CALL NUMBER: T0978:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-02-26 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Edith Rowe discusses her father, Oscar Henderson, including how he ran away from Norway at 13 to go to sea, and details about his character; anecdotes about his character and her experie;nces growing up with a father who was a Captain; how he met her mother (Maude Muir) in Halifax, and how they went to sea on the ship "John Johnson", how he sister Inga was born in Nova Scotia, how Edith was born in Hong Kong aboard her father's ship the "John McLeod", anecdotes about her parents around the time of her birth, and details about ships and crews. TRACK 2: Edith Rowe discusses life ab;oard sailing ships, what it was like being a child at that time including the clothes that they wore and games they played, schooling in England, more anecdotes about life on the ship, an experience o;n the Sargasso Sea, getting to know your ships, and anecdotes about various ports, clothes the seamen would wear, what clothes she and her siblings would wear, life in the tropics, and swimming.
CALL NUMBER: T0978:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-02-26 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Rowe discusses her parents' view of education, how she was schooled on the ship by her parents, the meals they would have aboard ships, how lime juice was supplied to avoid scurvy, dogs ;on the boat and more details about life, memories of the sea including phosphorous and the sounds of the sails, her memories of storms, more anecdotes including one about a race, and she relates a shanty. TRACK 2: Mrs. Rowe discusses communication with other vessels, the use of tugboats, a story about the coast of Peru, more anecdotes about life an adventures aboard ships, her memories of BC in 1;901, what the family was doing in Esquimalt, and a ship they came across that hit them in the fog and sank.
CALL NUMBER: T0978:0003 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-02-26 & 1964-04-22 SUMMARY: TRACK 2: Mrs. Rowe discusses other shipwrecks, stories about their interactions with survivors and their families, the inquiries, how living on land was boring, the next boat they lived on, more sea incidences including experiences from Chile, her feelings about other girls (they were "sissies"), she reads a poem called "Ships" by Robert N. Rose, the smell of the land, a discussion of the poem "Typhoon" by Joseph Conrad, a story about catching a shark, the sport of catching sharks, how sharks are enemies of sailors, stories about albatross sightings, how dolphins and porpoises follow the boats;, and sailing strategies. TRACK 2: [Interview resumes on April 22, 1964.] Mrs.Rowe offers an anecdote about an old sea custom called the working up of a dead horse which consists of the sailors getting a months advance pay before leaving on a voyage and they make a horse, Rowe sets of a bell to exemplify signals, more on the horse, the meaning behind the horse, stories about crossing the equator,; more on superstitions, a story of a sailing from Tacoma to South Africa in 1902, a dramatic incident in which her sister was almost thrown into the sea, and another which shows her sister's courage.;
CALL NUMBER: T0978:0004 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-04-22 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Rowe discusses how as children they were always more comfortable at sea then on land, more on racing, a description of '"tacking ship", more on life aboard ship, details on shark fishing;, more anecdotes about being a child growing up aboard a ship including a story about going to land to get fitted for shoes in Australia, and poems she realtes about the sailor's lament. [TRACK 2: blank.]