Iles war diary, 1914-1919 / G. H. Iles - Page 174
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[Page 174]
ran all their errands, and done little odd jobs whilst in return the natives had plenty of food any old clothes, and money given them, whilst others would hang around the ship at all hours and dive very deep after a coin that had been so thrown for the purpose, regardless of the shark infested waters, - these puny lads jump out of their self made boats, or canoes, and all of a bunch they may be seen going downward after one coin more especially if it happened to be a silver coin, and the most amusing part of it was, that when the again reached the surface their canoes would have been carried by the tide, a good distance away, whilst their so-called oars would also be detached, -
at other times and more especially St Lucia, the lads in their canoes would be gathered together by the ships side and at a given signal they would all start off to pull around a distant object, such as a buoy and back again to the ships side, - helter-skelter they would go, for all they were worth, perhaps more than one lad, being thrown into the water en route by collision especially