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In the early days, going to sea often resulted in a lad feeling somewhat ‘spewey’. It didn’t happen too often, but when it did, life was just plain miserable. Very early on, I learned that the upper deck was the place to be during really rough weather. A fellow rarely felt the effects of seasickness in the open air. Still, one can’t remain on watch forever, so a return to the smelly, oily lower decks was inevitable.
On one such occasion, with the wind a-howlin’ and the seas in a great state of unrest, I finally had to yield to fatigue and venture below. As I made my way forward on the Burma Road1, I met a messmate, Mike Boyer. He was surprisingly chipper, considering the fact that he was as prone to the effects of heavy weather as I, so I asked him how he was handling this particular storm.
Mike told me he’d just come from the galley, where he’d asked one of the cooks for something to eat that would stay down. The cook, Jim Cummings, said there wasn’t much on hand at the time, but on the spur of the moment, he gave Mike a package of frozen strawberries. Mike basically swallowed them frozen.
Well, if it can work for Mike, it can work for Lou, so I went to the galley and asked if there were any more. Sure enough, there were lots in the freezer. Following the leader, I downed the entire package of berries. They didn’t stay long; didn’t even have enough time to double up2. After a quick trip to the heads for an upchuck, I went back out onto the Burma Road and again bumped into Mike. Needless to say, I gave him a what-for about the berry theory. I said, “I thought you said they helped you get over your seasickness!”
Mike said, “I didn’t tell you they stopped me from being seasick. I just wanted something in my stomach, ‘cause I haven’t eaten for days and the strawberries, even frozen, went down pretty good. Trouble is, they came back up almost right away. The best part is that they tasted almost as good coming back up as they did going down – and they were thawed by then!”
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