Category / biography

by Mary James

45. SF (and Bay Areas) and the Snowy Siskiyous, Mar 21 – 28, 1938

Mon. Mar 21: Woke up just as we passed under the Golden Gate Bridge and came abreast of Alcatraz, under the Oakland Bridge and had a vista of San Francisco apartment buildings high on the hills straining to see over the heads of their neighbors. Docked at Alameda before 8 ... took the train and ferry across to S.F.

Side notes: Floating under the 10-month old Golden Gate Bridge at daybreak would be a memorable introduction to the bay.

Alcatraz was a real prison then. 

Uncle Jack came down to meet me. To town by cable car to the dentist. Dead nerve in top, aft, port tooth. Dr. Johnson opened it, let out the pus, took an x-ray.

Side note: ‘Top, aft, port tooth’ is cheeky ship terminology for ‘Top, back, left tooth’.

I’m 90% sure that the picture below is Jack Bunyan, or Uncle Jack. So add 25ish years to him. Their families were always neighbors, near Albany and in Brooklyn, and his daughter is Helen’s cousin/bestie Betty Smeallie Bunyon (aka Betty Smelly Onion). She’ll be back in the story soon.

Helen’s mother Gertrude, top left, Helen’s Uncle Jack and his wife. And some of their children. Brooklyn, 1911ish.
1870 Jackson #503 is a beautiful apartment, large living room, two bedrooms with baths, dining room, kitchen, maid's room and bath.

Side note: That apartment survives today as one unit, per the Internet. To landlord types, three bathrooms = at least three apartments. I lived in a similarly shaped place in SF, and one of the bedrooms was clearly once a dining room, complete with painted shut sliding doors. I lived in a narrow room in the back, behind the kitchen, on the first floor of what would have been a two story house, and it had its own bath, so most surely the maid’s room.

Uncle Jack and I to Pier #54 at 9:00. No boat, wharf dark, but two men said it would be in at 10:00. Back to Hotel St. Francis, to the pier again at 10:00 - boat in bay, no one of dock. Taxi $4.50. Called Mother - perfect connection - 6 min $8.20.

Side note: In today’s money, that six minute $8.20 phone call would be $185.98. An international call back then was $50 for three minutes ($1,134 in today’s dollars). So I’m going to guess this was the first time that Helen had spoken to her mother in almost six months. What might they have covered in six minutes after a six month trip around the world? Helen’s studies of celestial navigation? Her zoom up Table Mountain on the back of a motorcycle? The moonrise over the Taj Mahal? The raucous rickshaw ride through Rangoon? The looks she got stepping out in Manila wearing slacks? Sleeping out on the boat deck in the he hammock she crafted?

That might leave a little time for news about the parents, her baby sister, nine years her junior (joyfully pregnant with her 2nd child — i.e. my mother), when she’d be back home. Then, there might be a few seconds for Helen to mention a certain sailor man, younger than her baby sister by a few, whom she is now going to marry, and oh and he lives in Canada and so will she. Six minutes over and out!

And the two nighttime dock visits… I thought at first she was waiting for her hot beau Shag on that dark wharf. But no, she was waiting on her luggage. She’ll reunite with Shag soon enough though. So here is a cute picture of him during that Table Mountain ride:

Roy (Shag) Shadbolt, South Africa, 1937. See how cute?
Got my trunk off the boat and thru customs at 4:00 and the Express Co. sent for. Mrs Dreyer's niece took us riding along the Embarcadero, then thru the Presidio, past the Coit Tower, Fisherman's Wharf, Legion of Honor Memorial. Band stand, Japanese Tea Garden. Across Golden Gate Bridge and back...

Side note: Coit Tower was a baby tower, circa 1933. Here’s a fun video of SF in the era.

Wed. Mar. 23: Rain, but left for Stockton about 9:00 a.m. Lunched at Hotel Stockton & window shopped. I bot black gloves to replace the ones that mildewed on the boat. Drove around the town - out to College of the Pacific was glad to find I hadn't forgotten to stay on the right side of the road. Started the return trip at 5:30, rain most of the way, growing harder as darkness came.

Side note: Stockton is 82 miles from San Francisco, so not a wee jaunt. 

Thur. Mar. 24: Ready to go North on the bus tonight. Called Ruth. The pictures hadn't come. I relaxed, there being nothing else to do. At 3:30 Ruth called, pictures arrived. I rushed into some clothes, to Daisy's house, sorted my pictures, was home again just after six.

Side note: That is our problem in this era. We never relax because there is ALWAYS something else to do, or at least look at. Let’s do more nothing.

Fri. Mar 25: To Golden Gate Park - Nat. Hist. Museum, aquarium, aviary. To be ready to meet "Grampy" at Hotel Fairmont for cocktails. I showed pictures, talked a great deal about my travels. Hope the public won't be too bored.

Side note: I think Grampy is Uncle Jack, so still the guy with the hose:

Flatbush, Brooklyn, 1911ish
Sat. Mar 26: To Jack's office and lunch ... at the Stock Exchange Club. Drive ... thru Menlo Park, Tanforan, Burlingame, San Mateo, Palo Alto. Visited Allied Arts. To Stanford, thru the Quad to the chapel, mosaic pictures outside and inside, handsome windows.

Side note: I worked near the Stock Exchange Club building in 2006ish! 

Sun. Mar. 27: Uncle Jack ... put me on the bus for Portland at 6:45 p.m. The seats were very comfortable. I had the whole seat to myself - the driver excellent - the road smooth. It was dark before we crossed the Oakland Bridge, we stopped frequently, and there was no sleep. Tried Ovaltine at the 2:00 a.m. rest stop and after that I dozed some.

Side note: I’ve never heard such pleasant words associated with bus travel. 

Mon. Mar 28: As it began to get light we were in snow covered mountains in the Siskiyous, the pines and firs lined the road - it was gorgeous. Weathered a dozen snow storms, some rain. Vista after vista of snowy peaks - a lovely morning. By afternoon we were getting down into flat country, dull, uninteresting, drab towns, small ugly houses. Lunched there and changed buses. Reached Portland at 5:35 p.m. and Betty was at the station to meet me. So good to see her - had a grand visit in the evening.

Side note: If you have to be on a bus, that part of the country is the place to do it. Now she’s reunited with her very best friend, childhood neighbor, and cousin: Betty Bunyan (Grampy / Uncle Jack’s daughter). She is the unhappy looking older child below (the one with the striped shirt):

Next up, Shag arrives in Portland and meets the family. How will he do??

by Mary James

44. A Lap Around La La Land, California, Mar 19 – 20, 1938

The After-the-Trip Letter

After five+ months of zigzagging the planet, Helen is back on U.S. soil. 

A longshoreman's strike gave us one day instead of the five we'd expected in Los Angeles. I was taken on a mad dash across county to see everything at once: Hollywood, the Troc, the Brown Derby, Wilshire Boulevard, the University (U.C.L.A.), the oil derricks, the beaches. 

Side note: Unthinkable that a person could mad dash anywhere in Los Angeles, especially to so many places in one day. That, and they first had to get to LA from the port in San Pedro or Long Beach, and then go back to the ship (about 25 miles each way and in 1938 cars didn’t go very fast).

Dots are all the places Helen visited in and around LA, in one day, in 1938, back when traffic wasn’t hell

Here’s a cool aerial view of UCLA in 1938 and look how tiny it was! Also look at the creepy oil derricks she likely saw. Their more recent iterations are no less creepy though, as oil derricks are creepy by nature.

Day-to-Day Journal

Sat. Mar 19: At 6:00 a.m. the anchors groaned up and we went inside the breakwater. I got up and pressed some clothes before the doctor and immigration officer came aboard. Everyone keyed up at being back to U.S.A. 

At 8:30 we were piloted in to Long Beach. Ruth's husband, Mr. MaGuire's son, the Dunhams were waiting on the quay. There was a gardenia corsage for me with instructions to get in touch with Virginia Lyon.

