"The Sand Pebbles Topic" Asiatic Fleet - In 1965 The Sand Pebbles producers offered a $1,000 reward for a picture of USS Villalobos

[ItemCo16527]

Wow, this thread has grown since I last stopped by! I just wanted to report that I just finished reading "The Sailor's Homer" and it was fantastic. The edition I got also includes one of McKenna's short stories, "Hour of Panic", which was excellent. I strongly suggest this book to anyone who, like me, is a huge fan of the book and film "The Sand Pebbles", or who has an interest in the Navy in China in the 1930s.

[kanemono]

Great thread! Thanks everyone.

[Salvage Sailor]

On 2/25/2023 at 7:12 PM, stbryson said:

Hello,

 

For those interested in The Sand Pebbles, skip forward to the17:30 mark.

 

 

Take care,

 

Steve Bryson

 

"...and pick up your carton of Salems on the way out"

 

[Kaigun Shosa]

Here is a group to a Yangtze's sailor that was onboard the USS Monocacy when he earned his Navy Good Conduct medal in 1924. 

 

[stbryson]

On 3/23/2023 at 9:22 PM, stbryson said:

Hello Dirk,

 

I think this was called a "bar anchor".  If I remember correctly (no guarantee), the drinker had a chain attached from a finger to the anchor, and the anchor was on the floor or on the table.  One looks to be a generic post-WWII item, and the other is named to a USS Blackhawk sailor.  

 

I forgot to include a scale in the photos.  The "SHANGHAI CHINA 1948" one is about 3 1/2" tall, with the flutes being about 2 1/2" tall.  The "W W HAMILTON U.S.S. BLACKHAWK ASIATIC FLEET-CHEFOO-CHINA-1939" is about 4 1/2" tall, with the flutes being about 3" tall.

 

They could also just be a generic sailor souvenir.

 

Which gunboat is your gunboat-connected one from?

 

Take care,

 

Steve Bryson

Hello Dirk,

 

Some more information on these anchors.  While looking through some back issues of Yangtze River Patroller, the quarterly newsletter of the Yangtze River Patrol Association, I came across this:

"ANCHORING, HANKOW STYLE

 

How many of you Hankow regulars remember the BAR anchor or drinking anchor?  A decade ago, our late shipmates John Gamon and Wally Doering exchanged some interesting letters about it.  It seems that this piece of equipment was a miniature Dunn or Baldt anchor made of brass, about 2 1/2 x 3 inches, with a dragon etched on it.  A three foot length of chain connected it to an index finger.

 

As Doering explained, "I have no idea as to the origin of the drinking anchor, or as you call it BAR anchor.  I'm sure drinking anchor was the common name on the River.  I first used one in the fall of 1936 when weather dictated peacoats with their heavy pockets.  I can still hear them clunking on Hankow cabaret floors (particularly Ma Johnson's on Erh Yao Road), signifying anchorage for an evening of drinking among the White Russian girls...I know that I never used a drinking anchor in Shanghai, nor do I recall ever seeing one used there.

 

Apparently the Hankow Brass Shop produced and marketed this unusual piece of equipment.  If any of you Patrollers have one, take a picture of it and send it along so we can share it with those whose drinking in Hankow was too brief for putting down an anchor."

 

Take care,

 

Steve Bryson