Key West has a ,very fine harbor.” | “So?” she said. | “So,” I said, “the printed mat- ter continues and says that the| harbor is so wig that all the navies! of the world would fit in it.” “They must he including the At- lantic Ocean in the harbor,” she’ said. of Commerce wrote that,’ I said, “but they didn’t.” | Even Harold Laubscher, who runs the Key West C of C and) who likes to’ brag about Key West, wouldn’t try to get away with a whopper like that. All the navies of the world in one harbor. | If there was a harbor that big she said, “like a road) You would think the Chamber) the beach to watch the tourists got} jsunburned. And there it occurred to me that I must be at the water- | front, There was the Atlantic Ocean full of water, so this must | be the waterfront. There weren't many tourists a- round — at least none that were painfully sunburned — so I decid- ed a quaff a beer. That's when I met Ed Albee, a waterfront charac- | ter if I ever saw one. { “Is this the waterfront?” I ask- ed. fj he said. “There is plenty of water out there.” He pointed to the ocean in a water- front manner. “I got to write a column about \the waterfront,” I confessed. ime stop you.” “It’s a lack of material that’s stopping me,” I said. “I can give you some material,” he said quickly. the waterfront. It’s about fish.” “Close enough,” I said. “A bunch of us were sitting a- ‘round the waterfront swapping lies,” he said, “One man was tell- ing about the 1,200-pound jewfish he caught, He went into great de- tail about the size of the hook, the weight of the line, the kind of bait, how the fish took the hook, how he let it run, how he set the hook, how many times the fish sounded and the terrific struggle before it lwas brought to gaff. Remember, jthis was a 1,200-pound monster. “Then I took the floor,” Albee jwent on. “I was fishing off the Boca Chica bridge when some- ‘thing snagged my line. I reeled it in and found it was an old lantern — the kind they used on sailing ships. Strangely enought, the glass shade or mantle was still intact. 1 knocked off some of the coral that encrusted the lantern and lfound a name — Capt. Bligh of the Bounty. and you enticed all the navies into} ‘The other man leaned over and it, it wouldn’t work. Each Navy would want to be boss and the first thing you knew, they would start) to fight. And there goes your big} fine harbor — all blown to hell and cluttered with wrecks. “Do you believe that about all) the navies of the world fitting in| the Key West harbor?” I asked.} “No,” she said, “but I'll tell you what I do believe — that it) reminded me that he had caught) a 1,200-pound jewfish. “I knocked some more coral ott the lantern and found it was still jburning. The man who had caught |the big fish stood up and said: “ ‘Look, Albee, I'll knock a flat 1,000 pounds off the weight of that fish if you'll blow out the lan- tern’.” | would be a good idea for you to| Don’t miss the next waterfront write that column about the water- front.” i —— That afternoon I drilled up to column. All about the five-foot, three-inch girl who caught a six- foot, seven-inch sailfish. Plus extra added attractions. “Go ahead,” he said, “don’t _ “It’s sort of about’ Make this a “record Christmas!" 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