re. item about Paul Allen's megayacht being twice as long as You-Know-Who's from Coeur d'Alene.

So, Ollie, where are the pictures of Allen's yacht. Curious and slightly envious minds want to see them. I had the pleasure of visiting several grand yachts as a dock-boy in Nanaimo, BC in my teens. John Wayne's Wild Goose was 136 feet, a converted mine-sweeper. You could have eaten breakfast on the floor of the Goose's engine room, which housed a pair of big Detroit Diesels.
Conrad Hilton's was probably twice as long, too long to fit into a berth in our harbour, so they had to moor at anchor outside. A very gracious vessel.

Wayne's skipper came into the wharfinger's office and asked where he could procure some fresh salmon. I knew several of the local fishermen, so I hunted around and sent the best I knew his way -- Smitty, who fished every morning and was drunk by noon.

Later in the evening, I was picking up trash along the docks and doing a final mooring log. Wayne stepped off the Goose and asked if I was the kid who set him up with that salmon.
Yessir, I said, half expecting some grief.
Well then, he said, you better come aboard and have a cool one.

The fellow who played the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz, the president of Del Monte, and Smitty the fisherman were all there, in the Goose's galley, pulling back cold Coors and telling raunchy jokes. John Wayne was just as he appeared in his movies -- bigger than life, magnanimous, and just a bit self-deprecating. Surprisingly, he did not hold the floor. His skipper and the cowardly lion did. He just grinned and spoke when it was his turn.
Ronald Reagan wrote a superb tribute to John Wayne, maybe in 1980.

Conrad Hilton's boat was larger and more elegant than the Duke's, but for good company I'll take a minesweeper any old day.

D.P. Bond
Wallace Street Journal

DFO: Can't produce photos for you because I'm bloggin' from home. Mebbe Tuesday?

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