Day 9 – Sea Day

      Yesterday, Sam Ladley gave us a talk about pirates. The cannon balls we think of on ships of old did not blow up when they hit the ship but splintered the wood. Splinters flew everywhere. These men were all trained soldiers. When the cannon balls hit the ship often the men lost legs, hands and eyes due to the splinters. Once they were wounded the government did not want them as soldiers. However, they were hired as free-lance soldiers and made excellent crew for pirate ships. Hence the image we often think of as pirates wearing eye patches and having peg legs.

    As always we meet fascinating people. There is a gentleman on board whose name is Sidney Mobell. He is a self-made millionaire. His mother was from Russia and fell from a crib as an infant and broke her hip which turned her leg almost backwards. It always was painful so when Sidney was ten years old, she finally had enough money for the operation but no one to take care of Sidney and his brother and sister. They were placed in an orphanage for the next four years. While in high school, he worked for a dollar a week in a jewelry store until he graduated. He then served two years in the Navy. He chose the Navy because he did not like the green uniforms of the Army. He went to college and studied art. His first real job was as a salesman selling watches. Then as his life turned and twisted someone asked him if he could make a Mickey Mouse watch. So he took a Boliva watch changed it into a Mickey Mouse watch. He was paid $435 for this watch which was of course started as a copyrighted product. Word got out and he ended up making a Mickey watch for Roy Disney, Snoopy watch for Charles Schultz etc. His artist mind must have taken over at this point and he started to make all sorts of copyrighted things into jewelry and valued objects. Some of the things he did was add jewels to a hula hoop, make a gold cell phone and other various objects. He made a gold toilet seat which now is in the Smithsonian and valued at over $21 million. Who would think one can take ordinary objects and make them valuable?

    We have also met a lady who went from elementary school through high school living in Havana. She has not been back for over 60 years. Her grandfather and uncle are buried in the cemetery in Havana. The house she lived in as a girl now has three different families living it it.  

     We are in Havana this morning have a tour all day and then the Tropicana show at night. It started in 1939 and they have had a show every night since. This will be a long day so probably will not write today or tomorrow.

“We live in a world full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jawaharlal Nehru

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Tom and Holly