River World Field Trip, Alton, IL to Lake Charles, LA and back on a working towboat, 1956

A cool wind came up, which felt wonderful after the warmth of the day — not really hot, for Louisiana, but warmer than I liked. Besides, riding in the boat had given me the start of a sunburn.

After supper, before dark, the Kellers came on a visit. They were much impressed with the whole boat, which was very different from the tugs with which they were accustomed. Captain Griffin took them on a tour of the entire GAPE, from the pilothouse and its radar and short-wave to the engine room, not forgetting the dining room and guest room with their lovely, fragrant flowers.

April 14, Saturday

And still we sat, with no prospect of getting our cargo. The day was warm but windy, and cloudy and misty early.  After breakfast we went again in the yawl, this time up to Lake Charles itself, cruising along the beautifully landscaped shores with its fine houses, then came back on the choppy lake and up into Bayou Contraband again.  We went farther than before, and came upon a rather surprising lay-out of new, modern homes which fit rather well with the bayou landscape — according to the paper next day, this is a suburb of Lake Charles, itself.

When we came back to the docks, there were more tankers in. They come and go rather fast, considering they take on some 65,000 barrels of petroleum in a loading. Meanwhile Bill and Homer had caught a lot of big blue crabs, had gotten some “crab-ball” (boil) from Mrs. Todd, and had proceeded to boil those unfortunate crustaceans for at least two hours in a bucket on a hotplate in Bill’s room, to make sure they were really done. We all had to have a taste, I had a claw, but it was pretty soggy and far too over-done. The men thought that it was no wonder crab-meat was so expensive, it took so long to pick out a little from their catch.  Captain Griffin and several others also went fishing during our stay, and caught a lot of persistent little white catfish and some other fish, most of which were tossed back, only to be caught again.

I slept most of the afternoon. I was sunburned and weary from the bumps of the rough lake, which the yawl contrived to hit all the tops of. I sat on my life jacket part of the time to soften the blows, but it was rough going.  I think I felt the contours of every wave on the Calcasieu that day!

Dinner roast pork, supper over-fried pork chops.  By evening it was windy and damp. The tanker, GOVERNMENT CAMP, filled, pulled out, about dusk,

April 15, Sunday

All day and all night, every day, the cat-crackers rumbled and roared, filling the air with their powerful concussions. And finally there was gasoline enough, and our barges were brought in early today and they began to fill. The day turned hot and extremely windy. Brown pelicans came past and the laughing gulls were always around, in case of a hand-out. Across in the marshes the marsh-wrens chittered.

Dinner, baked chicken, dressing, biscuits, mashed potatoes, asparagus, salad, apple pie, supper, ham, sweet potatoes, slaw, green beans, pineapple sherbet.

After supper we made up the tow, fueled and watered in the afternoon, and were on our way at 10:30 p.m., with the gorgeous lights of the refinery reflected in the black waters of the Calcasieu, and the moon and Venus competing not very successfully. And still the cat crackers roared and the pilot flares streamed in the wind.

Today between the showers which occasionally flittered down, I went ashore and into the fine woods. There were ebony spleenworts, red buckeye trees in bloom, pink primroses, one magnolia in bloom, too high, and winged elm, hackberry, live oak, water oak and long-leafed pine.