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Gerald Grant's Tales of Seaside

Seasiders and their Geography Lessons

Not many people know that the lads at Seaside had an unfair advantage over the other boys at their school when it came to lessons in geography.

During holidays and weekends, Gerald Grant and other local lads, would gather at the North Dock entrance at tide times, or high water. They would stand near Sid-y-Dolau, the Gateman, who always wore his peaked cap.

When an incoming ship was passing through the entrance Sid-y-Dolau would touch his cap and call out to the two sailors on the bow of the ship, one of whom would be the First Mate,

‘Where are you from Mr Mate?’

Back would come the reply, which would be any of the following:

‘Rouen, Lisbon, Belfast, Liverpool, Falmouth, Bruges, Rotterdam,’ etc.

If any of the ships were carrying timber, which was visible above the deck, the replies would be:

‘St. Lawrence, Montreal, St John’s, Newfoundland,’

etc. which meant that the vessel had sailed across the Atlantic on her long voyage to North Dock.

On a ship departing North Dock, Sid would shout

‘Where are you bound for Mr Mate?’

and a destination would be given. All this information was taken down by the young lads on a discarded cigarette packet and a stump of pencil that could always be found in the pocket of a young boy, along with pieces of string, nails, bits of wire and all manner of bits and pieces.

Finally the boys would go home to bed where they would dream of the Seven Seas and all the faraway places they would visit.

When they returned to school the teacher would spot the Seaside lads, studying the map on the schoolroom wall, so they could ‘tick off’ the ports on their lists recorded on the cigarette packs.