Tag / travel

by Mary James

15. Lat. 16″ 26′ N; Long. 69° 31″ W; Dist. 326 mi.; Av. Speed 13.78 mph, ie At Sea, Nov. 14-21, 1937

Doesn’t 13.78 mph sound SLOW?? Let’s see… if one went forward 24-hours a day at 13.78 mph, that is going 330ish miles a day. And it was 23 days from NOLA to Cape Town. That comes to 7,590 miles, which is pretty much the exact milage between the two ports! Who knew??

So chug chug, little freight boat, you’re just on time (if my math is right).

To refresh, we’re about four days into a five-month ’round-the-world trip. We are currently snaking through the Caribbean Isles, soon to be spit into the Atlantic, where we will then see no land for 20 days. But we will see a lot of sea.

The journal:

While Helen is busy in her Navigation 101 class, she takes detailed notes – lists, definitions, illustrations, scribbles, and diagrams (some not in her handwriting!). I will scatter those around.

Like now:

Intel she is gleaning from the ‘prentices, such as Plimsoll Marks (ie ship load lines)
7:30 p.m. — to Engr. Deck for first lesson in telegraphy. All 'prentices there, wireless op., Shad. 

Shad, Foster and I talked until 10. Shad is interesting — he & Foster want to take a diesel auto trip from Capetown to Cairo. For conversation they asked me to go. Wonderful pipe dream. 

Capt. begins to call me Helen.

Side note: The telegraphy lesson is likely Morse Code. This was definitely on her ‘prentice wish list.

And most importantly… drum rollll… IT’S SHAD. Shad = Roy (Shadbolt), sometimes also referred to as Shag. She seems intrigued by him, no?

I thought at first ‘Foster’ was a job title on the ship. Like a deckhand or something. The Captain hollers, “You there, Foster, fetch me my telescope post haste!!”, or something. But no, Foster is a person.

Roy and Foster invite Helen on a 10,000 kilometer roadtrip, from South Africa to Egypt, in a diesel car (a brand new type of car in 1937 that takes a different FUEL than other cars, so how do they get the gas? So many questions). Ten thousand kilometers is almost three times as long as the United States. And in 1937, it would probably take at least a month, if not longer. And where would they sleep. Hm… Flirting alert!

The Captain was likely calling her Miss. Skinner before. How informal for a ship Captain, who are typically so upright and salute-y. Hours of radio soaps and variety shows with someone nice, smart, and cute will do that!

Capt. reads my character in handwriting "Tact, diplomacy, modest, not forceful, religious tendency, non-informative, hopeful, ambitious, gentle, cautious, head rules emotions."

Side note: Most of those things, yes, but religious tendency, not so much. And what is non-informative? Like coy? Whatever it means, flirting alert!

Sun. Nov. 14: Today I am a passenger — no lessons. Large dinner — fried oysters, chicken, asparagus, potatoes browned, celery, olives, tomato, orange ice & Nabisco, walnuts. Listened to Jack Benny on Capt.'s radio. Foster on the bridge from 12 - 2.

Side note: I leave in some of the food lists because her relaying mundane meals in the midst of daily wonder and so many once in a lifetime experiences is fun. One’s gotta eat.

Jack Benny, at the time, was slinging witty banter and Jello to all corners of the world. And which 12-2 is she with Foster?? The day time or nighttime one. I think the latter since she mentions him last. Hm.

Mon. Nov. 15: 

10 — 11:30 Light begins to dawn on a few matters. Talked to Shad. Worked on my hammock, annoying the passengers with my hammering. Sun bath on the monkey deck. 

7:30 — 9 with Shad, hearing in outline, a sketch of his life.  

