We see land! But then we also must get to it… in the final miles of our first leg at sea, let’s quickly say hi to the civilian passengers and peruse some of the unbound parts of Helen’s journal like scribbles, clippings, diagrams, addresses, illustrations, instructions, and so very very many lists.
Here are some from this first leg:
Passenger Notes
After three weeks of travel, we cap off Helen’s evolving opinions of the civilian passengers, starting from one day in, and revisited twice more, the last being right around this point in time (whilst bobbing outside Cape Town). Most of them we’ve barely met, but now we can at least kinda picture the people she’s mostly ignoring as she bugs the crew.
Impressions Passengers: Mrs. McGuire * Nov 10 Widow from Portland, short white hair, typical joiner, chattery, flabby * Nov 12 Whistling thru the graveyard, 73, social service for 30yr, diff adjusting to old age, motherly * Dec Very kind. Keen sense of humor, understanding, amusing conversation Miss. Mount * Nov 10 Sweet little old lady, dainty, birdlike, speech a bit breathless as tho people wouldn't listen * Nov 12 Pioneer stock * Dec "I have a friend" Mrs. Sparks * Nov 10 Just slightly older than I, from LA, very thin, animation seems artificial, high pitched voice, plays ping-pong with Chief, interested in everything that goes on Mrs. Dreyer * Nov 10 Widow, grandchild 3yr, Polish, married at 16, little formal schooling, beautiful eyes, pretty curly gray hair, is keen, misses nothing, and the give and take of travel comes easily to her. I am lucky in my roommate. Speaks broken English but it is attractive in her, gives her some of her charm * Nov 12 Nice taste in clothes and a nose for bargains Mr. Cargill * Nov 10 Tall, thin, fragile, silent, but there are living memories behind his eyes, and they still sparkle in quiet amusement. He fought in Boer war, is going back to Africa for the time since. Has been a ranger in Alberta but retired to travel. "Work and I fell out some years ago, and we've never made up" Mrs. Cargill * Nov 10 Prototype of a pioneer woman, has known hard work, back breaking toil - is sweet, serene, friendly Mrs. Sigrist * Nov 10 Stolid, widow, rises early, rd Shakespeare, walks deck 1hr after each meal, white hair, 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: In Helen’s journal, these folks are sometimes co-stars but mostly extras. She does travel with a few other passengers by train to the Taj Mahal when there was a shore leave. I can’t remember which ones now so we’ll have to wait. It probably wasn’t Mrs. Sigrist though!
Each person has their own page so I suspect she planned to continue this analysis through the trip, but ‘something’ made her priorities shift.
Sadly, she didn’t write the descriptions for the engineers and officers, but she did get all of their autographs:
Is it just me or does the handwriting of the engineers (on the left) seem far more forward facing than the officers? And the officers more upright? Like a handwriting analysis person might glean into that the engineers are young and ambitious and the officers are buttoned up and confident? Or something?
Anyway, to round this part out, I sneak in another snarky quote from Helen about a man she met in NOLA before the boat left: “…a wet blanket, thinks he can tell stories, is interminable, deadly boring.” Quite a first impression!
Boat Notes
The ‘Silverwillow’ is owned by the Silver Line Ltd of London, Eng. and was built in the year 1930 by the firm of Joseph L. Thompson and Sons Ltd. at Sunderland county Durham. She is 450 ft. long and 61 ft wide, and is able to carry nearly 9000T of cargo. She is in every respect a modern twin screw motor vessel and is capable of a speed of 14 1/2 knots.
Side note: “She is in every respect a modern twin screw motor vessel...” – stamped and approved by Inspector Helen!
Cargo Notes
At this port we take in our supplies of oil fuel and there is quite a little work to do in this direction. In all we receive about 1500 tons of this oil which will be sufficient to take the ship about 3/4 of the way around the world. During the next day or so we see such cargo as goat skins from Madras, jute bags, pig iron and seeds from Calcutta, rubber, tapioca flour, coffee, kapok, tea and gum demar from Singapore and Java. Paraffin wax from the Borneo Oil fields and coconut products from the Philippines, such as copra meal, desiccated coconut and fiber.
Side note: “…quite a little work to do in this direction…” is both somehow proper but also “do you mind if I bug you for details while you work?”.
Weights, Speeds, Costs, and More Notes
We have so many lists. I’ll space them out some, but here are a few, with all the essential information that I’m sure every passenger gathers.
Found on some scraps of paper, like she was taking notes on the fly:
Twin screw diesel, 14 knots Net 3.384 tons Gross 6,373 tons Dead Wt. 9,766 tons Freight 8,500 tons Draft of ship 26' 5.8", 54.48 tons per in. immersion Length 451' BP 465' overall Beam 61' 4 Total Cap all takes 4970T (inc double bottoms, deep tanks, side tanks, fore and after peaks), deep tanks: 25’6 deep, cap 1126T. Total Cap holds: grain 621,606 cu ft; bale 564,611 cu f
How many USAs can you fit in one Africa
Remember in the last post when Shag invited Helen on a road trip from Cape Town to Cairo? The sketch below, drawn on airmail paper, was folded into her journal. Perhaps it went along with their discussion? We shall never know.
Now, let’s see how land feels after 23 days at sea!
Flying Under the Radar 