THE EDITOR, Sir:
ON DECEMBER 18, 1998, you printed a letter I sent to The Gleaner asking if your readers knew the words of a folk song I learned while serving on the SS Jamaica Producer in 1940. The song was Salt Lane Gal.
I had excellent response to my appeal when Dr. Olive Lewin, arts and culture consultant at GraceKennedy, found a group of Jamaican musicians who kept these folk songs alive. She kindly sent me all the words of that song.
At the age of 85, I am now researching all 14 merchant ships I served on between 1938 and 1946. While I have some photographs of these ships, one photograph, that of the SS Jamaica Producer, eludes me.
If any of your readers possesses an old photograph of this ship, a computer-scanned copy would be very much appreciated.
Thanking you in anticipation of yet another excellent response.
I am, etc.,
JOHN BAISTER
j.baister@btinternet.com
Roma House
Barnfield Road, Northgate
Crawley, West Sussex,
RH10 8HH, England U.K.
