Bermuda

The following is excerpted from Eagle Blue Vol. 3 - In 1977, anxious to expand services, USLines decided to enter the Bermuda trade which was strictly a 20 foot container service and southbound only unless you wished to corner the market on onions.  We had on charter a Pacific feeder ship which we brought to the east coast to begin service. When she arrived New York she had a Chinese crew, twelve of whom had to be repatriated to Taiwan. Our personnel manager was assigned to bus these dozen under guard to JFK airport. They begged to stop in Chinatown to see the sights and smell the smells but their request was denied as our man knew they would melt into the Mott Street scenery and he would have to shanghai a different twelve but would make the number at Kennedy altho Immigration would be upset.
For the maiden voyage we would have a Sunday arrival as the Chamber of Commerce was alerted to plan festivities and our delegation would be offering a reception at the Princess Hotel. But on the Saturday before arrival a riot broke out in the town of Hamilton and a curfew was called for. A bad omen for the start of a service. Meanwhile, back at the Princess Hotel our small group was quarantined and the bar did a bang up business. The piano player was in his cups by 2100 hours and he announced that he was the fire warden for our floor. No one got much sleep that night. But be assured that the sand on Bermuda beaches is just like pink talcum powder.
tjs
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