The Original Mardi Gras

     I never knew what a pervasive celebration Mardi Gras was in this area. Wow!! For three weeks, there are parades (a total of 30 of them!) in downtown Mobile. Yes, I said Mobile, Alabama. Seems that in 1704, Mobile was formally made the capital of the French province of Louisiana. Over the coming years, the residents began to celebrate the Mardi Gras holiday to remember their homeland roots. Then, in 1866, a guy by the name of Joe Cain appears in a parade dressed as the fictional Slacabamorinico, Chief of the Chickasaw, riding a coal wagon through the streets on Shrove Tuesday. From that point on, there has been a Mardi Gras celebration in Mobile. There are more details to the story, but I don't have the time or space to cover it. In short, there are "krewes" (exclusive societies that put on a parade and/or an elegant Ball for the Carnival season). Many of these krewes can trace lineage back to the 1860-70's. The members are assessed fees or dues which help pay for the parade and Ball. The Balls are extravagant affairs with formal evening wear for the ladies and tuxedos and tails for the gentlemen. Sometime during the early 1800's, krewe members from Mobile moved to New Orleans and carried the tradition with them. The celebrations in the two locations today are similar, but not exactly alike. The rules surrounding the Balls and who can participate, who can be elected as royalty (for instance Mobile has a King and Queen, New Orleans only has a King), and the parades (New Orlean's is baudier, Mobile's is generally more family friendly).  Now, all that being said, we attended one of the many parades in Mobile. The parades are presented in the order of the establishment of the krewe. Newest krewes go first leading to the oldest one running on the evening of Fat Tuesday. The parades pass in front of the Mobile Carnival museum. This place is a treasure trove of examples of the royal formal wear from over the last 100 years or so. Both King and Queen are selected a year in advance of the celebration. They then determine the theme of their "reign" and all manner of things are made to support their celebrations. The Queen's gown and the King's attire are hand made and support their unique theme. Rules dictate that everything must be hand made, no hot glue or machine stencils here. The trains that the ladies wear are a good 15-20 feet long or more and weigh more than I care to think about. It is a fascinating place to visit and the staff led tours are fantastic. 

     Nowadays the parade floats are planned using modern engineering tools. Back in the 1860's the floats were designed and illustrated on lithographs. The wooden plates that made the lithograph were then destroyed so the designs could not be copied. Above is an original lithograph from 1861.

     One krewe is called the Comic Cowboys (formed in 1884 and still around today). Traditionally, their "Queen" is a guy in drag and rides on their lead float while sitting on her/his "Throne"... a toilet. And her scepter is a gold painted plunger. They make fun of all manner of things and nothing is off limits. A couple of their cleaner jabs are shown above. 

     The opulence of the balls and dinners are unbelievable. Here was the entire table setting for the King's dinner that was created specifically with his theme. This setting is paid for by the King, was used only once, then they were done. 

     Here are a couple of mannequins that are wearing the King and Queen's attire from last year's celebration. You can see the intricate detail on the trains and dress. Remember, this is ALL hand stitched! Also, the Ball, both King and Queen attire and dinner are all paid for by the King and Queen. We were told that a minimal train without a lot of intricacy started at $20,000. You can only imagine what the ones that I've pictured cost...

     Here is another example of the intricate seamstress work on the gown and train. 

     This Queen's train was unique. Not just anyone can be the Queen. You have to have direct ties to Mobile society. This particular queen honored several former members of HER family that had served as Mardi Gras royalty. Each of the different crowns has the initials of the past king or queen. There's a lot of history in that lineage. 

     Not sure it is clear in the photo, but notice the mantle that surround the shoulders and head of the queen. This fancy and delicate structure serves another purpose. It is where the train attaches in the back and serves as a harness of sorts for the Queen to drag this train behind her as she makes her Grand Entrance. One of the trains was so heavy that ball bearings were sewn into the end of the train to allow it to roll more freely along the floor!

     An example of a King's outfit, along with his crown and scepter. All of this is hand made by artisans in and around Mobile. 

     Here is our Mardi Gras haul! This was all from only one minor parade and what we could catch. Some folks at the parade brought big fish nets to catch the goodies and a big sack to put it in. By the end of the parade, they could stock their own float!! All these beads were thrown from the various floats to the spectators that lined the parade route. Most of the beads are plastic but one strand we got was made of glass. That one is heavy and hurts when it hits you unawares! The round things on the right are Moon Pies (chocolate covered marshmallow sandwiches). In the 1940-50's, they used to throw Cracker Jacks, but several folks were injured by the flying boxes. The organizers of the parades put their heads together and looked for something that wouldn't hurt the spectators and they found the Moon Pie in 1952. It is made in Chattanooga, TN and is a southern "delicacy". 

Military Hardware of All Sorts

    Today we decided to scoot up to Mobile and visit the resting place of the USS Alabama. It is a WW II era battleship that is permanantly moored in Mobile Bay. Self guided tours are offered with, what to me seemed, unprecedented access. There are three "color" tours you can take, each tour takes you through different areas of the ship.  Red tours below decks and the stern of the ship. Green tours below decks and forward of the ship. Yellow tour is the Main and Upper decks to include the bridge and gun turrets. Naturally, I did them all (and yes, Barb accompanied me on all of them).

