J.P. Brooman retired
after
more than 42 years of government
service.
(Transport Canada Vol 19 No 2 Mar-Apr 1968)
Mr. Brooman and his wife
were honored at a
reception at the Clark Memorial
Centre in Ottawa where fellow employees presented Mr. Brooman with a gold watch and a photo of
the TSL staff, and
his wife with a travelling case.
"I started out in radio
working after school and for a full year
in a radio store in Oakville,
Ont.,"
recalls Mr. Brooman. "We made
everything then,
including condensers, tube sockets and resistors; building radios
was not just
assembly."
"Anyway," he continued, "wireless was the big thing then so I
took a course in
operating and in 1925 joined the old Department of Marine and
Fisheries at the
ripe age of 17 years."
"I think I was the youngest
operator in the
service for nearly a year. I served my time on the old Lurcher
Lightship with the
old half-kilowatt spark transmitter and converted crystal receiver, and on the Canadian Ice
Patrol with the
Canadian Government Ship Mikula."
"We were working 56 hours a
week on the coast
stations then and six on and 12 off for 11 months
straight could get a
little tiring at times," said Mr. Brooman. "One of the
compensations was
that we were living in prohibition days yet we could buy rum
for $25 a
five-gallon keg delivered."
"In 1927/28, I spent a
year at Belle Isle
that was one of the toughest years in the department, I think. Isolation was isolation then. We
ran short of food, one operator got beri beri and
another anaemia and
the cook was sick so all told it was a bad year."
"Incidentally, the operator who relieved
me that year died at Belle Isle and they had his body
packed in ice for about three months before they could get it off.
"After
that, I spent most of my time at Chebucto Head and
Camperdown until
1938 when I was transferred to Ottawa after Air Services
was set up,"
recalled Mr. Brooman. "I worked for about four years on installations and finally settled down in
the Test Room (now
the TSL) where I remained until I retired."