Okay, we're almost done. Your patience will be rewarded on Monday . . . or will it?

Yes, it will. Jeez.

The last day of the Hiatal Bleats always includes an old travel brochure, for some reason. Tradition! So:

 

 

I assume they handed this out at the travel agency, instead of the dock.

The era when people danced:

It's still around; here's a shot of the lobby, with its colonial mural.

Wikipedia:

"King" Eric Gibson was a Bahamian musician and entrepreneur. He was also the semiofficial Ambassador of Bahamian Goodwill.

Gibson was born on the small island of Acklins to a musical family, although he didn't pursue music until his adulthood. After leading several musical acts in the 1950s, Gibson formed King Eric & His Knights around 1957, which specialized in a modernized style of calypso music, a type of Caribbean folk music that received worldwide recognition when American singer Harry Belafonte released the album Calypso in 1956.

King Eric & His Knights enjoyed immediate popularity among tourists in Nassau, almost certainly due to their performances of the Calypso folksongs made famous by Belafonte. The band regularly performed at nightclubs and hotels, where their records (often in high demand by both tourists and locals) could be purchased in the gift shop. In 1966, Gibson opened a recording studio to support other native Bahamian musicians.

While the lineup of the Knights continued to rotate, King Eric & His Knights remained a popular musical staple in Nassau, often headlining music festivals. In 1973, Gibson formed the "King & Knights Club", a nightclub that not only featured the band, but a variety show that included carnival-style entertainment such as fire juggling and limbo dancing. It was renamed "The Blue Note" in 2006.


You know, I think King Eric may have had a hand in writing this:

Gibson and his common law wife, Brigitte Neven, were in Florida at the time of Anna Nicole Smith's death. They were invited guests of Anna Nicole, and were among the first to arrive when she began to exhibit signs of trouble.

He died in 2013.

Mr. Touissant had a recording career as well; they hoovered up all the Calypso guys during the craze. And probably dropped them just as fast.

George wasn't white, if you're wondering.

Hands off his tomato.

 

I can think of better ways to sell a hotel.

"How about pictures?"

"No, just a word uttered by confused surprise"

"How about pictures?"

"No, just a word uttered by confused surprise"

 

"Is that - is that the Mr. Fleming I've heard so much about?"

"Doubtful, it's 1960. Certainly dresses like an expat, though."

 

She's either dead or drunk, I can't tell.

They're all high, it sems.

 

You really get the sense of the style of the times here:

It could be a restaurant in Little Rock.

 

A brand of distinction:

Says refinedvices.com:

One important player in Trinidadian rum history is the Fernandes family – Peter’s rum pages has copied the story of the Fernandes family & rums (and a good thing he has, since Angostura ltd. Has bought the company and the original website no longer exists!). It states the following:

“..By 1880 Manuel Fernandes left Madeira in search of a better life and the New World, …he arrived in Port of Spain with his wife and two sons aged five and eight years old. 

Manuel settled at 25 Henry Street and soon established an import business of wines and spirits. By 1895 Manuel and his family became neutralised British.

Vat 19?

 . . . an opportunity that presented itself after the fire of 1932, a fire that destroyed the Trinidad British government Rum Bond. Fernandes & Co., acquired the fire sale stocks of rum for blending at a good price and on discovering that the spirit had been distilled thirteen years earlier called it "1919" AGED RUM, it was the forerunner of the most successful of the Fernandes brands for thirty years with the named changed to Vat 19 when the original stocks ran out. 

Why yes, we have a commercial from Trinidad c.1987.

The trip takes a week, and four of the days just suck:

Ah, the Incres Line. Let me tell you about the Nassau: passengers probably didn't know it started life in 1922 as the MONGOLIA, which isn't the most romantic cruise ship name.

In 1950 she was sold to become the SS Europa, carrying immigrants to the United States from Europe; later, she became a Bahamas cruise ship, the SS Nassau. Its final incarnation was under a Mexican flag as a Los Angeles to Acapulco cruise liner, SS Acapulco, making her the only ocean liner to ever fly the Mexican flag. The ship was scrapped in 1964.

New York to Nassau was her route, over and over again.

The amount of information on the internet about the Incres Line is remarkably scant. And as long as we're talking bygone transporation companies:

The company flew from 1948 to 1968, and then was liquidated. But they let everyone off the planes first.

 

 

 

 

 

The floating heads are creepy if you think about it, so don't.

 

Imagine if someone had removed the last page of the paper. You'd have to go down to the diner or gas station to find another copy.

Lucky for you, the answer's here.

 

That'll do - thanks for sticking around and not clicking ahead.

You didn't click ahead, did you?

DID YOU?

Okay, we'll talk on Monday.

 

 
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