Tag / photography

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

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

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

34. Fancy Fliers, Cossack Choirs, and Balmy Tigers, Singapore, Feb 3 – 7, 1938

The After-the-Trip Letter

Singapore...magic name...it can be anything you want it to be. Will you have pineapple and rubber plantations and factories, a new modern airport whose administration building is second to none in the world....

Side note: The fancy Kallang Airport was born in 1937 and Amelia Earhart had swooped by there shortly after its debut. Her fateful flight was just a month or so later.

Remember who also flew planes? Helen. Purportedly, Helen and Amelia lived in the same dorm room (not at the same time) at Columbia University’s Teacher’s College, where Helen received her Bachelor’s (1920-24) and Master’s (1931) in Physical Education. Amelia lived in the room in 1919-20 and Helen in 1931, says my sleuthing.

Another coincidence is that they both taught at Purdue, in the same year (1936), and they used the same airfield, but apparently never met. I’m pretty sure Helen only taught one summer semester at Purdue, but still. Here are some snippets from a newspaper story about Helen: “First woman on the Purdue faculty to fly solo from Purdue field … Miss Skinner is one of the most popular pilots among the male flyers … Capt. L. I. Aretz, port operations manager, forecasts a bright future for her in aviation.”

And guess who also knew Aretz, Miss Amelia. There’s a whole movie about it.

I talk about the fun parallels in a previous post.

Since I don’t have any pictures from Helen’s time in Singapore, here is the newspaper clipping about her from Purdue in 1936.

Helen, being cooler than most of us, The Lafayette Journal, 1936, Purdue U.

And now we transition back to Singapore and February of 1938…. 

...American movies cantor in "Ali Baba Goes to Town', to be specific...the Don Cossack Russian Choir was there, too....good ice-cream (for the first time since New Orleans)...a wish for a fortune to spend on Chinese silks and linens, magnificent hand work at iniquitously low prices....tea at the Raffles Hotel, and swimming at the Singapore Club and dinner afterward at the home of friends.....

Side note: Ali Baba Goes to Town (that link is the trailer and I suggest a look see) is a 1937 musical comedy with Tony Martin, featuring lily white Arabian Sultans and, not surprisingly, blackface. Hollywood certainly did its best at exporting American-branded racism to theaters around the world.

Sadly, two people were killed in a flying carpet incident during the making of the film.

The Don Cossack Russian Choir were exiled Cossacks who started a choir in an interment camp in Turkey. They performed over 10,000 times. By 1938, they’d been at it for 15 years. Here’s more of their music and it’s quite lovely.

...and a strange night of "blackout" during British manoeuvres, when every light in the city was out, and all night long we watched the fingers of fifteen searchlights make patterns across the sky, pointing at squadrons of planes as they flew high overhead, trying to evade the anti-aircraft batteries. War seemed very near, and the demonstration was too realistic for comfort.

Side note: The British colonial government’s Air Raids and Bombardments Precautions Sub-committee in Singapore had started doing test air raid blackouts in 1936. In 1941, Singapore was indeed hit by the Japanese and eventually fell to their army in 1942.

Like the Dutch East Indies, the Japanese left when they surrendered, but unlike the Dutch, the British came back and stuck around Singapore for a few more decades. Singapore would become fully independent in 1965 after a few years as one with Malaysia.

The Day-to-Day Journal 

Helen’s day to day journal from the same time period as the letter above adds context and quite of a Helen-style detail (costs, weights, conversions, measurements, timelines, routes, schedules, distances….). She has detail for everything EXCEPT the juicy stuff with Shag.

Here is most of it, with a sprinkle of commentary:

Thru. Feb. 3: 

Woke at 3:00 am. when the anchor went out, lights of Singapore all around. Up at 6:30 harbor full of British battleships. Pilot came on just before 7 a.m. 

White ships on green water against pink clouds in a gray sky. 

Money changers, vendors of all kinds on deck before breakfast. 

To Chinese and Buddhist temples, thru Malay villages, Singapore Swimming Club, airport (mud flats filled in, one of most beautiful airports in the world, very modernistic) saw a few planes, but none in the air.  

To a pineapple canning factory (Sin Heng & Co.) still celebrating Chinese New Year, it was not in operation. Cut and slice, wash, add sugar, cook, can, label, ship. Very clean, white tile tables.  

Goodyear Rubber Co., 2 young men from Akron, Ohio — showed us around. Rubber sheets weighed, sorted, graded, repacked, pressed (bound with steel straps) into space not to exceed 5 cu. Ft.

Side note: Later in life, Helen would be involved in an industry that relied on rubber, and would be back in this part of the world, but you have to read on to find out more.

Dropped me at the ship, lunched, Shag's watch changed. Beastly hot. Steak dinner for 50 ¢ (Sing.) at Café de Luxe (with the case of Javanese carbine, silver, batik in the window).

White ships on green water against pink clouds in a gray sky

Fri. Feb 4: 

To botanical gardens, fed the monkeys. Past the Eng. & Chinese homes in the best residential section. 

Into the grounds of the Chinese whose "Tiger Balm" has made him enormously wealthy. The most unique gardens - pools and gardens, pagodas and houses and people in miniature, exquisitely done. 

