When does a fellow need a friend?
When Spring comes and the briny blue beckons to him.
When $150 is all that stands between him and a trip to Palestine on his own thirty-two foot sloop-as tight a vessel as ever sailed the seven seas.
Then, says Hyman Shapiro, twenty-six, of 3609 Broadway, he could use a couple of friends!
He and his boyhood pal, Jack Levy, both hail from Chicago. As children they often played on the shores of Lake Michigan, gazing with longing at the ships sailing by. They satisfied a lifelong dream last summer by jointly purchasing a second-hand boat in Fairhaven, Mass. The transaction completely swallowed their savings of $600.
HYMAN’S KIN IN PALESTINE
Now Jack is out of work and Hyman is a dishwasher in a restaurant. His parents own an orange grove in Palestine. Formerly they were grocers in Chicago but the crash in 1929 swept away their business. With the little money they had left the Shapiros migrated to the Holy Land and invested in this new project. The grove is still in an embryo stage-non-paying, Hyman explained. The idea occurred to both him and his pal, Jack, that fishing in their vessel off the shores of Tel-a-Viv might supplement the family’s income.
Although both boys have had but little experience on the sea, Hyman’s being confined only to his contact with herrings in his father’s store and Jack’s to a three-year term as sailor on the Goodrich Lines, they have unbounded confidence in their venture. Hyman cited the experience of Marin Marie, the young Frenchman who a year ago succeeded in sailing his tiny sloop, “The Winnebelle,” all the way from France to America, without aid. “If he could do it, so can we,” asserted Hyman.
Their good ship, the Aviva (Spring), which flies both the American and Jewish flags, is a’rarin’ to go, declares her youthful skipper. Her single cabin, six by seven feet long, containing two berths, a table, benches, a chest and book-racks, is spotless and snug. So is the tiny galley, all of two by three, with its shining oil stove and shelves. All that is needed now, says Hyman wistfully, is a new Diesel motor, some hydrographic and pilot charts, a sextant, a protractor, signal flags, rockets-and, hesitantly-four lifebelts.
MAJOR LINES PROFFER AID
“Besides,” he adds, “we’ll have to provide enough tins of food and water to last us for a couple of months.”
The American Export and Italian Lines have volunteered to act as guardian angels over the pair. A “pro-log” to their journey has already been written. A couple of old salts in the companies’ offices went into a huddle with the boys and emerged with a complete map of their route along the thirty-eighth parallel, the same one their own freighters###ply. The veterans have instructed their ships crews to keep sharp eyes peeled for the plucky boys. With such cooperation Hyman and Jack expect to reach their destination safely by September,-that is, if they get the extra money needed.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