Side note: To alert people that you would be arriving from across the sea in 1938, did you send a letter or telegram from your last stop (in this case Manila, some 20 days earlier) with a guesstimate of your arrival? Maybe the recipient could call some ship whereabouts number to find out if it was on course? Or maybe there was a ticker? The internet won’t give me a straight answer.

Had my bag packed to leave the ship when the word came around that on account of the strike we would stay only long enough to take oil, and would leave for San Francisco tonight. Gnashing of teeth! What to do? 

Drove, can I begin to say where, places whose names had become very familiar during 5 months among Californians. Santa Monica, Wilshire Blvd., Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, Beverley Hills, Ventura Blvd, saw the Troc., Grauman's, The Brown Derby, Clara Bow's "It" Café, Westwood, some Africa­-ish looking hills, an observatory. Lunched at a curb service place - chefs salad bowl and a tall glass of milk.

Side note: Perhaps the observatory she visited was the famous Griffith Park Observatory… the super-cool art deco dome, perched up in the Hollywood Hills, that had just opened three years prior?

The curb service she mentions was likely a drive-in restaurant. 

Called George Bunyan and found him home. To a dentist to have my tooth cemented back on the plate. Away again to ... marvelous food: thick steak, real vegetable soup, stewed tomato, deep dish apple pie.

Side note: After 5.5 months away, I bet even the most worldly traveler would miss some food from home, if only for the familiarity. In 1938, you could not yet sneak off to a McDonald’s whilst traveling, and then pretend you didn’t.

George Bunyan was Betty Bunyan’s (Helen’s cousin / bestie) younger brother. As children, his family and hers lived side-by-side, first near Albany, and later, in Brooklyn. George was about 8-10 years younger than Helen and Betty so likely a pest.

Below is a picture of George in his Flatbush, Brooklyn backyard, circa 1914. The picture below that is of what looks like two grandmas flanking George, Betty (scowling), Helen (about 12 years old), Mary (my adorbs grandmother), and then below that it’s the same folk, but rearranged and minus one grandma.

George Bunyan, Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, 1912ish
Above: Grandma, George, Betty, Helen, Mary, Grandma; Below: Betty, Grandma, Helen, Mary, George


Dash back to the ship for 6 p.m. sailing, to learn it would not leave before 10: Took Shag uptown to get a haircut, came back to the "Pussywilllow", chatted with Sam. Brot oranges on board, super colossal's for 25¢ a dozen ... the man had large, jumbo, mammoth, colossal, and super colossal sizes! Stayed with Shag until sailing at 1O. Mrs. MaGuire learned her 2nd son died in Feb. Helen D. found her oldest sister dying. Sam gave me some advice.

Side note: Helen noted earlier that Mrs. MaGuire was a widow from Portland who had three sons. And one of them was there waiting for her at the dock. How horrid.

Large, jumbo, mammoth, colossal, and super colossal are a very American range of sizes. 

Sun. Mar. 20: At sea again, the 1st day, chill breeze, salt spray, California hills on our starboard side. Spent all off watch hours with Shag. Wrote 5 business letters and a long one to the family. Everyone dead as dodos, lolling around all day. Kept in the air as much as possible. Jim came over at 10:30. Anchored early in a.m. and rolled all the rest of the night. Had a toothache to help matters.

Side note: I wonder if the long letter home to family is the one I’ve been transcribing. That one doesn’t end on March 20th, but she could have added more later. Oh, I bet she was drafting a letter, like by hand. People used to do that. For college papers, too. Olden times.

Next up, Golden Gates and Stockton!

by Mary James

43. It Is A Warlike World We’re Going Back To… Eastward Ho, March 12-18, 1938

Day-to-Day Journal

Side note: Helen is floating east at 14.21 miles per hour, towards San Pedro, California, with six days of Pacific Ocean to go. This sea seems angrier than the ones before: literally, with its heaving and burbling waters; and figuratively, with warships all over South East Asian harbors. And then news from abroad is heaped with literal dread.

At 5:00 at Shag's listening to the news from London, Nazi troops are pouring into Austria, Schusnieg has resigned. France is hastening to form a new Cabinet and she and Britain have sent strong notes of protest to Germany. The insurgents have captured more villages in the Saragosa district, China is bombing Nanking. It is a warlike world we're going back to.

Side note: March 1938 was just plain crap, but if you were headed towards a country not about to be embroiled in crap — at least not on its own shores (Hawaii wasn’t a state yet when it was hit a few years later) — you were lucky. Her timing was pretty impeccable. Ships like the Silverwillow were used in the war and many, including the Silverwillow, were blown up by U-boats.

*Also, Saragosa aka Zaragoza is in Spain and this was during the Spanish Civil War, Franco, and the Aragon Offensive. Case in point about all the crap.

Heard the first radio program from the States - it was Paul Whiteman's orchestra playing "Rhapsody in Blue". We grabbed each other and shouted "home" and when realized that "Rhapsody in Blue" is the perfect theme song for us.

Side note: That is my favorite part!! I knew it was coming, because I’ve read her journal before (more than once), but in my memory, Rhapsody in Blue happened when they were docked outside Singapore watching war planes buzz about. My brain blocked out the ‘first radio program from the States…’ part, which is key to the story. The first time they hear U.S. radio in five months, and Gershwin’s 1924 mega hit Rhapsody in Blue, with all its legs-akimbo frenetic jazz-age energy, is blaring.

Katy's 73rd Birthday. She and Sam get into a hot argument at dinner. He claims the masses ought not to be raised up, that environment may work wonders - with Shag until 9:00. Sailed from Cebu some 10 T of water short. We're using distilled from sea water for washing - it's hard and horrid.

Side note: Sam is a passenger they picked up in Java (and whom I picture as Indiana Jones) and here he is arguing with a feisty senior citizen named Katy on her birthday, but I’m not sure we know which passenger is Katy. There are four female senior citizens out of eight civilian passengers. One is named Helen so she is out. At the beginning of the trip, Helen notes that one female passenger is 72 and one is 73. The 73 year old is also out. So it’s between the 72 year old and the a woman of unnamed age. Who of these would be likely to get in a fight about the rights of workers with a man hitching a ride across the Pacific in 1938:

  • The 72 year old, Mrs. Sigrist, is a woman who Helen liked early on, but about a month into the trip, said was ‘a hag out of a Dickens novel’. So maybe it was poor Sam who was being picked upon!
  • The other contender is Mrs. Cargill, who is noted as a “Prototype of the pioneer woman, has known hard work and back breaking toil – is sweet, serene, friendly”. Though she is sweet, a pioneer woman might not take sass from a young freeloader crapping on the working class.

So it’s a toss up. 

[Present location:] 
Lat. 31° 34' N 
Long. 160° 41" W
Dist. 335 mi.
Av. Speed 14.21 mph 

Sat. Mar. 12: Had good luck with Lat. And Long. Today. Capt. was pleased. Had no help and came out just like the bridge. Typed from noon to tea. Wound yarn. Looked at Shag's pictures. Want dozens of them. Talked to Jim for hours.

Side note: For someone who kept so much pertaining to this trip, there are probably only a dozen pictures total. That’s still pretty good for 1938. Here are most, if not all, of them.

[Present location:]
Lat. 31° 42' N
Long. 154° 21" W
Dist. 324 mi.
Av. Speed 13.74 mph 

Sun. Mar. 13: Finished choosing Shag's pictures, was late getting topside. Did a long. - made a mistake as usual. Lovely warm spring-like day, seas smooth, everyone out on the weather deck after lunch. Sam and I sunbathed. Typed until tea time. Started the sweater on my suit. S. and I got a bit reckless after dinner.

Side note: For all her knowledge of health and the human body, she should know that recklessness on a full stomach could cause a cramp. Throwing caution to the wind!

(I am sure the S. is Shag, even though there’s now another S. on board — Sam)

Jim has his apprentice exams today and this evening a final lesson on another subject. Sam and Kate had a blistering argument on killing senile and insane, and on capital punishment.

