Ralph Bunt |
Mr.
and
Mrs.
Bunt and
W.A. Caton
|
A man who started out as a ship's radio operator and spent 37
years "interfering with interference" as a radio inspector has retired from the
Department of Transport. For Ralph Bunt, the early part of his government
service was high adventure.
In
1926 he was radio operator aboard a revenue cutter engaged in trying to break up
the lucrative, private foreign aid program of supplying rum to thirsty,
prohibition-bound Americans. There were storms which he recalls with no
pleasure-one blanketed everything so heavily with ice that he barely managed to
get a radio signal which helped the skipper find his bearings.
Nor
did he get much pleasure when the customs officers seized $40,000 in contrabrand
rum hidden under a dock: the entire load "except for a few bottles that may have
been quietly set aside" was poured down the drain.
Next, he went as a radio operator with the Hudson Straits
expedition which in 1927 began a study of ice formation and other conditions in
the area.
(Transport Canada Vol 19 No 2 Mar-Apr 1968)