Even though, or perhaps because I was in the Navy, I am not a fan of ships. Our first crossing was, aside from being long and with a sick baby, was only a real problem when we came to the Cape Rollers, near our destination. I arrived surely with a rather greenish complexion, and remained so for a full day after putting my feet back onto solid ground.
A few years later we took another ocean trip, this time 0n a Mail Ship. This one followed the coastline up Africa stopped at the Canary Islands, then crept on to South Hampton, England. This was truly a passenger liner, though very old. It had served as a troop carrier in World War One as well as in World War Two. Here we had our first taste of British elegance. Phyllis and the girls were booked in a small compartment with two sets of double bunks that had nets over the open side so you could not fall out of the upper bunk. Ruth was ill again and we were quarantined as they felt she had measles. She didn’t. She had an allergy reaction to the fact that our bath water was salt water and in a copper tub. She has an intense reaction to most metals, even gold, so her wedding ring and any jewelry she wears has to be silver. We did not know that then of course, so the quarantine remained in place.
I was booked to sleep in a tiny space under the stairs in a forward "broom closet" if there ever was one. There were no windows at all. I took one look and simply moved back with my family. The girls were small so slept at the opposite ends of their bunks and we all fitted in nicely. I knew that in that forward part of the ship, there would be a lot of pitching as well as rolling, and I would be seasick, calstrophobic, and bedfast in that closet size room. As it was, I was far better off, though still ill.
We were seated for our meals at a table with a very English sounding couple. Our waiter for the trip was a Cockney speaking fellow. He understood us quite well, but we could only catch a word here and there when we concentrated closely. I thought the others would understand, but by the end of the trip, we were translating for them. It did not really matter at all, in any case, as no matter what the menu said, the potatoes were small, boiled with the skins on, and the meat was roast beef. We just ate what came. There was really no choice.
The children were not permitted to eat with us, so we took them to the children’s dining room for their meals. They weren’t given a menu to choose from, so that was not a problem. What was a problem, however, was that there were flies in their dining room, and the mirror over the buffet became absolutely fly specked more and more as the trip continued, and the floors were not scrubbed so that by the end the chairs were actually sticking to the floor. No one was happier than we were to see South Hampton. We waved with everyone else when the Queen Mary liner on its way out met our sister ship in the channel. Both ships blew their whistles in greeting. Both of them were from the Cunnard fleet.
At the dock, we were soon transferred to a train heading for London, and then to a taxi to take us to the Finchley Mission Home where we would stay a few days until we were to sail for New York City. London was dull and smokey. We were amazed to hear the locals referring to the "beautiful sunshine" one day. What we saw was what looked like an orange trying to peer through the smoggy overcast sky. We were not impressed. Our room was at the top of the stairs. I think it was the fourth or fifth floor, and it was icy cold. There was a coin-operated gas burner in a small fireplace. I had spied a bank about a block away where I bought change for that meter.
We soon learned that the subway was near by. In fact the train passed directly under the building and the vibration was startling every time a train passed underneath. Meal time was another lesson. We knew the time they would be starting to serve, so always started to lead our children down the long stairs so that we would be there on time for the prayer. Every meal, as we had reached a few landings down, the servers banged a huge Chinese gong that stood on the bottom landing, and every meal our girls were so frightened that we always arrived at the bottom trying to sooth them. Ruth was still ill, and one of the other guests, a young lady from Kenya offered to care for her so we could take a bus down town and see a little of London. We really enjoyed walking about there, but soon returned to the home, and went back of it where we found a green-grocery (fruit and vegetables)shop where we bought some fruit to give the girls as they were not eating very well. England still had rationing and the meat was sliced so thin that I really believe you would be able to place it over a printed page and still be able to read the page. Perhaps that is a little exaggerated.
Our trip back to South Hampton was uneventful, and we were ushered into the huge SS United States liner for the last leg of our trip back to New York. There was only one stop, and that was at France just across the English Channel.
At that time the SS United States held the world’s speed record for this crossing. Our cabin was below the water line, so we could hear the water rushing by outside and of course there were no portholes. The weather was cold and rainy with rough conditions, and at the speed we were traveling, there was considerable movement. was very sick and stayed in bed. They saved on my food tab as I survived the trip eating only crisp toast and drinking black tea. The stairway was beautiful, but impossible to climb, so we tried the heavily padded elevator up to the dining room the first day. As soon as I smelled the food, I decided on the tea and toast diet. Phyllis ate alone, and to this day does not forgive me for being sick. A glimpse out the spacious windows of the lounge area showed the weather and the hundreds of huge chunks of floating ice to remember. It was a beautiful ship with a wonderful catering, and every convenience, even in our cabin, but I simply could not enjoy it.
Our return trip back across the ocean to South Africa was on a freighter. Most freighters had room for twelve passengers in staterooms, and they were really very comfortable, though the ships were not fast. You ate your meals with the ship's officers. It was there that the captain asked to deliver the Sunday sermons.
This was the last time we traveled the ocean by sea. As with most missionaries, we traveled by air after that.
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