Here’s the HURON Lightship Site Manager, Jerry Rome.

You’re now approaching the Mess Decks aboard the ship and that was the area that the crew would eat at. The officers ate back in the Wardroom area which you have already seen, this area you are approaching was for the workers, the crew aboard the ship. The first thing you’re going to see on your right is the ship’s office. That’s where the captain of the ship kept the records at.

So the crew’s mess decks have some things worth pointing out. The officers on their table back there had that fiddleboard to keep their food from sliding off. You notice that the crew did not have that, they had a slippery, stainless, tabletop. And that table is original to the ship, after 1948 that was installed for the crew. But as the ship would go back and forth, their plates would slide across the slippery table and without a fiddle-board on there, the crew would take a rag. Getting a rag wet, putting it on the slippery, stainless tabletop, putting their plate on top of that. Now on some ships there is stories where they would take a slice of bread, put the bread on the table, get it wet, and put their plate on top of that. So what wasn’t provided for the workers, they had to be creative thinkers to come up with a way of surviving out there on the water and sometimes it would get pretty rough out there. The ship would get rocking and rolling out there sometimes to the point where the crew would be bouncing off the walls, called a bulkhead, picking themselves up off the floor, called the deck, and it could get pretty rough out there at times. So good weather, bad weather, ship and crew had to remain out there.

Now also in this area is the galley. From 1920 to1948 however the cook was cooking on a coal stove, they didn’t have electricity aboard this ship until 1948. Cook would grab a pail, go down to the boiler room, bring up the coal and cook the meal. In this area here, there is also a French fry maker. A long handled device. The cook would put a potato in there, cutting into fries, and putting it in oil and cooking it. Because the crew was anchored at a very good perch fishing location. They would fish for perch in their spare time, and the cook would gladly cook them for them, and would also make homemade French
fries. The rail on the stove, now in 1948 when the cook got rid of the coal stove and got the electric stove, it didn’t come with the rail that you see on there now, and as the ship went back and forth, the pots were sliding off the top, so in order to protect the cook, truth be known, in order to protect their food, the rail was put on the stove.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this brief audio recording. There is so much more for you to enjoy with a guided tour. For more information, click “PortHuronMuseums.com”

Recorded and produced by Van Rohr