"TIGER BAY"

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 285, 28 August 1919, Page 6

"TIGER BAY"

» WHERE THE CARDIFF NEGROES LIVE SCENES IN BUTE STREET (By A. E. Moyser, Editor of the "Marine Magazine, in the "Daily Mail.") Bute Street—that broad, busy highway which leads from the town of Cardiff to the docks—is in all probability more oosmopolitan in its oharaoter, and in respect of its wandering deep-sea frequenters, than any otter place in this country. On its left-hand sido, going from the town, is the tall, grimy wall bounding the docks. On the right-hand side, where sailormen mostly parade, arc'shops, practically all of wluoh are in some way or other dovoted to supplying the wants of the seafarer. Like other . South Wales ports, Cardiff is essentially a "tramp" port. Passe u> ger liners do not make frequent calls, and whoever wanders througn the dock area will iimi. that it is the ugly but useful steam cargo-carrier that is most in evidence. A tew "wind-jammers," mostly foreign-owned, are occasionally to be seen lying at the buoys or alongside the quays. All are there for practioally one purpose, and that is to load coal for near or distant oversea ports. Day by day tnere leaves the port, a stream of coalladeii packets. And it is from the board; inghouses of Bute Street, or "Tiger Bay; as tho network of mean streets running from and behind this thoroughfare is called, that crews for these deep-sea colliers are procured. These cargo boats have to take what they can get in the way of a "crowd" —and often this means a pretty fine mixture of nationalities in the forecastle.

The Negress' "Native Town." Negroes and Arabs are common in this district; The mate of a collier, when speaking to me on this point, very aptly described the position when he said: "I have been outside, the shipping office looking for a crew, and I'd have needed a looking-glass to see a white face, and that would have been my own." That is no exaggeration. Time, and again, when walking from the docks past the shipping ofiico into Bute Street, I have hail to elbow my way through crowds ot negroes of all shades of blackness, ana with a very good sprinkling of slender, brown-skinned Arabs. "Cardiif is my native town. lhis remark one may hear from a negro now and again, ana so large a number ol black-skinned mariners sail regularly from the port that the phrase lias in it some element of truth. The negro knows very well he has a hettei chance of getting a ship at Cardiff than at most British ports. • Recently 1 went down -to Cordiii by the afternoon express from Paddington and had as a travelling companion a loquacious Negro sea-cook whose world y belongings were .all contained in a sadly battered suit-case. His was a queer story. By some means he had lost Ins ship at Malta, had succeeded in getting to Marseilles, and thence, after a series of adventures and privations, had worked his way across France and on to London. He had followed the sea for over thirty years, and Cardiif claimed him for its own. . Hn told me he had no hope, being without money, of getting to sea out 01 London. "But I'll be all right, lie said, "when I get to Cardiif. 1 borrowed monev to get down homo, and I guess I'll fix up a ship to-morrow.' lor some days after that chance meeting I was regularly up and down Bute -Street, but I never saw that old sea-cook, so 1 can onlv suppose he managed to sign on within a few hours of reaching his favourite boardingliouse. One aspect of tho district which can not fail to strike the careful observer is that at so many of the Bute Street shops sailors' sheath knives and iookin".daggers are to bo bought, lho sheath Wife'may be looked upon as a vprv necessary item m a sailoi s outUt, but-at no seaport town in this country have I seen so many vaned types ot daKRC-r-kpife exhibited for sale. The "Dago" element, it is true, is largely represented among Cardilt s wandeniio seifolk and the southern dark-skinned seaman, as contrasted with tho Briton, is always supposed to have a tendencj tmv-mls usin" the knife m a souffle 111 prefeienclT to° his fists. And the Negro dearly loves the razor as a weapon ot nffence Holding the handle in his liand, and w'itb the blade .folded back, . business side" outwards, across his knuckles, ho can do murderous damage in a scuffle At-sea'a Negro will sleep wit his razor under his pillow. This affection for lethal weapons on the part-.of ieV and "Dagoes'' accounts, piolMDlJ, in sonfe degree for the wide, range of miu(lerous cutlery which, for a sh.lhng or fvo, may be bought, at some of thesa "Tiger Bay" outfitting shops.

Doep-Sea Dandies. The Arabs one meets "on" Bute Street n ,-i ma"tSly all "tramp" firemen. Ami almost without exception they spend no mall nroportion of then- money on shoieS clothes. The ships' tauors of the district must do very well out of these swarthy black-haired fellows- & ults , of the latest cut, the smartest thing in grown button-toots, and n, gorgeous yellow soarf aro 'Considered <l u 'te the tiling" by these swells of the ooean. The negro may or may not aftect the latest fashion in dress, but if ho does so-he u liretty suro to outshine the Arab iu splendour. On the other hand, one niaj Sneet around the doors of the shipping office 'plenty of negroes, who are dressed in the free-and-easy style of the w 1 ™ 1 ) aailorman,. with nothing suggests eot [rarish attire. . , One queer phase of the negro s connection with Cardiff was told mo by the mate of a steamor which had been trading on the W«t Const of Africa. His slap had engaged a number of almost wild black men to work oil board while on the coast. One of these, who, he said, seemed to be almost tad. from the bush was retained ad a coal-trimmer ioi homeward run to the United Kingdom. "That bush-nigger,'- said my friend, "was paid off at Cardiff, and I was dering how he would fare when at a loose end in such a tovvn. But, bleat, vour life, I needn't have troubled. Within half an hour he had picked up some friends from his own country, and was quite all right. No doubt he will sign on at the full port wages and think himself oa rich as a king.:-'.--In "the /ailvay station at Cardiff one day a white sailorman took a flask ot vnm from his pocket and offered me a drink. I had to decline, because neat rum does nojt now agree with me. ■ He told me, in the free vocabulary of the sea, that although Glasgow-born he did not know anything about this country. He had sailed mostly in lankee slaps and Australian coasting steamers. "I'm looking around here, he said, "for a little Australian pal of mine, left him in Sydney four months ago, and he was coming to England. I got paid off here yesterday. I ijas 'on' Buto Street all this morning, but X couldnt see him, and I though, maybe I might run acrosß him down at Barry.