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Quote by Captain Hank Bracker, "Seawater Two...."

“As the captain of a ship in West Africa I was lord and master. Of course this left the door open for a lot of shenanigans, some of which I describe in my book "Seawater Two." It was an exciting adventure!”

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Captain Hank Bracker, "Seawater Two...."

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“Seawater Two - Adventures in West Africa is part of a series of books illustrating the life and times of Captain Hank Bracker. Seawater Two follows his adventures as a young Ship's Captain and Harbor Pilot in Liberia, West Africa. This book takes the reader for a boat ride along the dangerous coast of Africa and into the interior by river, during the post WWII years. Being a no holds barred book it describes the environment, culture and personal encounters with the people of Liberia. It's not the kind of book you would want to put down until you have savored every page.”

Ships Africa Sea Stories Liberia Mma Captain Hank Bracker

Author:Captain Hank Bracker, "Seawater Two...."

“When I joined Farrell Lines I didn’t know that I would become part of a legend. The company had a reputation of looking after its own and it was understood that the employees would also be willing to go the extra mile when called upon to do so. As for the rest, the company didn’t try to micro manage. As the captain of one of their ships I was, kind of, the lord and master. Of course this left the door open for a lot of shenanigans, some of which I will describe throughout the book. All in all, it was an exciting adventure!”

Ships Sea Stories Mma Captain Hank Bracker Farrell Lines

Author:Captain Hank Bracker, "Seawater Two...."

“In one corner of the large bar room I saw a pit filled with mud and a pig. I watched a buxom, mature woman as she rolled around in this soup, trying to catch a pig that seemed to be more elusive than expected. Squealing the pig escaped from the pit and ran for his life. Everyone joined in trying to catch the critter and eventually some guys did return him to the pit he called home. Picking him up with a mud covered towel the woman and her pig disappeared behind a curtain, only to be replaced by two other women who started wrestling each other. It was an expected typically crude performance that everyone seemed to enjoy. After finishing my overpriced beer I hightailed out of there and took the city rapid transit back to the ship.”

Pigs Pigpen Mma Captain Hank Bracker Seastories Hamburg

Author:Captain Hank Bracker, "Seawater Two...."

“Your magic carpet to the "Reeperbahn" or "St. Pauli" is the Metro known as the S Bahn or U Bahn. My visit to this seedy part of Hamburg was cut short primarily because it was expensive and my time in Lisbon cost more than I had expected, but aside from that you always have to be aware of pickpockets and tricksters. A large police presence does, for the greatest part, keep crime down and fortunately I didn’t have any problems. Many of the establishments are closed during the day and the area doesn’t come to life before 8 PM. If you do visit St. Pauli during the daylight hours, expect things to be quiet and perhaps you’ll get a lucky break. If nothing else, you’ll have a fantastic view of the busy harbor as the street runs alongside the Elbe River. Go early on Sunday morning and the St. Pauli Landungsbrücken, the boat landing, will have become an active flee market.”

Europe Sea Stories Mma Captain Hank Bracker Hamburg St Pauli

Author:Captain Hank, "Seawater Three"

“In 1934, my parents and the aunts and uncles that accompanied them on their return to Germany, stayed with my grandmother and other family members during this difficult time. To get away from the overwhelming stress everyone felt, they took a day’s outing to the grassy countryside known as die Luneburger Heide, which lay about 50 km southeast of Hamburg. North Germany is not known for its good weather, but I heard that on that particular day it was sunny and perfect for a picnic. From their slightly elevated vantage point, they watched a parade of young men in the Hitler Youth march by. As the band played and the Nazi flag fluttered, most of the people got up out of respect… or could it have been from fear? That is, everyone but my family stood up! They were new Americans and proud of their adopted country, so they alone didn’t salute the repressive flag that was paraded by and they certainly didn’t feel that they had to show any loyalty to it. It did not take long before my family was aggressively surrounded by “Nazi Brown Shirts” and confronted for this unpardonable violation. Pretending not to understand German or the importance of the circumstances, they were allowed to depart from the scene, being thought of as uneducated schweinehunde, another derogatory slang word meaning pig-dogs. It seems that this conflict could have been avoided, had they just stood up and paid due deference to the flag. Considering the times, it was lucky that they got away with their little scam. To the Nazis it was not just a game, the swastika represented their new order, in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. I don’t know if my family realized how lucky they were, that this incident didn’t escalate. It is interesting to note that civil servants and members of the German military were expected to take oaths pledged to Hitler himself, and not to the Constitution or the German state. Oaths were taken very seriously by members of the German armed forces. They considered them to be part of a personal code of honor. This put the military in a position of personal servitude, making them the personal instrument of Hitler. In September of that year, at the annual Nuremberg Nazi Party rallies, Hitler euphemistically proclaimed that the German form of life would continue for the next thousand years.”

