CAPTAIN HARRISON MAYCROFT

MOTHER RACHEL II
Sea Level, N.C., July 27, 1998

....during the war, Rachel was about twenty-three, twenty-four years old... he came aboard the ship as steward*....no one called him Mother Rachel in them days... everyone knew he was gay, he made no bones about it, but it did not bother anyone in the crew... you know: 'you had a good time tonight Rachel, when you went ashore?'... 'oh, I met the nicest Navy boy'.... but anyway, Rachel was a good steward, so he was accepted, there's a lot of gays going to sea ....I don't know when he got that name, that was about twenty, thirty years later, I guess....so he was steward on the ship and we had a purser* that was supposed to be a pharmacist mate, and so, one morning, I'm coming up from breakfast and here comes the steward with a hot water bottle and I say, 'steward, what are you doing with a hot water bottle, that's the purser's job'...he says 'that's the trouble, our little purser is sick' he says 'and I'm looking after him'....he says ' I feel just like Florence Nightingale' ...and I say 'carry on, Flossy!'....
(Harrison Maycroft)

*steward = a person on a ship, responsible for supplies of food, etc.
*purser = an officer on a ship, who keeps the accounts, etc.

CAPTAIN HARRISON MAYCROFT