Side note: I’m gonna guess that the person who didn’t want the masses to have power (Sam) is also pro-execution for the ‘senile and insane’. But one cannot be sure. 

[Present location:]
Lat. 32° 02' N
Long. 147° 32" W
Dist. 348 mi.
Av. Speed 14.78 mph 

Mon. Mar. 14: Did a longitude in the a.m. Sam and I had a little hop-scotch after lunch and then a deck tennis match on 4 Hatch over the boom. Most exercise since the trip began. Figured out my declaration for the customs. Best morse I've done but much too slow yet. Sam read another chapter from his book. Had several G and V's and came to the point. Beautiful moonlight, and a following wind swung my hammock and slept out - until a shower drove me in. Shag in the depths with jealous notions.

Side note: Are G and Vs navigation terms or booze, like they would be with me?

I do not blame Shag for being jealous. Helen is with this Indiana Jones type doing hop-scotch and tennis and book reading. Who wouldn’t be jealous?? 

[Present location:]
Lat. 32° 26' N
Long. 140° 45" W
Dist. 345 mi.
Av. Speed 14.65 mph 

Tue. Mar. 15: Rolling seas, the glasses began to slip at lunch time. Did another Longitude. The sun came out at noon for a moment for a sight. Ruth castor-oiled my head. It's frightful with dandruff and not getting it clean in our distilled salt water. Threw some paper over board and was surprised to see it blow forward instead of back. Strange to have a following wind. We're blowing toward land altogether too quickly. Had boards around the table at dinner. 

Full moon, silvery seas. Shag and I made a wish — I'm sure it was the same one. Jim writing an assay for his exam. Took my pictures up to Capt to choose.

Side note: Helen is the least ‘make a wish’ person I can think of so she must be so ga ga.

[Present location:] 
Lat. 32° 49' N
Long. 134° 37" W
Dist. 336 mi.
Av. Speed 14.26 mph 

Wed. Mar. 16: Up on the bridge for my first Longitude sight, with 3 Mate, Capt. standing by the chronometer. At nav all a.m. 

A gloriously beautiful day, but cold and snappy, didn't get really warm until Sam and I had our game of deck tennis after lunch, and then found #3 Hatch warm enough for a sunning. Got my negatives ready to send for reprints. Morse after dinner. Visit with Shag. Grand radio music from the States. Still rolling.

Side note: The chronometer! Remember from the last post, a chron tells a lat.

[Present location:]
Lat. 33° 14' N
Long. 127° 25" W
Dist. 338 mi.
Av. Speed 14.35 mph 

Thru. Mar. 17: The days are too beastly short. Had good luck with my Long. and started on Azimuths. Just when it's getting exciting I have to quit. Had a washing session, then had Jim borrow me a bucket of soft water to wash my horrible hair. Finally got the soap and the castor oil out. First time in two weeks it has been free of soap.

Side note: Azimuths looks like scary graduate level math, and certainly not exciting.

Helen is constantly fighting with her hair, on ship or not. My mother (Helen’s niece) said Helen got the bad hair of the family, in Helen’s own telling, while her sister (my grandmother) got the good hair.

The news tonight was not reassuring. France is mobilizing, Germany has sent 400,000 troops to Spain, Russia is preparing to march thru Poland and aid Czeco-Slovakia if Germany moves in that direction. 

Had a thrill this afternoon when I heard a plane. Dashed out to see a pursuit job swoop across our stern, another across our bows. Last night at sea — feel blue to think it has to end. Jim and Shag do not help lift the depression, what with war talk and good-byes. Up writing letters with Capt. until midnight. 

Side note: War and bittersweet woe pervades, but there must be comfort in blowing towards peaceful shores.

[Present location:] 
Lat. 33° 43' N
Long. 120° 47" W
Dist. 333 mi.
Av. Speed 14.24 mph 

Fri. Mar 18: Found a Longitude which will probably be the last on the S-willow — and made a mistake because ship's time went on 38 min. to Pacific coast time and apparent noon was ahead of ship's noon. 

Sighted land on the port bow just after noon and the gulls are white ones today. Cold and clear, about tea time it was warm enough to sit on Hatch #3 to take a sunning. Most passengers had been cooped up in the saloon with doors closed and heat on, so I stirred them all up to get out in the air. 

Had tea outside, and Ruthie read knitting directions to me while I typed them on Sam's machine. 

Took some star sights as sunset. Visit with Jim and Shag. Dropped the pick at 9:00 with the light of San Pedro ahead. 

Well, California, what are you going to do about it.

Side note: Indy is traveling with a typewriter? This adds a new dimension. What we know about him: he was ‘acquired’ in Java. He is sporty, playing tennis and hopscotch. He likes to sunbathe. He thinks that the ‘senile and insane’ should be executed. Shag is jealous of him. He is writing a book. But who travels from continent to continent with a typewriter?? Not an Indy type, I don’t think. That would slow down the adventures.

Anyhow, we’re almost back on U.S. soil!! Just one more leg to go. But not before a grand tour of Los Angeles. Shall we?

by Mary James

42. Lats ‘n Longs and Musty Drawers — At Sea Between the Manila and California — March 7 – 11, 1938

Day-to-day journal

[Present location:] 
Lat. 25° 53' N 
Long. 163° 05" E 
Dist. 354 mi. 
Av. Speed 15.01 mph  

Mon. Mar 7: Filled with good intentions for work, it's bright cool, sunny. Said hello to Shag and stayed until after 10. Session with J. on time, hour angles, tec. Morse - I get progressively worse.

[Present location:] 
Lat. 27° 27' N
Long. 168° 55" E
Dist. 327 mi.
Av. Speed 13.85 mph 

Tue. Mar 8: J. woke me at 6. At 9:00 had a session on longitude with J. before I went topside. Capt. set me problems until lunch. 

Warm enough for Sam and me to have a sun bath on top of #3 Hatch. 

Walk with Sam after dinner, visited Shag, then read Sam's articles until 10:45. Lesser Sundas Maluccas. Feel as tho I begin to have some small idea about them. 

Side note: For those unaware, like me, the Lesser Sundas Maluccas are part of the water they were bobbing upon, as they worked their way from Manila to Los Angeles.

This was the penultimate leg of her globe trot.

[Present location:] 
Lat. 29° 01' N
Long. 174° 57" E
Dist. 333 mi.
Av. Speed 14.10 mph Wed. 

Mar. 9:  Spent two hours finding out where we were at 8:55 this morning. Capt. gave me the works - Lat., chron., D.R., H.A.T.S., polar dist., Co-Lat., and I fumbled thru, making a mistake in arithmetic on every line. 

Side note: For those wanting to learn along with Helen:

  • Lat. = latitude – opposite of Long. For how to find it, see chron.
  • chron. = chronometer – very maritime-y, sleek looking device developed in the 18th century that, through celestial navigation, tells you your Long.
  • D.R. = dead reckoning – guesstimating the position of moving things (like ships) based on moving things of the past (like previous ships). Don’t quote me on any of that though. Here is a better way of putting it.
  • H.A.T.S = Highest Astronomical Tide(s) – guesstimating the highest of high tides in various weather conditions.
  • polar dist. = polar distance – astronomy + geometry.
  • Co-Lat = Co-Latitude – latitude + trigonometry.

While first disseminating Helen’s adventures, I envisioned that maybe I, too, would learn how planes fly or that I would study celestial navigation, because how cool would that be. But plans were quickly squashed at the sight of so much math. So I learned very little, but did purchase a replica sextant in homage (below left).

The sextant that Helen is holding below looks bigger than mine, but mine says it’s a genuine replica that works and such. But with my studies on hold, the sextant is currently serving as a nicknack… one that acts as a perfect segue into a good brag about my Great Aunt Helen.

Cold and raw and rainy. Got out my green knit dress I've carried around the world and this time first time cold enough for it. Had only a few minutes to dress for dinner and had to put it on tho it smells musty. Went over for some Morse, but couldn't stand the smell of the dress so Jim, Shag and I paced the deck to air me out. Beautiful moon but frightfully blowy.

