I often get asked how I came up with the name Before the Mast Trading Company, so I thought I would share the story and inspiration behind it.
I was born into an outdoor family. My childhood memories are filled with being on or near water, whether it was the Gulf of Mexico, Sabine Pass, or Sam Rayburn Lake. We camped on McFadden Beach, and eventually, my parents built a cabin near Sam Rayburn Lake. Unfortunately, those dreams were shattered when my father passed away when I was eight years old. Despite this, I continued to dream of boating and often imagined learning to sail.
I got my first chance to go sailing in my junior year of high school, and I was hooked.
However, I had other commitments, such as school and water skiing, to occupy my time. My high school friends and I would either be fishing or water skiing in South Arkansas.
Eventually, I met and married my college sweetheart, but that’s a story for another day. Her father had a significant impact on my life. He was an outdoorsman like my late father and took an interest in me. Whenever he introduced me to someone, he would say, “This is Glady’s son-in-law.” But I digress.
My college sweetheart and I would go home every weekend, as I was a music director at a little country church. Most Sundays, we would go to her parents’ home for Sunday dinner. One particular Sunday, her father finished reading a book and gave it to me. He told me how he and some of his friends would read a book, sign and date it, then pass it on. The book was called Two Years Before The Mast by Richard Henry Dana, Jr., a memoir written after a two-year sea voyage from Boston to California on a merchant ship starting in 1834. Her father also shared that this book was required reading in grammar school when he was a boy, and he had done a book report on it.
As the years passed, I always kept that book in my collection and would read it every year or so. It stirred in me a love for the sea, especially my memories of the Texas Gulf Coast. When I finally decided to pursue my dreams by taking sailboat lessons through the American Sailing Association, I thought of the book and what “before the mast” actually meant. In the book, Dana explains that the newest crew members’ bunks were in the front of the ship, the most turbulent and uncomfortable part.
When I was thinking of starting my T-shirt and apparel business, I came up with the idea to tie in a nautical theme by including a true historical account of life on the high seas and the Gypsy Soul it inspires. In a small way, it was also a tribute to a man who helped shape me into the person I am today.
Comments