Clinton Morrison launching two books
Author holding duel book launch
Local author Clinton Morrison is gearing up to launch not one, but two new books. The launch for both will take place Nov. 3, from 3 to 5 p.m. at Summerside’s Lefurgey Cultural Centre. Everyone is welcome to attend and a light lunch will be served.
The first book is entitled “CAPTAIN: A Brief Biography of Captain E.R. “Ben” Pike (19212016), Summerside, P.E.I.” Morrison said he wrote the book “in memory of a good friend who led an extremely exciting and often dangerous life at sea.”
He was first introduced to Captain “Ben” Pike by a mutual friend, Barry Thompson, at a local coffee shop during the summer of 2012.
Born in Newfoundland in 1921, Pike lost his father in the great Atlantic gale of 1927 off Sable Island. He would later experience the earthquake of 1929 at Burin Bay and the loss of his mother in 1934. He went to work at see as a young teenager, working on sailing vessels and when World War Two began in 1939 he joined the British Merchant Navy and two years later transferred to the Canadian Merchant Navy when he became a landed Canadian immigrant.
During the War he served on several Merchant Navy vessels carrying war materials to ports on five continents. After World War Two he continued to work as an officer on Canadian National Steamship Company’s cargo vessels and also on cruise ships. He later went to work for CN Marine ferries between Borden and Cape Tormentine. He retired in 1978 and died in 2016. Morrison’s second book is, “Soul Fire: Poetic Cries of a Baby Boomer.”
“I first began to write poetry soon after I turned sixteen, in 1964. Although I still write some poetry, much of it was written before I became more heavily involved in writing about Island history,” said Morrison.
He went on say that his poetry is influenced by nineteenth century poets of the Romantic and Victoria periods and deals with seven main themes: Protest, War, Nature, Love, Heritage, Death, and Realization. “I dedicate (the book) to anyone who has struggled along life’s journey,” he said.