Side note: If ‘musty’ is worse than ‘men-at-sea-for-five-months’, then musty must be dealt with, even at risk of being blown into the Pacific.

There’s a chance that this was the musty dress
[Present location:] 
Lat. 30° 32' N
Long. 179° 13" E
Dist. 317 mi.
Av. Speed 13.00 mph 

Also Wed. March 9 - Got out the flannels and sweatshirt, for winter has come, and we are a heaving up and down over this wave and that wave. Shag and I watched our wake boil and burble.

Side note: No R.E.Is then for water-wicking, temperature-gauged, ultra performance gear. Back then they had to rough it in flannels… or snuggle in them, and maybe that’s what Helen and Shag were doing while watching the heaving, burbly sea ❤️.

2nd longitude - comes out at 180° 13" E'., which isn't possible - I would have problems like this just at the date line. Read. Had a chance to live 1 yesterday over, and did no better with it. Have an attention span of a very few minutes. Don't like to read indoors and too raw and windy outside. Nuts to knitting. Shag and I especially close today.

Side note: She sounds uncharacteristically annoyed until the last line. But that last line, like most lines relating Shag, is characteristically vague.

[Present location:]
Lat. 30° 48' N
Long. 173° 32" W
Dist. 294 mi.
Av. Speed 12.48 mph 

Thru. Mar. 10 Worked another long. Got exactly the same as the bridge huzzahs! Warm enough for a little while after lunch for a sun bath on Hatch 3. Aired my suitcase. It's hard to keep things from getting musty, and since the canvas went up again yesterday, it's dark as a pocket in our room. 

Side note: I wonder if she had just one suitcase for the five month trip. She’d mostly be on a freight boat, but did need items for formal situations at ports like dinners and dancing. Maybe she had suitcase like one of these from the era. And maybe a toiletries bag like that. A camera, film, a few books. A tiny journal with minuscule penmanship. See journal picture below, on the right topped by my old iPhone XR, which was a wee 3″ x 6″.

My late uncle Bob (Helen’s nephew), bless his heart, transcribed every word of her tiny-scripted daily goings-on from this trip — and her lists and measurements and charts and weights and prices and side observations — into his computer in the early 2000s. He did this all by typing while squinting at the tiny text, and using a magnifying glass here and there. He then printed it, 70 pages, and sent paper copies to the family, including me.

When I ultimately read it, I excitedly underlined and starred and circled things, and bracketed sections, and wrote in the margins. This made the software I used to scan and digitally transcribe the printed version, confused, and it made a lot of ###&&&()^s. I had to re-transcribe a lot of it. This is how we learn lessons.

And while we’re talking about Bob, the future heroic transcriber… in March of 1938, he was a dapper three year old in New Jersey. He will play a big part in Helen’s life many decades after this trip.

This is a year or so later, but that’s Bob and my mother, in 1939ish
Morse after 3 day rest and no better for the vacation. Gave Capt. a start when I went up at 9:30 p.m. and knocked just as Lady MacBeth was murdering sleep. 

Oh, the bookkeeping joys of a master. Three kinds of insurance for every member of the European crew, health, old age pensions, ship wages and draws to be paid in every kind of currency. Debits and credits from London, from the agents. 

Visit with Jim from 11 - 1. Wonder if my influence on him has been good or otherwise. Washed my hair at 3 p.m., can't get soap out, hair gummy and dandruffy.

Side note: I can’t figure out what the murdering sleep reference means in this context. Was Capt. having a restless sleep? Was he snoring? Reading Shakespeare?

[Present location:] 
Lat. 31° 01' N
Long. 167° 11" W
Dist. 327 mi.
Av. Speed 13.87 mph 

Fri. Mar. 11: Another double page of longitudes. Typed from lunch until tea time, making copy of Capt.'s ship adoption letters. Ruthie and I took a fast one from stem to stern - cold dismal day, tho the sea is very calm.

Side note: To close out, let’s look at some of Helen’s beloved lists and study notes and measurements and diagrams from said journal, all neat and tiny and precise.

by Mary James

41. Sextants, Mast Climbing, and Hop Scotch, The Philippines to At Sea, Mar 1 – 6, 1937

The After-the-Trip Letter

When we reached Manila we felt as though we were practically home, and the twenty days across the Pacific were the shortest ever, in spite of the extra Wednesday after we crossed the International date line. 

Side note: Twenty short days for pondering big questions. To recap: a super young smart and accomplished race-car driving hottie has asked (more than once) for her hand in marriage.

Unfortunately, we don’t know much about her feelings about all of this because, in her journal, Helen only goes into detail about every single thing except her thoughts about said hottie, so we must ponder as well.

The Day-to-Day Journal

[Present location:] 
Lat. 15° 30' N 
Long. 129° 21" E 
Dist. 297 mi.
Av. Speed 12.54 mph 

Tue. Mar. 1: Seas somewhat less turbulent, tho the Mate got one over his head on the fo'castle head this a.m. Ruth still seasick. James and I did a little Morse this a.m. first time in months.

Side note: Fo’castle is the shippy-ist ship term ever. It is also known as fo’c’s’le, which is vaguely shippy (to a Canadian-American who knows little about things).

[Present location:] 
Lat. 17° 26' N 
Long. 138° 38" E
Dist. 330 mi.
Av. Speed 13.95 mph 

Wed. Mar. 2: Took my first sight since Ceylon. Very busy with knitting, reading, ironing. Had a session with J. on navigation, and later one on Morse.

Side note: Taking a sight has to do with navigation and probably involved the sextant. So let’s look at a picture of Helen with one:

Helen and sextant, at sea, 1937 or 1938
Came from Shag's at 9 and Sam read me the first chapter of his book. On deck to sleep out and found my hammock gone. Captain had borrowed it, since his room is being painted. Stayed out 'till midnight, J. left at 11. Plenty of hills in the sea tonight.

Side note: Though there were salt water peaks and valleys heaving and collapsing around them, they were leaving from a warm place near the equator so pleasant enough for deck sleeping. 

[Present location:] 
Lat. 19° 26' N
Long. 139° 45" E
Dist. 315 mi.
Av. Speed 13.31 mph 

Thur. Mar 3: J. woke me at 6 a.m. per instruction. Back to study navigation this a.m — no enthusiasm for work. Knit some. Pouring rain at intervals, very hard after dinner. Morse — Shag. 

Have a dog as cargo, Jim and Alec have monkeys, the rabbit is forlorn.

Side note: Firstly, this schedule and work she frets over is 100% self-imposed.

Secondly, the animals: the rabbit was mentioned near the beginning of the trip as belonging to the ship’s crew (and if it was meant to lure the female civilian passengers to these men, it was doing its job). The histories behind the dog and the monkeys are unknown, but in my version they befriend the sad rabbit, have fun adventures, and live happily ever after.

[Present location:] 
Lat. 21° 07' N 
Long. 145° 23" E
Dist. 330 mi.
Av. Speed 13.97 mph  

Fri. Mar. 4: J woke me at 6 a.m, I turned out to find it was damp and gloomy, went back to bed until 8:30. By that time it had warmed up, sun up brightly, ocean gloriously blue. Sam and I walked, Capt. came along. I broached the subject of a climb up the mast, he didn't say no. 

Went up on the crosstree, our world looked very small. Sam came up. Shag and camera arrived just as I came down. Sam gave me some snaps, he took over 600 study "days work" and the fog begins to lift once more.
Taken perhaps after mast climbing. Helen is on the right. The other person is likely Miss Sparks, who is about Helen’s age, and I’m absolutely she sure has a second arm. Miss Sparks was the one lured by the rabbit. 
Think now I can get back into the study habit. Took a sight at noon. Dictated numbers for Chief's abstract — 4:00 p.m. — 5:20 p.m. Morse with Jim. Conversation with Shag. Capt. putting up my hammock when I came back. Both feeling restless — I went topside — his room is back to right, looks fresh and nice. Had some Lion Brand. To bed in the hammock but too windy, in at 12:30 a.m.