     First a little about the ship. It was commissioned in August of 1942. During her service, she earned 9 Battle stars and shot down 22 enemy aircraft. The ship is 680 feet long and 108 feet wide. Her assigned crew was 127 Officers and 2,205 Enlisted but she usually had a crew of about 2,500 men aboard. She has nine 16" guns that were accurate to 21 miles! She also has twenty 5" guns in 10 side turrets, forty eight 40mm guns in 12 mounts and fifty two 20 mm guns. Needless to say this thing is armed to the teeth!!

     These are just one of several crew berths. A sailor had this bed and a small locker in which to keep all of his uniforms and equipment. Tha's it! When not on duty, there wasn't really any space just to hang out in. The one thing I can say is at least here had plenty of headroom. Other places on the ship were downright claustrophobic. 

     This was one of those claustrophobic places. It is also one of those areas that you don't usually think would allow you entrance or "hands on" visitation. This is inside one of those 16" gun turrets! I am sitting in front of a sighting position. The big tube in front of me actually contains a set of mirrors that looks outside and you can sight in and gauge the range of a target. This apparatus is similar to what I used to use in the Army in a Tank but significantly larger. As you can see--not much headroom, but you could crawl around the turret and see where the guns were loaded and where the shells and powder came up from well below decks. 

     This was on the other side of the sighting scopes. (they are the tube behind me). I am tinkering with the fire control adjustment knobs. You could adjust for range, windage, ship's speed and direction, and several other factors that would affect the ballistics of the round. In front of me, on the other side of the wall, was where you could see the guns themselves. On that wall were controls that were used to load and prepare the guns for firing. 

     Here I am outside of the turret underneath the big 16" gun tubes. 

     These are just a few of the 16" shells that are stored at the bottom of the turret (several decks below the guns themselves). As you can see, they are almost as tall as me. Amazing that this ship could propel that round 21 miles and accurately hit a target!!

     Stored way below decks are these canisters. Inside each canister are powder sacks containing the gunpowder charges for the guns. Both the canisters and this room are sealed to prevent water or moisture from contaminating the powder. Powder bags were extracted by the sailors and put onto elevators that took them up for loading in to the guns. 

     Like any big ship at sea, it is a floating city. Everything the sailors need can be found somewhere on the ship. Above is a view of the enlisted galley. Nearby was a full bakery where breads and baked goods were made. A butcher shop was down the hall along with a cold storage area for fruits and vegetables. 

    Here was the entrance to the crew's laundry room. Here laundry was dropped off to be cleaned and pressed. Nearby was a tailor shop and a cobbler shop to repair shoes and leather goods. 

     A Barber shop was available to maintain good grooming standards. 

     Notice space is at a premium on the ship. Here, there are bunks in the Barber Shop for the Barber to sleep. This was a common theme throughout the ship. Often times the crew would sleep and work in the same area. 

     Not much in the way of privacy anywhere!

     There was even an area for a battalion of Marines to live. Here they had their own store on ship where they  could replace equipment that was lost or damaged. The boxes on the top shelf were "K" rations the precursor to the old "C" rations or MRE's of today. 

     There was a fully staffed Post Office to handle the volumes of mail generated by the sailors. 

     Barb was fascinated with the range of cameras in the photography lab. Again note, the bunks where the crew slept where they worked!

     And yes, they even had a brig where errant sailors could be kept until justice could be served. On the wall, there was a list of rules posted and one of them said that, in the event of enemy attack, the prisoner would be released and assume their battle station. Didn't say what happened after the attack was over...

     Looks kind of like a torture chamber in itself, but this is the home of the ship's dentist. 

     Not only was the Battleship here, but several other pieces of Military hardware. Here was a replica of the CSS Hunley, the first submarine. Recently the actual Hunley was raised and restored for public view (in Charlottesville, SC, I believe)

     Another vessel you could tour was the WW II submarine the USS Drum. If you thought things were tight in the Battleship, it was absolutely spacious compared to this puppy! Hatchways between areas of the ship were short and narrow. Not to mention not much room to move around in. 

     Here were the dive controls where the helmsman steered the ship. 

     Remember the galley picture on the Battleship? Here is the galley on the sub. The whole galley!!

     Again, crew quarters were not all that spacious.

     The "business" end of the submarine. The shiny brass thing in the middle is one of the aft torpedo tubes and a torpedo is in place at the left edge of the photo (ready to be moved into position and loaded into the tube).

     Additionally, there are several static displays of aircraft and armor surrounding the grounds.

   I leave you with a piece of hardware near and dear to my heart. The M-60 tank. I spent many long hours in one of these at Ft. Knox as a young Armor Lieutenant and commanded several of them in an Armor Battalion while stationed at Ft. Carson. I could tell you several stories about life in these "cans" but will save that for another time...