Fun and Laughter Rolls on Sea Waves as Miami Civic Leaders Stage Fellowship Party at Quarterdeck Club Wednesday

June 12, 1941
By E. V. W. Jones, Herald Staff Writer

There were waves of fun and laughter at sea off Miami Wednesday afternoon, and the funsters were Miami Chamber of Commerce members at the Quarterdeck club on the first good fellowship outing sponsored by the civic body.

Heretofore the chamber of commerce has been a working organization and that policy remains unchanged, but it has added a program of good fellowship events for members which Wednesday's trip inaugurated.   Don K. Miller, chairman of the public relations committee, said there probably will be several each year.

Approximately 250 members and quest joined in the fun, most of them making the trip on the boat Seven Seas and others' splashing over the 12 miles of Biscayne bay from the city to the sea-going club in their own or friends cruisers and speedboats.

It was a stag party, so several members grew humorously enthusiastic when they discovered a pretty girl waiting for them at the club.  They questioned her sharply and decided not to throw her overboard when she told them she was a cashier off duty.  She was Miss Viola Wildenradt.

Sharks didn't want him
The "throw them to the sharks" idea was not abandoned so quickly, however, and President J. Y. Gooch was chosen as the victim. John C. Hall, a former president, and F.B. Cresap, vice president, seized Gooch and carried him to the water's edge.

Their thought was that if a shark got Gooch, they could flip a coin to see if Hall should become president again or if Cresap should step up.  Gooch was saved when no sharks answered calls from the schemers.

H. H. Hyman, who presided over the recent Metropolitan Miami Fishing tournament, was stung into action by taunts concerning his prowess as a fisherman, and, as laughing guest watched, hooked a 300 pound tuna.  The giant fish was stuffed and mounted on the Quarterdeck's wall, however.

To hecklers, Hyman asserted: "I catch 'em better and bigger off walls."

He held that since the club is built on stilts over the sea, he had caught the fish from a sea-wall.

Wrestler Tossed Overboard
Beside the fun they had among themselves, the frolicking members watched an eight-round fight between Jack Larrimore and Justo Jiminez, which ended in a draw, and a wrestling match between Johnny Swenski and Joe Schwartz, both staged on a barge.  There were vociferous cries of "throw him overboard" during the wrestling match, and Schwartz accommodated by tossing Swenski into the sea.

Eddie Coachman, who refereed both matches, received an injured rib when the wrestlers used him as a mat.  Capt. W. H. Peeples of the Beach Arena staged the ring events.

An exhibition of daring aquaplaning and water skiing was presented by Capt. Jack Jacks and his son, Jackie, 5, with Mrs. Jacks driving the speedboat that tossed them.

One guest at the outing was Flying Officer J. A. Grant of the Royal Canadian Air Force, who came to Florida as the conducting officer for young Britons who will be taught to fly in American schools.  Grant brought 200 to Florida, and 300 to Carolina and Georgia points.  He had little to say for publication, remarking that Florida flying conditions impressed him favorably and hospitality shown him and the Britons astonished him.

Four men who made the trip were surprised to learn that they were on a chamber of commerce outing.  The spokesman, J. F. Hugey, told a committeeman, Norman MacDonald: "We are visitors from Spartanburg, S. C. We thought we were on a sight-seeing cruise.  All this fun and we'd like to stay, but we have a 5 o'clock appointment in town.  Can we get back?"

They were put on board a speedboat and rushed to Miami.