Recherche dans la collection - Gallant, Frank - Interview

CANADIAN SEAMEN'S UNION HISTORY PROJECT

1991-0356

Enregistrement sonore

1 of 1

1980-06-30

Jim Green (Interviewer)

Interview by Jim Green of Frank Gallant, veteran seaman and ships's delegate with the Canadian Seamen's Union (CSU). Gallant begins with an account of his seafaring career - a career that spanned 65 years. Gallant, who admits to sailing as a youth in the 1920s in Prince Edward Island aboard rum-running schooners, first shipped out on foreign deep-sea vessels before Canada established manning pools. He relates his war experiences, in particular, his participation in the evacuation of Dunkirk when he made 12 or 13 consecutive crossings of the English Channel rescuing British soldiers in a small boat. Turning to his postwar experiences, he recalls the many strikebreakers and violence during the 1946 CSU strike against the Great Lakes ships and his incarceration for nine months. Following the demise of the CSU, Gallant sailed lake boats as a member of the Seafarers International Union. To conclude, Gallant discusses his recollections of many former CSU members he knew over the years.

English

Libre

A1 9902-0087

with written permission of Jim Green