Side note: I think Lion Brand is tea. And I wish she would spill some of it! Also, since she’s taking sights again, now’s a good time for another sextant picture.

Helen and Capt, Silverwillow, 1937 or 1938

[Present location:] 
Lat. 22° 46' N 
Long. 150° 57" E
Dist. 328 mi. 
Av. Speed 13.88 mph 

Sat. Mar. 5: Sam and I felt the need of exercise. We laid out a hop-scotch on the After Deck and jumped around for half an hour. He and Shag climbed a cable, but I can't hold up my weight on one. 

Finished with a Shandy in Shag's room and it was suddenly 11:30. Studied, knit, read in p.m. Read numbers for chiefs abstract. Morse. Shag. Reading.

Side note: Swirled a shandy at Shag’s… touche.

The Chiefs Abstract is like the boat’s deed.

Here is a picture of part of the deck if you wanted to visualize the hop scotch.

Helen and crewmen (likely Shag standing), deck of the Silverwillow, 1937 or 1938. I bet she did not arrive on the ship with grubby workmen coveralls.
[Present location:] 
Lat. 24° 12' N
Long. 156° 51" E
Dist. 336 mi.
Av. Speed 14.23 mph 

Sun. Mar. 6: J. woke me at 6 but I couldn't struggle up before breakfast. Sam, Shag, Mitchell, Alec, Bill and Spectators had fun with a glorified hop-scotch game. Glorious warm sunny day. Sun bath after lunch. Jim started me on longitude this p.m.

Helped chief finish his abstracts after tea. Morse after dinner. Shag and I listened to music from Germany until 9:15. Came back to find lights out and everyone in bed. Took my book up and read with Capt, until 11:00.

Side note: Google won’t tell me how they were listening to music from Germany. A marine radio? A record player? While trying to find out, I learned that the Nazis had two designations for music: The Reich Chamber of Music (music deemed German enough by Nazis) and Degenerate Music (Jewish and Black musicians). I hope what Shag and Helen were listening to until exactly 9:15 was Degenerate Music.

by Mary James

40. Popped Questions, Contraband, and Mr. X — Opon and Manila, Philippines — Feb 24 – 28, 1938

The day-to-day journal

Be sure to read all of this one, as it has some extra juicy parts. But they’re peppered about, so don’t skip.

Thur. Feb. 24: Talked to the new passenger — been mining engineering, new mining laws giving Gov't right to confiscate mines and equipment is scaring out foreign capital. Large gold mines, very large manganese and chromate (used in autos) mines, the former shipped to Japan. 

Says Quezon asked for independence to keep his bread buttered on both sides, is now afraid his bluff will be called. As soon as U.S. moves out, Japan will move in.

Side note: The Philippines was (and is) a land of mineral richness, and grabbing hands near and far have wrestled for it. This new passenger, the mining engineer, could be one of them. She could maybe find out by mining him for information. Get it??

When you Google ‘Quezon’, a place pops up first, but in 1938, Helen and the mining engineer were discussing a person named Manuel L. Quezon, who was the first Filipino president of the commonwealth of the Philippines, and who was very popular. And because of him, there is also now a place.

And Japan did indeed ‘move in’ a few years later, as they did a lot of places in the region then, but certainly not without a fight.

Sailed about 4:30. Had no escort like the Army transport that went out at noon with a bomber circling. Took some pictures of the harbor, warships, submarines. 

A U.S. sub came up asking who we were, were going (our 'not under command' signal was up).

Side note: I envision a Nessie like submarine scope slowly breaching the waters; its face slowly turning until it stops… and then zooms in on the M.S. Silverwillow, who is guilty of having a not under command light on. Wait though, how would an underwater vessel know if an abovewater vessels’s signal was up??

I don’t have the pictures she took, but the one below is from the same time and place.

Helen in the Philippines, 1938. I have very similar shoes
Sat. Feb. 26 

Reduced speed last night to time arrival in Opon between boats, for there's only one wharf at the coconut oil refinery. Slid alongside before 8:00 a.m. Coconut oil hose into the deep tanks at once. 

Serenaded before breakfast by native boys with ukuleles — who sat and played most of the day. "Milk from contented coconuts, I suppose". Uke's from Y 1 up.

Side note: Is the ‘milk from contented coconuts…’ lyric part of their serenade?? Or a saying of some sort? The Internet is not being helpful.

Shag and I went ashore between raindrops on a picture taking expedition. Opon is a small village (3 towns on the island — Mactan where the Magellan monument stands). 

Bamboo houses, coconut trees very short, got an orange blossom (much sturdier and larger than U.S. ones) from a 7th day Adventist Mission. Pony carts, the train of small boys, "Beautiful Lady in Blue", "Maternity Center and puericulture".

Side note: Opon is now Lapu-Lapu City. 

The coconut refinery: take in 250T. copra daily, produces 170T. oil (storage tanks hold 340T.), 500 employees in 3 shifts year around. Buy whole nuts on % oil and water (by chemical tests). Climate here damp, 10% water, not millable. Kept under cover a month until lose 5% of water. Split nut, keep for month, crush twice, 2nd time to powder. Heated, oil pressed out in hydraulic press, refuse pressed into cakes, (removes extraneous matter & color) packed & shipped to Europe, cattle feed. For soap, oil mixed with 1% fuller's earth, 3% F.E. for white oil, shells for fuel.

Side note: Coconut Refinement 301 (it’s like graduate level).

After lunch Sam, Ruth and I hired us to the town wharf, took an outrigger catamaran with blue sails (25 ft. long, 10 ft. outriggers, sail with 2 booms). Sailed across the bay to Cebu in an hour. Stood on the outrigger and dangled a foot. Grand sail.

Side note: Dangling a foot off an outrigger catamaran whilst casually sailing off the Philippine’s in 1938 (at least the part before the war started) does sound grand.

To a club for some refreshment, shortly the Silverwillow arrived. First time I've seen her under way when I've not been on board. 

Sauntered around the town, saw the cross Magellan planted, the P.O., Int. Harvester Co., Shamrock Hotel, Colon St., the oldest in the Philippines, endless rows of shops with odds and ends of trash, narrow St's., Spanish architecture, iron grill work. 

Rain, but not enough to delay loading much. Copra arrives on truck in bags in slings, dumped into the hold, is removed in port by suction. The whole town smells of it. Breeds flys. Chief says they eat all the oil out of the winches.

Shag and I went walking, found a bollard to sit on and talked for hours. He proposed to me again this morning. Sign on a movie house, "Nothing Sacred" and good added shorts.

Side note: Proposed AGAIN?? She failed to mention the first time. All this news and her handwriting, in her personal journal, remains the same as everything else… all measured.

A robust paragraph about coconut refineries, followed by seven words about a marriage proposal, all the same type height, width, angle, and pen pressure. That and she mentions it calmly, right after a story about smelly winches.

The below isn’t the same text, but it shows the same consistency.

Alas though, we only have context as much as what’s in the journal, so nada about her feeeeelings about being proposed to AGAIN, so we must forge on… (but an element of romance and suspense makes for a Hollywood story, so thank you to Helen for keeping it coy).

Sun. Feb. 27: Walked ashore with Chief at 7 a.m. Very hot and glaring water and copra still loading. Lord Cochran, London, abaft us, has just been to Odessa under sealed orders. No pilot met the boat, "Mr. X" boarded when they landed, took on a cargo of guns, ammunition, planes, to Indo China, with each man receiving a bonus: Capt. $5000, Mate and Chief $4000, etc. thru each member on crew.

Side note: The USSR and China and Mr. X and guns and ammo and payouts?!?! The HMS Cochran (nee HMS Ambrose) was British. Just that year the boat went from being a passenger boat to a destroyer depot ship… one apparently up to shenanigans. Pirates??

Stopped at the race course — 8 a.m. to 6p.m. every Sunday — a dirt track in the stix, bamboo shelter for a grand stand, moth eaten looking ponies. 

