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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Toric_Arthendain" data-source="post: 1021509" data-attributes="member: 9833">September 1st, 19332:00PMSS Gabrielle, Pier 74The dock where the Gabrielle is tied up is only 13 blocks from the hotel and takes only a few minutes by taxi or private car.    The Hudson River docks are a place of constant motion.  Smells of sea water, oil, fish, and damp wood are mixed with the sweat of the stevedores, and fill the air.  Dozens of ships of all sizes and descriptions are tied up here, in various stages of loading and unloading.  Huge cranes swing heavy loads overhead, and the ground is littered with cast-off packing materials, broken glass and bits of metal.  It takes nimble footwork to avoid being knocked over or yelled at by the bustling dockhands.Tied up on the north side of Pier 74 along the Hudson River shores of New York City is the Gabrielle, its bow facing out.  On the south side of the pier, the brightly lit and well-maintained facilities of the Italian Royal Mail line make the expedition's berth seem shabby and unimportant.The investigators pull up at the foot of West 34th Street, and cross over Twelfth Avenue to the pier shed front.  A small sign has been stenciled and nailed up near one of the two large doors.Starkweather - Moore Antarctic Expedition Please Check In With Guard No Smoking An overweight Port Authority guard in the small office at the door checks to see if each investigator's name corresponds to one on his clipboard.  Once approved, the guard says, "Go on in, bud."The pier extends six hundred feet into the river, and is eighty feet wide.  A long narrow shed runs down the center of the pier, fifty feet wide and thirty feet high in the center.  The shed's interior is piled with cargo - boxes, bales, drums, and pallets, in stacks fifteen feet high, running back from the outdoor work area in three long rows with narrow aisles in between.Most of the cargo is not for the expedition.  Only a few of the crates and drums on the north side of the shed have expedition stencils on them.  The interior of the shed is cool and very gloomy.A railway track runs along each side of the pier between the shed and the ship and is used to move cargo along the dock.Climbing the gangway up to the deck, and dodging various maritime types who all seem to be in a hurry to go up or down the gangway, the investigators are met at the deck by a member of the crew.  He directs them forward to the ship's mess.  To this point, Roxie hasn't seen a single sailor who strikes her fancy.  All of them are big, burly men who smell of sweat and salt.Professor Moore is in the ship's mess hall, standing by a table covered with papers, clipboard in one hand, conferring with one of the cargo masters.  He is a small neat man with gray-shot dark brown hair, wire-rimmed glasses and a trim goatee.  He grees the investigators warmly, but with a distracted air, and gestures to his lists."Ah, you've arrived!  Capital!  Good to have you aboard.  There's a lot to do, of course, so we'd best get started.  Have you eaten?  Sandwiches and coffee are on the table over there.  Take what you like, and go see Mr. Sykes in the crew's lounge.  Right through that door and down the hall.  Oh yes, one more thing.  We all meet each morning at eight o'clock, in the Rose Room at the hotel.  If I don't see you again today, I trust I'll see you there."OOC:  I'll stop there and give everyone a chance to react and interact before I post more.  This post was getting long! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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