Back in those days, the ferries would come in and people got off them, all sorts of people, you’d see everyone there. A lot of them were dressed up fancy, and we’d be there on the pier, waiting for them. I was just a kid back then, a whole group of us would be waiting on the pier, we’d be there every single time the ferries came in. Why? Because it was an easy way to get cash.
They’d all come pouring off the ferries and the men wanted to amuse their lady friends, so they tossed coins off the pier into the harbor, and quick as you like, we’d dive down there to get them. Some days there was a lot of competition for the coins, you know, but I was pretty fast. I made some good money.
All the travelers acted as though it were some marvelous physical feat, jumping off the pier, but we did it all the time anyway. Kids still do, you can see them. But back then we did it for money.