precise meaning that "A over I" had in the 1920s. Here, courtesy of the G. W. Blunt White Library at Mystic Seaport Musuem, is the whole sequence of "A bandon" signals from the International Code of Signals, American Edition of 1920:
URGENT AND IMPORTANT SIGNALS. TWO-FLAG SIGNALS. ABANDON--ASSIST ANCE.
l)(.)\"l-IB1\) ' I
EAS.\ \"'}
YACHT SAILS
ABANDON.
AB AC AD
AJ
-Abandon tbe vessel as fast as possible. -Do not abandon the vessel. -Do not abandon tbe vessel until tbe tide ha• ebbed. -Do you intend to abandon 1 -1 do not intend to abandon the vessel. -1 must abandon the vessel. - I shall abandon my vessel unless you will keep by us. - I will not, abandon you. I will remain by you (or vessel indicated). - I (or, They) wish to abandon, but have
AK
-Is she (or vessel indicated) abandoned 1
AE AF AG AH AI
~\
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' ' 1A r;" E RIDING SAILS
COTTON • FLAX • DACRON
not the means.
Send Me a Lad As a lad I dreamt of going to sea in one of the big Sewall square riggers on the Philadelphia waterfront. Once I almost made it. The Arthur Sewall had finished loading coal and was towed to a berth near South Street in Philadelphia, as another vessel was due in the coal docks at the Reading Terminal, and on a Saturday I went aboard looking for a job. The Captain told me he wished I had come Friday; I could have had the job but they had wired New York to send a lad. He told me if I came down Monday and the fellow didn't show up from New York, I could have the job. I told a couple of friends about it, and we went aboard together on Monday. The captain told us the job was open. But it was heavy work and he wanted the most husky. He picked one of my friends . I lost out as I was the youngest and smallest one. The ship then sailed. When she passed Cape Henlopen, they hoisted signals to acknowledge the name of the ship and that was the last time anyone heard of her. CAPT. GUYE. BARRON
Tampa, Florida The Arthur Sewall, built 1899, departed Philadelphia April 2, 1907, laden with 4900 tons of coal for the US Fleet in Seattle. She was never heard of again, though the sealing schooner Fritjof came across a ship sunk off Nair Island, near Cape Horn, with her royals still set and showing above water. Traces were found of her men ashore, but no survivors were ever recovered. -ED. w SEA HISTORY, WINTER 1980-81
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The 65 · Rachael & Ebenezer
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