Bridge of signs — natives brot out from the walls, dug their graves were shot so their bodies toppled in. The Spanish were full of tricks like that. The cemetery next to the hospital (for convenience, I suppose). 

The house on the hill started by an American, blatant and ugly, Y 30,000.

Side note: Each port stop in this story could be a case study in why colonialism is absolutely a beyond monstrous endeavor. Yet almost 100 years later it’s still in the dialog. 

Back to the ship at 10:20, and Shag got what for not being on board at 10, tho we didn't sail until after 12 — passed Opon during lunch, tho I went out in time to see the Nordmark from Berlin drawing up for some coconut oil. She's a big freighter, fine looking ship. Last look at tropical islands with sundown for tonight we go thru straits, the last land before Pedro. Toward dinner time we ran into rain and fog... and we crawled thru the night.

Side note: Pedro is San Pedro, California, which will be their next (and last) stop!

Mon. Feb. 28: Hard rain and rough seas. Capt. on the bridge all night, sleeping today. Knit and read. Stopped rain except for showers, but the jack staff wavered up and down all day and into the night. 

Jim had p.m. off, got some information about Lloyds Registry Pimsoll marks, capacity of various tanks, etc. Discovered a Wodehouse in the library and read some to Shag in the evening. During the hardest rain our canvas protector on passenger deck went up.

Side note: Ah ha! We have discovered the context to the notes and illustrations below. So it was Helen as student (that is her handwriting) and Jim as professor. But then she’s sheltering with Mr. Shag (the repeat proposer of marriage) later, during the hardest of rains.

Onwards!

by Mary James

39. Women in Slacks, Taxi Dancing & Snakeskin Belts, Cebu & Manila, PHILIPpines — Feb 21 – 22, 1938

The After-the-Trip Letter

Sam and I (he was a passenger we acquired in Java) stopped traffic in Cebu, and the citizenry turned out to stare, for he wore shorts and I had on slacks, and such peculiar creatures had not been seen before in those parts.

Side note: In 1938, women’s slacks were popular (and controversial) in a host of places near and far. Maybe they hadn’t made inroads yet in Cebu though… until now! Helen likely knew wearing them out and about in certain places, like the Philippines in 1938, would induce an eyes-out-on-stems effect, as she liked to say, and I think she liked it that way.

Below are some Helen-in-pants (and shorts) photos from the 1930s; the last one is from this voyage, and perhaps those are the slacks she wore out and about in Cebu.

Since we’re in Cebu, here’s a neat video filmed there in the 1930s that is worth a look see, with its cool old footage of the hustle bustle streets. My notes about it: hemp looks very nicely silky and blonde even in black and white; Cebu was the first European settlement in the region; the Philippines is named after King Phillip II (PHILIPpines), who was a king of Spain. Who knew??

“Sam and I … stopped traffic in Cebu, and the citizenry turned out to stare, for he wore shorts and I had on slacks, and such peculiar creatures had not been seen before in those parts.”

Day-to-Day Journal

Side note: In the day-to-day world, we’ve now left Cebu and are anchoring outside Manila.

Anchor outside the breakwater. Italian ship "Victoria", U.S. Army Transport waiting to go in. Our berth almost last one out. Passengers ashore at 10:30 on a Stevedore's launch. 

To Am. Express, Kodak store, P.O. Met for lunch at "Astoria" on Escolta. Air conditioned, rare roast beef, green beans properly cooked, real strawberry sherbet.

Side note: The Italian Victoria (aka “The White Arrow”, “The Dove of the Orient”, “The Ship of Maharajahs”) was a posh ocean liner famous for its interiors (there are some pictures in that link and they’re regal indeed). Like the M.S. Silverwillow (the ship Helen was on), The Victoria was sadly destroyed during World War II.

Took a car (Y 3. per hour) to Yneko market, lost our minds over fiber matting, bags, etc. 

Thru the poorest part of town, destroyed a few years ago by fire. People living in shanties of rusty tin. 

Thru the walled city, then past the big hotels and clubs. Polo grounds to Rizal, another native village. Huts on stilts, has been known to rain 60 in. in one week. To an ancient church to see the bamboo. Return on Stevedores' launch at 5:00.

Shag and I to town at 8:00, sat in the Manila hotel and watched the world go by. At 9:00 taxi'd to Santa-Ana; the World's largest dance hall. One section roped off for women with escorts; the rest, the size of several city blocks, for Taxi-Dancing with natives. Some very lovely girls, all neatly dressed. First time I have danced with Shag.

Side note: I’ve just learned what Taxi Dancing is (men paying to dance with women) and why it’s called that (woman gracefully ‘taxi’ the men around the dance floor, with each song costing a fare).

The Santa Ana club must have tawdry stories to tell. But also some charming stories, perhaps like the first dance between a dashing young ship engineer / race-car driver and a fast-talking professor, pilot, and consummate flirt, after months of heavy innuendo (from both sides) throughout their courtship at sea.

Here is them:

Roy (Shag) and Helen Shadbolt, likely near Vancouver, Canada, in the 1940s
To Legaspi pier at 2:00 a.m., had delicious apple pie al la mode. Came back in our private launch (Y 1.30). En route back to the boat this p.m. it began to rain torrents, were drenched going up the gangway. 

Went thru the Alhambra Cigar factory. Cigars and cigarettes — long ones with brown paper covers as well as white one and regular size. The cutting in lengths particularly interesting, so quick you can't see the cutting edge. Girls pack them in containers, tell the number by touch alone.

Side note: Sadly, the workers probably were ‘girls’, as they were often children. Here’s a picture from 1930.

Tue. Feb. 22: 

Washington's birthday a holiday here, all "white" stores closed. Stood around on one foot and another waiting for someone to decide what flag to put up to summon a launch. Sooner or later the mate suggested a "J", finally a boat appears.

Side note: The Philippines was at the time an American colony, hence Washington. And how very colonial to celebrate the former president of the colonist nation, while in the colony, but then only let the colonizers partake.

Shag and female passengers to the Walled City. I bought a Panama hat, asked (Y 5), pd. (Y 4), ($2.) for a white straw summer hat! Bot snakeskin belt, sandals, bill folds, a kimono for Pop, and quite unintentionally, one for myself, a double black and white one. Spent some time prowling around. Back to the ship to go on 4 p.m. watch.

Side note: Shag and female passengers to the Walled City means that 23 year-old boat engineer Shag somehow got tasked with escorting six women — five of them in their senior years — on a field trip. We like Shag for this.

I cannot picture Helen’s father in a kimono. But then Helen tends to look serious in pictures and she is a goofball so who can tell.

Helen’s parents (my maternal great grandparents). Helen’s father is hard to picture in a kimono, huh?
Just before dinner my new wisdom tooth began aching in a big way — ate no dinner. Capt. asked me to go to town. I declined, thot I'd be no help to anybody. Tried numerous remedies, final relief with an aspirin — slept like the drugged.

Side note: We will let Helen sleep a bit before the next post, which I must say is quite exciting… like it features contraband, Mr. X, and a big ole question.

by Mary James

38. Magellan & Stilt Houses — The Philippines, Feb 19 – 20, 1938

After-the-Trip Letter 

Shall I say we "browsed" through the Philippines, loading sugar, palm and coconut oil, copra and copra meal at several of the islands. 

We saw the spot where Magellan was buried, or where what was left of him was buried after the cannibals finished with him...we thumbed rides on native outrigger sailboats, went fishing, went ashore in native villages...

Side note: Magellan died by poison arrow, in Lapulapu, Philippines in 1521, at the age of 41ish. I’ve just learned (or maybe relearned) that ‘The Magellan Expedition’ was indeed the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe, but Magellan himself did not complete the voyage, because of the arrow.

