Salty Mick... what's in a name?

 

I acquired the nickname "Salty Mick" one hot day in June 1982, on a stinky commercial fishing dock in Cairns, North Queensland. The name was coined by a Californian hitchhiker  who sported the unusual, All-American first name of Burr.  I had picked him and his girlfriend up on the highway down near Noosa several weeks and 1500kms earlier...

 

​Anyway, back to my nickname... Burr was a funny guy with a good understanding of irony and sarcasm, and it only took him a couple of seconds, upon seeing me emerge from my so called job interview* on Johnny Indonesia's trawler, to christen me Salty Mick. 

 

I'd been living out of the boot of my old Holden for over six weeks by then and was already looking "weathered", even so, I made an effort to dress like a fisherman for my interview - sweatshirt with sawn-off sleeves, faded and frayed cut-off jeans, thongs (that's footwear, not underwear), oh, and a somewhat grubby old cap to keep my tangled, sun-bleached hair out of my eyes. It was a good disguise, I felt.

 

I'd been on board the barnacle-encrusted old trawler for about an hour, drinking beer and getting the low-down on the "job" from the extraordinary skipper (Johnny Indonesia) and his theatrical first-mate, known in all the Cairns dockside pubs as Captain Catfish; but that's another story... 

 

As I hopped from deck to dock I spotted my little posse of travelling companions waiting for me. There was Burr, his girlfriend Cathy (she, a cute Californian "babe" - sexy, sassy and sardonic), and Canadian Ron, an old workmate from my Vancouver days. I heard Burr say "Hey look guys, it's Salty Mick. How'd ya get on Salty? Did ya get the job?"

 

Well of course, this was just the beginning of another adventure...

 

M.C. July 2013

 

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​Did I get the job?