Dredge Boat Coffee - Recipe

With all that white stuff outside, I thought I might share Barfer Robinson's recipe for Dredge Boat Coffee. Barfer (nicknamed for his predeliction for seasickness) is the cook upon the Hope V. Rogers in my books Killraven and Drowned Land.


In a large percolator pot, fill basket with about as much ground coffee as it will hold – add a dash of salt and throw an empty egg shell in the bottom of the pot. Fill the coffee pot up with water level to the basket.

Percolate on high heat until liquid in the bubble top is good and dark. Remove from fire and when it has stopped perking, remove the percolator basket. Fill up the rest of the pot with white lightning, if there’s no white lighting, bourbon or dark rum will do.

Serve black to six hungry crewmen along with bacon, eggs, and pancakes smothered in molasses and it will help keep them warm even when sailing against the wind on a frosty morning.

Contributed by Arline Chase, whose character, Barfer Robinson is ship’s cook aboard the Hope V. Rogers. “Barfer”, so called by his mates because he is often seasick, made his first appearance in The Drowned Land...The novella won The Governor's Award in 1984 in Maryland, and the short story collection was an Eppie Finalist in 1999. Many of the same characters appear in the later novel Killraven.