...the bamboo huts are raised high on stilts..that helps to keep out some of the “varmints", and then it rains so much they would be awash most of the time. Normally the space under the house provides shelter for the pigs and chickens. The floors of the hut are made of split bamboo, rounded side up, and they seem to sleep comfortably on woven bamboo mats spread on the floor. A bed is such a novelty...there isn't much furniture of any kind, but I located the inevitable Singer Sewing machine.

Side note: A whole paragraph about stilt houses is a lot for a three page letter about a five month trip. I bet the houses were (and are) striking for just about anyone used to seeing houses on the ground. They likely looked like this and the bamboo mats like this.

The Day-to-Day Journal

Lighters came from Victoria Refinery across the bay. Catamarans came swooping down on us from all directions. Unbelievably narrow craft of various sizes with sloop rig and great bamboo outriggers. 

At 1:00pm the starboard forward life-boat went overside and sailed across to the village. We were met on shore by the population, followed about, a few spoke some English. 

Perhaps 60 bamboo huts on stilts, pigs underneath, almost no furniture, occasional magazine pictures on the walls, a few potted plants, one sewing machine. 

Some of the girls quite nicely dressed. The boys swam, Jim and I wandered up "Main Street". Passed the "Bay-Ang Barrio School", kept very neatly. Water buffalo sloshing about in the puddle in back of the town.

Side note: The link above shows a very different style of stilt house than the first one I shared. The quality would depend on who you were, but whomever, you’d be on stilts.

Sun. Feb. 20: Off for Manila soon after. Sam is going to do violence to Daisy in the cause of "I have a friend". Two people have a basic understanding for marriage. 

Side note: Miss Daisy Mount is one of the civilian passengers about whom Helen said early into the trip:
“Sweet little old lady, dainty, birdlike movements….”.

And then Daisy said to Helen, “I have a friend”. So maybe that was Daisy’s thing… to make friends; and now Sam is getting the treatment. A rugged sailor hitching what he thought would be an easy a ride on a freight boat for a few stops through Philippines, and a sweet dainty little old lady who wants to be his friend. I hope we hear more.

But before we move on to Manila, let’s look at Helen in the Philippines for second:

Helen Skinner, Philipines, 1938
by Mary James

37. Ship School, Electric Horses, and Fo’Castles — to and from Macassar, Dutch East Indies, Feb 14 – 18, 1938

We’re back at sea for a bit before another stop in the Dutch East Indies. Time at sea means Ship School, i.e. Helen following around the engineers and captain and asking them a million questions. Some fruits of her efforts:

This doesn’t look like Helen’s handwriting so likely an engineer on the boat probably Shag

She also made her own diagrams, because if you can ink really straight lines, not to mention a perfectly round circle, who wouldn’t? Not to diminish, but there could also have been a ruler and compass involved, but still, A+ penmanship.

Definitely Helen’s handwriting and precision of detail, compass or no

The Day-to-Day Journal

Woke at 4 and had a look around — still unloading. Back to bed and vaguely aware of ship leaving port but too dead asleep to get out. 

No interest in breakfast, slept until 9 — up and washed clothes, hair, read. Made no appearance in public until lunch on Capt.'s deck after inspecting Batik, heads, etc. collected by Mr. Leedom.

Side note: ‘Heads’ could mean many things, right? I cannot help but picture shrunken heads and Mr. Leedom, who seems to be hitching a ride between the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines, as a Indiana Jones type. 

Left Shag before 9 — topside for a beer. Slept out in the warm balmy air. Didn't stir form 11 — 6, best I've done yet. James woke me to say the deck would be washed down in a moment.

Side note: If she slept until nine and left Shag before nine, would there not have been an overlap?? But maybe the second nine is P.M., since there is beer? She is so detailed in most aspects but so not with Shag, which is what I want to know about. And also now the heads. 

MACASSAR Tue. Feb. 15: Shoal water and many islands this a.m. Was in the chart room getting an idea about the coast of the Celebes. At 1:30 we were turning around in the little harbor — came alongside very neatly.

Side note: Shoal water is water over a shoal (raised underwater sandbars that can make for shallows and stuck ships). Each shoal had to be charted (that link is a shoal chart from the opposite side of the world, but a shoal is a shoal). Remember that Helen is in Ship School so shoals would all be important.

I wormed my way into the chart room on a ship once (by bragging about my Great Aunt Helen and her freight boating), and in 2022 they still had paper maps, though were also using other more advanced technologies.

Ashore at 2:00, besieged by taxi men and by bicycle boys with seats in front. Funny looking contraptions, but quite amusing to ride in except it's impossible to walk without being pursued by dozens of them, getting in the way and ringing their bells. 

Macassar is a shanty town: rows of open-front shops along 5 streets, an open square in front of Govt. buildings and hotels and not much else except shanty dwellings on stilts and a big Chinese graveyard. 

The bicycle boys were much interested in where we came from, how much my watch cost, etc., and passed the word around. Came on again at 4:00, just after we were back on the boat, sailing delayed from 5:00 to 7:00, and at 7 Shag and I went ashore for 1 1/2 hour. Sailed at 9:30.

Side note: A fast-talking American woman, who is probably wearing pants, riding in a basket in the front of a bicycle, flanked by bell-ringing children, in the Dutch East Indies in 1938, on the brink of WWII, seems cinematic. Doesn’t it (hint)??

Also, there’d been Chinese settlements all over the region since the 15th Century and their graveyards were always at risk of pillaging and desecration, and one can learn more here.

[Present location:] 

Lat. 2° 15' S; Long. 118° 44" E; Dist. 203 mi.; Av. Speed 14.16 mph We. 

Feb. 16: Descended to the depths of the steward's storeroom and resurrected my knitting, it's high time something was done about it. Worked long and earnestly, accomplished about 1 1/4 in. Called on Shag at 9:00, 5:00, 7:30.

Side note: They are now back at sea and coordinates. But also three calls — one in the morning and two in the evening — to Mr. Shaaaag-y.

James took me on a personally conducted tour of the boat today: fore peak (and tank), fo'castle head — windlass for anchor, winch for derricks, mast house, bollards (for making fast ropes), fair leads (less friction in paying out rope), anchor chain locker, 6 deep tanks (4 in #3 hatch, fore peak, after peak), side houses (bottle room for CO2), amidships — weather deck, passenger deck, Capt.'s deck, bridge, monkey island, engineers accommodations — boat deck, main deck (strength deck) runs length of ship under weather deck, poop deck aft of hatch #4, docking bridge aft over steering house.

Side note: That is the most Helen-y paragraph ever. Remember, Helen wanted to study engineering at Columbia University when she started there in 1919, but could not (the first woman to graduate from Columbia with a degree in engineering was in 1942). But neener to them, because she learned about it anyway, and took a lot of notes doing so.

[Present location:] Lat. 3° 34' N; Long. 119° 34" E; Dist. 353 mi. 

Thru. Feb 17: Tried to sleep out last night but such a gale blowing the hammock whipped up and down like an electric horse. I got up once and it turned over at once, spilling pillows, cover — gave up and went in. Wash day again — knit industriously, read a bit, didn't leave the passenger deck until 5:30 p.m. Boat deck with Shag after dinner. More knitting before I turned in. Crossed the equator for the 4th time last night.

Side note: The electric horse was meant for exercise. Calvin Coolidge had one and was mocked because of it. It’s a fun story, which also involves the Kellogg of cereal fame, who swore by the things, and who also had an electric camel. Since Helen studied and taught athletics, maybe she had tried riding an electric horse (or camel).

[Present location:] Lat. 8° 05' N; Long. 121° 04" E; Dist. 291 mi.; Av. Speed 12.12 mph  

Fri. Feb. 18: Ship at half speed about midnight so there was little wind, a gorgeous clear moonlight night and delicious sleep in the hammock until 6 a.m. Read an hour, knit and hour before breakfast. Hour with Shag, knitting, and then topside to write letters. Cargo list up to date after lunch.

