Many who were in Bangalore during the 1940s and 1950s are likely to have seen Gunboat Jack, or at least heard of him. He had several roles in life: boxer, circus performer, speedster, bar fighter, street brawler, bouncer, tap dancer, perhaps even smuggler. During his sunset years he had two more parts, which I shall come to later.
We know for sure that Gunboat Jack was a tall American Black, and apparently a good boxer. I have heard it mentioned that he was once a sparring partner to Jersey Joe Walcott who became the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion after the legendary Joe Louis. He is said to have been an American sailor who jumped ship at Madras (Chennai) and thus the name ‘Gunboat’. But this story may not be true. According to one version ‘Jack’ was not his Christian name but came about because he had penchant for settling street fights with a car jack.Whatever his background was, Gunboat Jack sparkled in Bangalore in the 1940s, both in the ring and outside of it. In his own words to J.T. Seamands, an American who studied in Baldwins, Bangalore and did missionary work in India, “I’m a fighter. A boxer. I’m a middle-weight, but I fight good." And again, “I like three things too much. I like drinkin,’ I like women, and I like music.” (These quotes are from Forensics & Faith, a Blog by the best selling author Brandilyn Collins nee Seamands.See http://forensicsandfaith.blogspot.com/2006/08/seeds-of-faith-part-1.html) TN Murari made Gunboat Jack a major character in his novel, Field of Honour, of which Graham Greene said, 'I was very much impressed by Field of Honour’. The famous Madras historian S. Muthiah has written about this boxer.
It is not clear when Gunboat Jack reached Bangalore. In an article ‘Of Gunboat Jack and Princess Amina’ (http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/aug2005-weekly/nos-07-08-2005/dia.htm#1) Kaleem Omar writes that the man landed in Bombay at the outbreak of World War II and was perhaps involved in smuggling. He used to visit Karachi during weekends and in 1941 sired a girl by an Anglo Indian teacher. The girl was a good athlete, but later became a well-known belly dancer.
But I don’t think we are talking about the same Gunboat Jack because the timeframe doesn’t seem to fit. J.T. Seamands, the American missionary is quoted saying that he used to read about our Gunboat Jack during his Baldwin School days. That was in the 1930s. They met for the first time in 1943 on a train to Madras. By then the boxer was already on the decline. For some time he stayed at Park Town in Madras (Chennai) and married an Anglo Indian lady. He used to fight at Madras and Bangalore.
Fighting, wine and women took their toll and age caught up too. For sometime Gunboat Jack worked as a bouncer at Bosco’s on Brigade Road. I used to see him in the early 1950s with a hat in hand, moving up and down Brigade Road. It was such a sad sight.
But JT Seamands met him again in 1958, quite by chance. Those days Gunboat Jack used to sit at a street corner on a chair, Bible in hand, and preach. The Seamands took him to their residence for Thanksgiving Dinner at which the American community in Bangalore was present. I cannot find any further trace of the boxer.
Gunboat Jack was a star in the boxing arena; perhaps unbeaten in India. But he lost out in the ring of life. His story reminds me the title of a good novel I read long ago (forget the author’s name), The Bigger They Come the Harder They Fall.
Ends.
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