I have mentioned how much I admired the longshoremen - particularly in B.C. (before container) - for the way they braved all kinds of weather in pursuit of their hazardous occupation. But they didn't always recognize the "ownership" of certain cargoes. i.e. they thought those Lord & Taylor cashmeres belonged to the ship - and the ship was open season. And those phrases "use no hooks" were often ignored. Also some thought that stencil "FRAGILE" was a port in Italy. Our ships from Australia would bring in bales of wool, bags of ore and "pigs" of lead. Many of the men wore long WW I coats with multi pockets to hide any small items that might catch their fancy. But sometimes it was amazing what might attract them.
We were discharging pigs of lead and at the noon break the gang members in the hold had to climb a thirty foot vertical ladder to reach the main deck. One man was lagging behind and the gangway watchman thought he looked suspicious and engaged him in idle conversation thereby detaining him from going to his favorite luncheonette. The man's face turned red and then turned blue and he turned and went back down the ladder and removed the lead pig that he had tied around his neck. Go figure.
tjs
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