Side note: Gawd, to drift off in a self-made hammock, slightly swaying on ship deck, on a windless moonlit night. Also cinematic, no?? HINT.

by Mary James

36. War (and Peace), Dutch East Indies, 1938

The Dutch East Indies was (and now Indonesia is) made up of 17,000 islands, I’ve learned. The Dutch had been taking up space on them since 1600. Their time was almost up though, not that the local population would benefit, as they were next occupied and indentured by the Japanese. After World War II, an independent Indonesia was born, free of colonizers and occupiers.

In February 1938, while countries in every direction fortified their armies, Helen slipped into her boat deck hammock and cracked opened War and Peace.

Day-to-Day Journal

Thru. Feb. 10: Tegal 

Anchor at 5:30 a.m. — everything very damp. Wrote all a.m. Hot and muggy, no one went ashore — usual round of visits on boat deck. Started Tolstoy's "War and Peace".

Side note: What a book to be reading as war is percolating. I mentioned the Napoleonic Wars in the last post, since they were the reason the Dutch East Indies briefly had an English governor.

So Napoleon is the ‘War’ in War and Peace, but though I minored in (Russian) literature, I never read the book, and I don’t know what the ‘Peace’ is. My husband read it last year (I harbor both jealousy and pride for this feat) so I could ask him, but will instead suss that ‘Peace’ is the class of those mostly unaffected by (at least the combat and blood of) ‘War’.

Anyhow, Helen’s gonna be reading A LOT about the Napoleonic wars.

Semarang’s volcano purplish against a graying sky, at sunrise beautiful cloud masses with just the suggestion of light shining thru

It was decided we'd drive to the Borobudur, but the agent changed our minds. Said in the West monsoon it is liable to be very rough in the afternoon and we'd have to be prepared to go on to Sourabaya by train. 

Sigrist frothed at the mouth, but wouldn't risk the expense, so we went in to Semarang on the Agent's launch. The driver took us up on the hills into the residential section, charming homes, grand view out over palm, banana, acacia, flamboyant trees to the ocean.

Side note: This frothy Sigrist, mad because of a monsoon, is a 72-year-old widow whom Helen liked at first, but now does not, and she’s probably only currently traveling with her because of limited options.

I’ve mentioned that we do not learn much about the other few civilian passengers on the freight boat (eight total I believe) because Helen is focused on the ship and its men. But she does give her impression of the passengers for the first few weeks of the trip. Here are Helen’s journal notes about Sigrist:

Nov. 10 - Stolid, but spry for her age, widow, rises very early, reading Shakespeare, walks on Engnrs. deck an hour after each meal. White hair, stooped, a strong, kind face. 

Nov. 12 - has traveled much, keen, fine sense of humor, widely read. 

Dec. - stubborn, dirty, rude, determined to have own way, does not know how to play, is mad if she does not win. Am in doubt about sense of humor. The engineers have dubbed her "Old Corrugated" and it fits her like a glove. Mrs. D. calls her Queen of Sheba all the time. She's a hag out of a Dickens novel. Would rather walk a mile than spend a nickel.

Side note: The December note doesn’t even get a date. Sigrist is just a plain old pain by then. Moral: rudeness trumps your good qualities so don’t be a Karen.

Stop at a Batik factory — under a shed a man drawing designs on white cloth in pencil, freehand, two women squatting waxing the intricate patterns with a tiny brush. Bot 2 pieces of hand block work @ f2. each. 

Read all afternoon. At 5 to listen to Shag's radio and again in the evening (it rained cats and dogs), best music in months. 

I wanted to dance and Shag was inspired to draw a charcoal stage setting for it.

Side note: When I search about radios on boats in 1938, most of the hits are about War of the Worlds and how Orson Wells would scare the bejeezus out of people later that year.

But Helen and Shag would have been listening to offshore radio and I bet it sounded something like this, but all staticky. I don’t know if young men commonly learned to dance in 1938, but even if they did, I bet Helen was leading. She taught dance as a P.E. instructor, as it was part of physical education for women then. She also notes in her timeline that she attended dance seminars and conferences over the years. And dance doubled as a flirting mechanism and tripled as a way to judge men.

But back to the boat, the dance, Shag, and charcoal drawn-stage… ballroom dances were Helen’s favorite. Those tend to take up quite a bit of room, but I’m quite sure they made due, dramatically dipping in front of the chalky stage outline. Let’s remember how cute they were.

Thot I was back in Calcutta when I came along the starboard alleyway. Packed like sardines with sleeping figures — the stevedores stay on board here until the job is finished. They were sleeping on bamboo mats on the iron deck with rain pouring in on them.

Side note: We are back in the real world now, witnessing more of the ravages of colonialism.

Sat. Feb. 12: Capt. and the male passenger went ashore today, while the rest of us stayed aboard and I for one enjoyed just sitting on a beautiful green sea, reading, writing. Sat in Capt.'s new chair all a.m. The hammock was most comfortable in the p.m. 

Jim had cut off a pair of white ducks that had worn out at the knees, I did a little hemming and there are now shorts.

Side note: White Ducks still are around. They were and sometimes still are very wide leg dungarees that sailors/navy men wear and imagining them as shorts is fun.

SOERABAJA - MALANG

Sun. Feb. 13: Pilot came on at 5:20 a.m. and we were alongside by 7:30. 

On to Malang — 95 km. Distant volcanoes and mountains all around us — a resort town, Tretes, on the volcano on our right. 

Here the rice fields are in every stage, much of it like seas of green grass, some of it headed and ripe. 

Passed some carts carrying rice shocks. Teak trees blooming, creamy white plums. Miles of sugar cane, several sugar factories (work 8 mo. in the year). Kapok factories, and many coolies carrying big baskets of kapok pods. 

Numerous Durian markets, the fruit tied in banana leaves, baskets of tapioca root and several tapioca factories. An unfamiliar plant growing like tapioca which the driver said was used for color for Batik. 

Off the main road to look at two stone Buddha's and a Hindu monument. Saw ducus, pomelo, oranges, papaya growing, mango trees, first I've seen to recognize them since Burma — much smaller than African tree.

Side note: She keeps mentioning durians but does not mention the smell. All I know about durian is that they smell and are banned from Singapore markets (or were in 2015). 

To a park in the heat of the day to feed the monkeys and strikes me as being too too ridiculous — were almost overwhelmed by a dozen girls with bananas and peanuts to sell who climbed all over the car and shouted for us to buy. 

Into Malang, quite high and very new and modern, a beautiful town. Resort for people from the coast, soccer, hockey fields, tennis courts, race track.

Side note: Malang was popular among the Dutch and other Europeans so made to be all swanky.

To Palace Hotel — Dutch, tile scenes of Jaye around the dining room. Had my first ricetafel, a typical Dutch dish of the country: a soup plate of rice, followed by seventeen dishes (some places use 17 waiters), some go on a side plate but most go on the rice, then stirred up in it. Prawns, fried chicken, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, onion, fish. All of it very hot, topped by a poached egg - delicious. For dessert avocado pear mashed with coffee extract poured over it. Must have some more one day. Coffee in the lounge — coffee extract, hot milk. During the drive back it poured a deluge — got quite wet.

Side note: The Palace Hotel is still around and looks very fancy.

In Soerabaja to a Batik shop, but found nothing I especially wanted. To a wood carving, silver, etc., store, bot nothing. Saw several things I'd like if I had money and a home. Return to ship at 5:30. Shag and I found a grassy bank in the moonlight on the canal. Saw strange boats with queer sails.

Side note: Helen is right that she doesn’t have a ‘home’ home, as she likely lives in teacher housing during the school year, and at various summer camps, where she also teaches P.E., during warm climes.

Her timeline doesn’t have an address for her between when she first goes to college 1919 and 1938 (that’s foreshadowing…) and she fully appears to have wanted it that way. She was scouting for jobs on this trip after all, which woulda meant a lot more temporary housing.

Helen would get a home soon though (I kept you in suspense after that foreshadowing!), one where she’d have a place for all her travel trinkets, and someone to admire them with.

Is that someone with her now ‘…in the moonlight on the canal’ on the grassy knoll? Read on to find out!