What's in a name? and Sinbad.
I was prompted to ponder that question the other night when watching RTE [Irish] television that reported that Gay Byrne had received a life-time achievement award for his significant contribution to broadcasting on his Late Late Show. It takes some bottle to go through public life with that name, the Gay bit I mean, but then in Ireland the name Gay is a common abbreviation for the christian name Gabriel and anyway such is Gay Byrne's standing and brilliance he would have coped with any name.
Sometimes names are both memorable and totally contradictory - take the name Christmas Humphreys - that's a name to conjure with! It is the name of a famous and controversial barrister and later High Court Judge in the 40's and 50's. I believe he was the Prosecuting Counsel in the Ruth Ellis case, the last woman to be hung in England, and was involved in the Bentley trial which also gained the death penalty. Wait for it - he was a Buddhist! you could no invent a name and story to match.
In sport the name gains another dimension, one thinks of the perfect sportsman and golfer when you hear the name Tiger Woods. Actually his christian name is Eldrich and if one said "Eldrich Woods" then it would conjure up say a scientist at MIT or something like that. My own favourite nickname is that given to John Eales, the former captain of the Australian rugby team - it was Nobody ! Why you ask? because "nobody is perfect!" and that was a fact - tremendous player and all round nice guy.
At sea it is most common to give a nickname to a person and, traditionally, some are virtually automatic - someone with the surname Clark is always Nobby, Miller is always Dusty, Murphy is always Spud, Martin is Pincher and so on. When I was an apprentice on tramp ships back in the 50's the company was populated by Welshmen and West Countrymen so nicknames abounded, Bardy Parkhouse, Mortician Davis, and so on. Welsh names are common eg Jones or Williams so nicknames were de rigeur.
The most amusing combination of names occurred when I was in command on Offshore Marine vessels. A Captain who relieved me [still a friend in touch] was Howard Anguish and he ended up with a Mate who sailed with me called - David Grief! so there you have it - grief and anguish on the same ship!
When I first met Al in 1997 he was Velia's young man and I was faced with the question of what he should call me - a not uncommon conundrum faced by fathers. I pondered this and came up with the answer "Capt. Mike." How I came up with this is worth recording.
When we came back from South Africa in 1967 I went to work for Sammy Collins in Ras al Khafji and took command of a Saudi Arabian tug/supply vessel called "Sarah" - it was a beautiful vessel and I had a really terrific crew that included some men from the Hadramaut on the Arabian Sea coast - it is where Sinbad the Sailor came from - and they had sailed on dhows.
Two of them, Saquer Shaheen [holding the fish] and Salem Abibi [the black guy] were talking to me to get my name clear in their minds. They said "Hogan family, your name Mike and you Captain so we call you CaptMike" and that to them conveyed both respect and familiarity at the right levels. And that is why I am called CaptMike by my Canadian family and friends.
Sometimes names are both memorable and totally contradictory - take the name Christmas Humphreys - that's a name to conjure with! It is the name of a famous and controversial barrister and later High Court Judge in the 40's and 50's. I believe he was the Prosecuting Counsel in the Ruth Ellis case, the last woman to be hung in England, and was involved in the Bentley trial which also gained the death penalty. Wait for it - he was a Buddhist! you could no invent a name and story to match.
In sport the name gains another dimension, one thinks of the perfect sportsman and golfer when you hear the name Tiger Woods. Actually his christian name is Eldrich and if one said "Eldrich Woods" then it would conjure up say a scientist at MIT or something like that. My own favourite nickname is that given to John Eales, the former captain of the Australian rugby team - it was Nobody ! Why you ask? because "nobody is perfect!" and that was a fact - tremendous player and all round nice guy.
At sea it is most common to give a nickname to a person and, traditionally, some are virtually automatic - someone with the surname Clark is always Nobby, Miller is always Dusty, Murphy is always Spud, Martin is Pincher and so on. When I was an apprentice on tramp ships back in the 50's the company was populated by Welshmen and West Countrymen so nicknames abounded, Bardy Parkhouse, Mortician Davis, and so on. Welsh names are common eg Jones or Williams so nicknames were de rigeur.
The most amusing combination of names occurred when I was in command on Offshore Marine vessels. A Captain who relieved me [still a friend in touch] was Howard Anguish and he ended up with a Mate who sailed with me called - David Grief! so there you have it - grief and anguish on the same ship!
When I first met Al in 1997 he was Velia's young man and I was faced with the question of what he should call me - a not uncommon conundrum faced by fathers. I pondered this and came up with the answer "Capt. Mike." How I came up with this is worth recording.
When we came back from South Africa in 1967 I went to work for Sammy Collins in Ras al Khafji and took command of a Saudi Arabian tug/supply vessel called "Sarah" - it was a beautiful vessel and I had a really terrific crew that included some men from the Hadramaut on the Arabian Sea coast - it is where Sinbad the Sailor came from - and they had sailed on dhows.
Two of them, Saquer Shaheen [holding the fish] and Salem Abibi [the black guy] were talking to me to get my name clear in their minds. They said "Hogan family, your name Mike and you Captain so we call you CaptMike" and that to them conveyed both respect and familiarity at the right levels. And that is why I am called CaptMike by my Canadian family and friends.
And Tina? she is called "Bubby" and that's a story for Al to tell one day.
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