By Francis Quamina Farrier
THE headline certainly reflects on an exciting part of life and living in British Guiana (BG) in the month of August during the colonial era. This feature article will focus mainly on the popular ‘steamer’ excursions during the August holidays.

There were two types of river activities in which the Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD) ferry boats were chartered by private citizens who held functions on our waterways. There were the “Mid-stream excursions”, when the steamer would simply leave the T&HD wharf in Kingston, on upper Water Street, and go out into the middle of the Demerara River and drop anchor, where music and dancing and drinking and romance blossomed, and everyone had a great time.

Those events, which went way past midnight, were provided with live music by one of the popular bands of the day. ‘Tom Charles and the Syncopators’ was the most popular of the big bands in the colony during the 1950s and 1960s, and his band was always hired. Of course, there was the archrival big band, ‘The Washboards’, which also got bookings for river excursions.
Both ‘bands’ drew massive crowds whenever and wherever they played, be it on land or one of the waterways. Both ‘bands’ had their loyal followers who faithfully attended those river excursions. Those “mid-stream” river excursions provided lots of jollification, and the steamers were usually packed to capacity. Nonetheless, they were usually safe, since all precautions were put in place to ensure the safety of the revellers.

At times, there were boat excursions from Georgetown to Leguan, at the estuary of the Essequibo River, as well as to the historic Fort Island, a few miles upriver. There were also excursions from Georgetown to Bartica, located about 50 miles up the Essequibo River. The ferry boats would depart Georgetown, sometimes before sunrise, especially those excursions to Bartica, which is about 80 miles from Georgetown by water.

Many of those who attended usually took their own food and drinks. However, the music was one of the most popular elements of River Excursions, especially during August, in the olden days.

There were occasions when promoters chartered two boats to accommodate the hundreds of those who attended those popular boat excursions. There was that occasion when a two-boat excursion from Georgetown to Bartica caused a very awkward comedy situation. About 60 persons had travelled to Bartica on the first boat. I was on that second boat which was running a bit late. Those persons who had travelled on the first boat had decided that they would “jump ship”, so to speak, and remain at Bartica and return to Georgetown on the second boat on which The Tom Charles Syncopators band was.

When that second boat arrived at Bartica, the first boat had just departed on its return journey to Georgetown. The Captain of that second boat realised two important factors: If he docked, passengers would go touring around the (then) village and delay the scheduled return of his ship. As such, he decided not to moor the ship at Bartica. So, as the steamer slowly sailed past the Bartica stelling, there were screaming persons who had deserted their ship for the second one. Some were using colourful language, demanding to get on board. They were still shouting and using all the expletives, both local and foreign, but to no avail. That second boat just did a ‘U-turn’ as it commenced its return journey to the city. That situation provided much fun for us on that second boat.

As the steamer sailed out of the Essequibo River and out into the rough Atlantic Ocean, Tom Charles and his Syncopators were taking a well-deserved rest. However, as the steamer completed the Atlantic leg of the return journey to Port Georgetown, a mutiny of sorts erupted. One man decided that it was “time for some music”. He demanded of Tom Charles to provide “some sounds”. Tom yawned, and slowly nudged one of the band members. The patron decided that the great Tom Charles’ actions were not sufficiently responsive, and began to rain down some expletives on the celebrated Guyanese musician. “Wake up you [so-and-so] boys, and give we some sounds, Tom. Or [you so-and-so] want mutiny on this boat?” Five minutes later, Tom Charles did have some genuine musical sounds as the August excursion T&HD ferry boat sailed incident-free into the well-lit, no-blackout, clean-as-a-whistle Port Georgetown, the Garden City of the Caribbean.