World History Mma Captain Hank Bracker Hitler Youth Nazi S Hitler Trump

Author:Captain Hank Bracker, "Seawater One"

“… I said, “Jimmy, tell the Captain that Maarten will most likely call crying about me.” Jimmy laughed and said, “He already did!” Back on the river, fighting a seven knot current we made slow headway upstream towards Harbel. First my First Mate Olaf was murdered, and now my Chief Engineer. In my gut I knew that Maarten was right about who killed Eddie, but what possessed Eddie to have sex with one of the tribal girls was beyond me. He must have known the consequences if he got caught; I just didn’t understand what got into Eddie. Messing around with tribal girls was bad enough, but once they have been promised to someone else by the chief, it spelled real trouble. Suddenly the thought came to me that Maarten may have been fooling around with the native girls as well. Was it Maarten? If so how could he have twisted the facts around so that Eddie would take the fall? No ready answer came to me, so I would have to let it go. Besides, Maarten was alive and had a family. Without proof I had nothing, other than a lingering doubt.”

Murder Mma Captain Hank Bracker Seastories Tribal Girls

Author:Captain Hank Bracker, "Seawater Two...."

“Horse Racing in Durban from Seawater Three Durban, South Africa was the end of the line for us. We usually did not know how far up the East Coast we would go, since it always depended on our cargo. On the African Enterprise it was different and instead we depended on the passengers. Most of the time the last of the passengers were off the ship before we got to Durban but that was not always a given. I loved Durban where the food was wonderful, and the girls were fun. Kerstin was no exception and was always ready to have a good time. The racetrack was one of the places that we would go to and where, with a little inside information, I would know how to place my bets. When I asked Kerstin why she wasn’t cleaning up at the track she simply said that it was not a sure thing. It was for the same reason that I usually just placed conservative bets, but my returns were still enough to pay for my food, drinks, and ample pocket money. I still do not know why Tiger Wright a “once-was” jockey shared his valuable information with me, but he did it in a coded way. He never just blurted out what he knew, rather he would say things like “If it was me, I would consider…., or I would never place a bet on a horse called ….” Only once did he say that a certain horse was sure to win; and it did! Perhaps he liked me or perhaps he was just bragging but I know that he liked my company. He also definitely loved the company of the beautiful ladies that surrounded him. I knew that he liked Kerstin, but for whatever reason, she did not play his game.”

South Africa Mma Captain Hank Bracker Horse Racing Durban

Author:Captain Hank Bracker, "Seawater Three"

“BA Nubian Princess Zahra for a young man, Liberia was exciting, but it was also an outright dangerous place to be. It wasn’t only the dangerous situations that could present themselves, such as suddenly being confronted by gangs or petty criminals on the streets or along the roads between villages. There were also natural dangers that could run the gamut from snake bites to being attacked by wild animals. I constantly heard stories, told to me by my crew members, of friends, family and neighbors being seriously hurt or killed in the bush. When I was born in 1934 my life expectancy was 59.3 years. When I came to Liberia the average life expectancy in Liberia was 33.1 years. Now in the United States it is 78.5 years and in Liberia it is 62.9 years. Things have improved in both countries, but at my “advanced age” I consider myself very fortunate. Regardless of the severity of the obvious dangers in Liberia, the greatest danger is still what could come from not understanding the tribal rules based on long held traditions, which were both secular and religious in nature. Fooling around with the local women might be a nice way to spend an afternoon or evening but the ramifications could be costly, dangerous or even deadly! It wouldn’t even matter if the flirtation had been started by the girl, or let’s say woman, because Liberia’s women don’t remain girls very long. But, the memories of their families are long-lasting!”

Africa Liberia Mma Captain Hank Bracker

Author:Captain Hank Bracker, "Seawater Two...."

“Entering the city of Monrovia on Tubman Boulevard, the road suddenly became paved and a little smoother. Most of the other streets were made of sand and coated with used crankcase oil, making them extremely slick. I couldn’t believe the huge water-filled potholes everywhere; couldn’t they fill them in? A major problem was that there was no way of knowing how deep the holes were since they were full of water…. Jimmy had his hands full bouncing along in a car that didn’t seem to have shocks, and from the looks of the tires I don’t believe the front wheels had ever been aligned. Some of the streets went from being a rutted, muddy mess, to being exposed bed-rock with shale stone filling in the worst holes. Somehow Jimmy skillfully navigated these streets, at what I considered at the time, as being reckless speeds. We passed simple dwellings pieced together from flotsam, debris, and recycled planks or pieces of plywood, including what appeared to be random soft drink signs and the likes. It reminded me of some of the Mexican border towns I had been to. There were mangy dogs picking through the piles of garbage, without much hope of finding anything edible. The raw garbage, scattered on the streets, had obviously been picked through already by people or other feral beasts trying to live off the land. If the dogs and cats left anything behind, I could only imagine the rats getting it!”

Africa Liberia Mma Captain Hank Bracker Monrovia

Author:Captain Hank Bracker, "Seawater Two...."

Quote by Captain Hank Bracker, "Seawater Two...."

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