Goans at Sea. By Roland Francis I have always liked travelling by sea. When any opportunity arose, there I was climbing the gangplank, suitcase in hand, a silly but happy grin on the face. My first short voyages were between Bombay and Goa. Fairly large ships like the Saraswati, and the Sabarmati sailed from Ballard Pier and docked at Mormugao with cabins, decks and even holds chock full of vacationing Goans. They hugged the coastline with stops at Vengurla, Malwan and Karwar, ferrying goods and Konkan locals between those ports. Then, only Goans with "passports" (travel papers really) were allowed into Goa.
The officers, crew and caterers were Goan or coastal Konkans. In the 24 hours it took, passengers were treated to Goan-Konkan type food (a great fusion if you tried it), feni smuggled on board from Goa, games of bingo and a movie or two. As Bombay waters were left behind, the air became much lighter with the liquor helping. This mood continued until Mormugao was sighted. On docking, the men took off to the nearest tavern for St. Pauli Girl beer accompanied by canned Kraft cheese and Jacobs crackers, typical snack staples of the day. The fun had begun. They were coming home! Goans have a long sea-faring tradition. It started with fishermen going to man oceangoing vessels from Bombay for a more lucrative living. The fathers of today's seamen started their careers with jobs in BI (British India) ships like the Dwarka or Dumra doing the Africa or Aden-Gulf run. The other half were recruited through the Leo Barnes' headed seamen's union in Bombay and sailed on cargo ships of various flags or on the forerunner of modern-day cruise lines, the old P&O passenger liners. Money was made on English and American tips, smuggling gold into Bombay and profits from currency conversion on the black market. Eventually, all that came to an end, but luckily for Goan sailors and their families, the phenomenon of Carnival, Imperial, Norwegian, Holland-American and Disney one week to one month cruises started. Trips from Miami and Fort Lauderdale to Mexico and the Eastern and Western Caribbean became extremely popular with vessels carrying 3000 people and 1000 officers and crew. In Europe they departed from Barcelona destined for European and Black Sea tourist destinations and even across the Atlantic to Central America and Brazil. Unlike previous times when age was no hindrance to working on cargo and passenger ships, today's cruises take mostly younger people. It's a sharp business, there is no preference towards Goans like that shown by the British and the underlying theme is profit, profit, profit. The passengers are litigious North Americans and they must be kept happy even if it is on the shoulders of the front-line crew. Goans are only one of many nationalities. The captain is usually Italian, officers are from South or East Europe and the crew the crew is from many emerging nations. The women are preponderantly from Rumania. The policy is deliberate, to avoid dissatisfaction in a group. Most of these ships fly non-American flags, usually Panamanian, Liberian or some other latest tax-free, mostly business friendly country. This allows the cruise operators to pay less than the American minimum wage which they would otherwise have to pay since their home ports are usually in Florida and Texas. The boys usually get for a 12 hour working day an American one hour minimum wage. They work seven day weeks for a nine month contract. Given accommodation below decks and poor food, it is hard work even if there was enlightened management, which there is not. Working conditions and life for them are far from easy. With economic liberalization in India, the gold smuggling and currency conversion options are no more. The sharing of mandatory passenger tips has replaced that. If you do the math on a $50 dollar tip paid by 3000 passengers for 1000 crew and multiply that by the weeks in a 9 month contract, you will understand how the boys can build houses in Goa in a couple of years, no mortgage attached. Hence the need to take suffering silently. I cannot end without mentioning that on one trip I saw a Goan face and name among the management photographs hanging in gilt frames in a prominent place on the main deck lobby. It was the Chief Steward and Purser who later told me he was from Carmona. I talked to him when he was free and he offered to give me a bottle of premium scotch on the house. I politely declined since that was too much for me and I liked to drink whenever I felt like it, not because there was a bottle in my cabin. But I was touched by the gesture. Goan nature and hospitality, as always. =====================