Nostalgic Note

At this season of the year, great quantities of the little Christmas luxuries shipped by the little people of the world used to arrive in New York harbor.

Moore-MacCormick ships used to dock with hams from Gdynia, cheese and tinned fish from Norway, fancy breads from Sweden. American Export freighters brought snails from Casablanca, almonds and wines from Marseille, chestnuts and anchovies from Genoa and Naples, figs from Smyrna and Piraeus, Balkan herbs. Along Manhattan's South and Washington Streets, around 200 brokers large and small were having their Christmas rush, their warehouses full of sugar and spice.

In October three or four vessels used to lie off Basra port in the Persian Gulf, waiting for the packers to send out the first full cargoes of dates. Within a few hours of each other they would get away in the annual race for New York. Usually a British Strick and a German Hansa liner vied for the lead; first one in with his 5,000 tons of dates got a premium of about $1.75 per ton. And Hills Brothers, biggest U.S. date importer (Dromedary), gave a handsome loving cup to the winning captain.

Not this year.

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