Stop at a rubber plantation, saw the latex oozing and the process involved before it goes to the shippers. 

Into Jahore over the quite new causeway. Saw Sultan's Palace (his Scotch wife divorced him 2 mo. ago.) At the Mosque to hear the Muezzin's call to prayer. Watched the parades of the police, the soldiers. No women worship in a Mosque. Took some movies which I shall probably never see.

Side note: Singapore: exquisite gardens, oozing latex…

The Tiger Balm guy’s was known as The Tiger Balm King. And his gardens are called the Tiger Balm Gardens. His name means tiger, hence the product name. His story is most definitely worth a look see.

Sultan Ibrahim of Johor (not the Hollywood Sultan), would soon head to Europe to help with his gout and also, since he happened to be in the region, meet with Hitler and Mussolini. He also got briefly detained on suspicion of being a spy.

Shag and I took a rickshaw ride, then sat on the jetty until midnight. At 2 a.m. the generators were shut down, a great silence came over the ship. The city lights went out. Blackout for war maneuvers, Plane roared thru the sky pursued by searchlights. Eight fingers of light making patterns on the black page of night. Signal lights flashed — I caught on in time to get ._._. (end of message). Wandered all over the ship from one vantage point to another until 5:30 a.m.

Side note: I want a picture of those two cuties on a rickshaw!! I just asked an AI thing to create one and it would not. It could have looked like this and how perfect for their ongoing meetcute.

Sat. Feb. 5: 

Hot! Struggled up after 2 1/2 sleep, shave legs, get bathing bag from trunk which was behind the last box in the store room. Kept the gang waiting while I dressed. 

Uptown with our driver to Adelphi Hotel, Mrs. Reed picked me up at 10:00 a.m. with her Dick (8) and David (4) and 2 girl children of a Methodist Missionary to the Singapore Swimming Club. A breeze, salt water just the right temp, felt marvelous. To the Reed home, no windows, open on all sides with shutters instead of glass. Closed only to keep out rain (rain 360 days a year), everything mildews, cloth, floors, cloisonne even. She lived 11 yr., he 16, in China. Both speak the language fluently, loved China. Three yrs. Dick has been twice around the world, at 8.

Side note: The Reeds might be with the YCWA or another athletic organization. I suspect Helen was job prospecting at some of these ports. She had not planned on getting distracted by a certain Mr. Shag.

Had a ma mee for lunch, a hybrid Chinese dish — noodles, chopped cooked egg, prawns, crab meat, nuts, raisins, soy sauce, very delicious. American cake, good coffee, Eskimo pie!, Pomolo, mangustein.

Side note: Very adventurous with food, that Helen. Some people in the family (me) are not. I envy that.

Heavy rain as we reached town, took me to Tang's on Middle Valley Road, one-price Chinese store, beautiful things, but I'd spent too much money. She dropped me in High St., found H.D. in the café with Chief who had rescued her when she'd almost fainted (touch of the sun, no doubt). 

Back to the ship for 4 p.m. sailing, to find we'd sail at noon tomorrow. Our crew from Shanghai under the domination of the Bos'n, a petty racketeer (the Shanghai agent takes all the 1st mo. wages, the Bos'n $9 (Shanghai) a month, asst. Bos'n another tong. One group would not work for the other. Some wanted to go home, so in the end all went at 5 p.m., under police escort to jail. 

Will be repatriated in a couple of days and sent back to Shanghai. Shag & I walked and talked until 11:30.

Side note: I cannot find anything on this corrupt Bos’n (ie Boatswain, ie guy in charge of boat things), but I did find this extra cool video of Singapore from 1938. It features just about everything she mentions above, except what the flip she talked about with Shag.

Sat. Sun. Feb 6: 

A new crew, Cantonese from Singapore, came to inspect the boat early this a.m. 

To the ship for noon sailing. Under way at 2:30, very narrow entrance to the wharf, rammed against the jetty as we were towed out, small dent in ship's side. In the harbor the bos'n let the boom down on a sailor, cut off the ends of two fingers, gashed his face, chest - a gory sight. Put him off in the pilot boat not a very auspicious start.

Side note: My goodness if that happened in front of me my journal would be filled with screams in all caps, but no, for Helen it’s another list: 2 missing fingers, 1 gashed face, 1 gory chest. I’m envious again, as I can’t even watch someone administer a shot on the television without getting woozy.

Visited Shag until 9. Early turned in, very poohed. Heavy rain every day in Singapore, showers 2-4 p.m. often. Keeps air fresh, grass green, but not very healthy, disturbs metabolism, women go flabby very young.

Side note: Remember that Helen has a Master’s in Physical Education so she was no dope when it came to women’s health and fitness. But is this ‘young women go flabby in rainy places’ sounds fishy. So is she right? Yes, but it’s not just women. Everyone gets an equal chance at going flabby quite young in rainy humid places, says Scientific American.

And there we shall end for now.

Next up: War and Peace (literally and figuratively). Stay tuned for that! (And also eventually, why Helen was back in these parts decades later, and how it involved rubber.)

Shag and I took a rickshaw ride, then sat on the jetty until midnight. At 2 a.m. the generators were shut down, a great silence came over the ship. The city lights went out. Blackout for war maneuvers, Plane roared thru the sky pursued by searchlights.