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Excerpt: I always give the kids a shell. Then I always tell ‘em, I was stranded on Zanzibar. That’s an island in the Indian Ocean. This evening, you must look up exactly where it is. Have you got an atlas?! Yes, they say then. What happened was, only three of us survived and we limped inland. We were all badly injured. Anyway, the locals got us on our feet again, especially the girls. There were too many girls, you see. And then we joined in everything there and practised the dances. They were always cheerful and always gave us the biggest bits of food. And when we’d got our strength back, each of us had to take three of the women. In the long run, that got a bit much. But we had to do it. We were their guests, after all. Then in the end, a year and half later, just imagine, a year and a half later, a ship finally came by and picked us up. And the head-man of this island, he gave us all a bag full of shells and you’re getting one of them now. So you treat them with respect, they come from Zanzibar. ...

From the notes:
Museum Oevelgoenner Seekiste (Oevelgoenne Sea-chest Museum) – Cap’n Lührs private, original museum, which he enlivened with his sense of humour, right up to his death in 1989.

© Joerg Otto Meier, Portraits of people and big ships