Cap'n Bob

The Brunswick Blues

The Brunswick Blues

December 2009

Brunswick Georgia

It was another case of deja vu all over again. Confronted with a scheduling issue and wanting to get out of Brunswick soon, I went to talk to Capn' Bob and found him in the head. I stepped outside the office to wait a bit, but Bob apparently had to finish something about which I don't want to know of. That's when it started. That feeling of being here before came over me, just as Capn' Bob, the owner of the boat yard stepped out of the office behind me.

We exchanged a few pleasantries as Bob proffered his hand. Time nearly stopped for me for a few seconds as I weighed the options, wondering 'did this cracker wash that hand?', 'did he use soap?' and 'what if he missed some spots?'. Should I feign a cough, and give him the option of retracting his outstretched hand?

I've been here before I thought. But I hadn't, or at least not in this life time that I can remember. But as Capn' Bob's attitude and demeanor slowly seeped in to my consciousness, the feeling got stronger and stronger. You see, Capn' Bob's the kind of guy who knows his place in the world. And he spect's the world should know it too. Like a plantation owner on his plantation, Bob expects the staff to jump when he says so, and ask how high on the way up. The kind of guy who when the customer isn't listening, spits out the side of his mouth 'F em', to anybody who'll listen, mainly his hired help, they don't have much choice. Just then, hollering from the porch to Bernie, a good 50 yards distant, Capn' Bob wanted answers, and he wanted them from Bernie right now. While trying to respond, Bernie double timed it to the porch, so as not to keep Bob waiting. It was real evident that good ole' Cap'n Bob was loving all the fuss and the echoes of the old segregated South.

Resolving that one, as Bernie went back to his work, ole' Bob moved right on to one of his and Rush Limbaugh's favorite topics. 'Scumbag lawyers are ruining the country'. Having just lost a Georgia supreme court case, Capn' Bob may be right about the lawyers trying to ruin him, or at least the lawyers of Glynn County Georgia are trying to ruin his business by building a new jail in downtown Brunswick, adjacent to his marina and yard. Not sure where that one is going to go, but you can bet that Bob's accepting donations to help finance his ongoing legal options.

While I'm with Bob on the location of the jail, we weren't able to resolve my scheduling issue, so for now I'm singing the old Creedance Clearwater Revival ditty, with a slight twist. 'Oh Lord, stuck in Brunswick again'.

But wait, it gets even better. There's also that junk yard Georgia bulldog at the front gate who goes by the name of Sherry, although I can't for the life of me figure out why, there's nothing sweet or sedative about her. Built like a Georgia Bulldog, she's about 5'5" and 250 pounds with shoulders to make the opposition tremble. A non stop smoker, if she's not sucking a fag, she's got one burning in the ash tray. She was also just chock full of misinformation. Before I figured out her game, I asked where to go to get a rental car. The best she could come up with was a taxi to the airport, which cost me nearly as much as the rental car. On my next trip to Brunswick, I found an Enterprise Rental Car office about 4 miles away from the Marina that I could walk to if I didn't want to avail myself of the free drop-off feature that Enterprise offers.

The marina itself is very modern and nicely done, although it stretches for about a mile and a quarter from end to end, making it an extraordinarily long walk from the office to the remote piers, showers and laundry. But the yard staff, Bernie and Robert are two of the nicest folks you'll ever meet anywhere. So I guess it's a mixed bag in Brunswick.

During the 9 months Ketch 22 was there, there were a lot of murders (google Brunswick murders ), making it the most dangerous place that I left Ketch 22 in my entire voyage from San Francisco to the US east coast, via the Panama Canal. There was one particularly brutal murder of a family of 6 or 7. The perpetrator ended up being the head of the murdered household. He was arrested two days after he called 911 claiming that his family had been murdered. Brunswick shares a lot of characteristics with what used to be called the Third World. In fact, the biggest distinction between Brunswick and the third world, is that Brunswickians don't know they're a part of it. It is very photogenic however and has a beautiful bridge at the mouth of the Brunswick River. It's also a short drive from Saint Simon and Jekyll Islands, which were upscale and extremely popular resorts in the 20 and 30s. History buffs will recall that the Jekyll Island Resort is the birth place of the US Federal Reserve banking system. All in all, a mixed bag in Brunswick.