10:30 — 12:30 — with Jimmie. They are interesting youngsters. We can all learn a lot from each other. A most gloriously beautiful moonlight night, clear as crystal. Clocks have been advanced 20 min. each day. The European members of the crew are quite a lot, I gather. Know their jobs, but nothing else. Wine, women, smut fill their days and nights. A sensitive lad like Shad, with beauty in his heart and a keen inquiring mind is like a man in a diving helmet at the bottom of the sea, with an octopus just about to close a tentacle on his slender air line. Jamie with a brain, but so young and untouched by the world. What will this apprenticeship leave them? Have been asked to teach Jimmie to dance.

Side note: There is a lot to unpack there. It’s all one day, which starts off a complicated… ‘Light begins to dawn on a few matters’… that must be about Shad and has an undertone of trouble, no? They have had a talk.

Perhaps because of this talk, she hammers forcefully on things and bothers fellow passengers.

Then she rests.

And Shad’s life, from what I know at that point involved art, culture, travel, engineering, a doting family. So even at 23, he had a lot of stories. Did I mention before he was 23? And that she was 34?

A sensitive lad like Shad, with beauty in his heart and a keen inquiring mind is like a man in a diving helmet at the bottom of the sea, with an octopus just about to close a tentacle on his slender air line.

And if she mentioned Europeans before, I didn’t notice it. These particular Europeans I picture a pale, freckled, red-faced hooligans.

But Shad. My goodness indeed. He’s an artsy man. An intellectual man. A funny man. A manly man. And super cute and single. What?! 

Nov. 16: Capt. received a radiogram this am. saying a son was born on Nov. 12, his second. Chief has a child a year old he hasn't seen. 1st Mate has one 2 1/2  he hasn't seen.

Side note: Most of the crew is married it seems. Despite all these men flirting with Helen, these aren’t necessarily the type of men who hoot at ladies from the rafters. These are not party boats, everyone is working, and they probably were just not used to a passenger like Helen on board. So she got a lot of attention. And she loved to flirt. No one is saying anything happened, but it’s easy to read into things. Throughout though, she speaks fondly of almost everyone (except a few civilian passengers, who just seemed annoying) so I hope all happenings were above board, so to speak.

Problem #1: Roy precipitated tonight. Vessel burns 37 long tons (2240 lb.) of oil daily. Leak in ammonia pipe at 4:00 a.m., Roy dashed up for the gas masks.

Side note: Roy precipitated? Like he did something bad? She is with Roy at 4am to see this rushing??

Tue. Nov. 16: Barbados on the port bow early this a.m. Finished setting the grommets in the hammock. Found today's navigation problems came very much more easily. Began Emil Ludwig's "The Nile", the description of the source is striking, vivid. Roy and I stood on the after deck in the moonlight. Up at 3:30 to see the silver lining of the clouds where the moon illuminates them from behind. 

Wed. Nov. 17: Jim showed me how to crown and splice a rope — for the hammock. At this rate it will be done by Christmas. Jim gave me a lesson in Morse until he went on the bridge at 8. Talked to Shad until 9. Talked to Jim 11 — 12:30. Full moon, but storm clouds all around the horizon. 

Thru. Nov. 18: Found a Latitude. Capt. says I may shoot the sun tomorrow. Finished splicing the rope for the hammock. Life boats are going to be painted, began taking out the rig today. 7:15 - 9 - with Shad. Coffee at 4 a.m. with Jim.

Side note: Sometimes I’ll just shut up and let her talk. But here I must interject. I wasn’t going to complicate things with too many people, but now this ‘Jim’ keeps being mentioned and I don’t remember him from the last time I read through this. What I know of him thus far: he is one of the ‘youngsters’ and probably a ‘prentice. She was asked to teach him to dance. She seems to be with him when she’s not with the Captain or Roy or Foster. So let’s watch out for him going forward.

Fri. Nov. 19: Shad and I took pictures of the boat this morning, starting aft. Worked some problems of Lat. And then at noon, I had my first look thru a sextant, and figured the Latitude of the boat. Very exciting for me. Lesson in Morse, tried sending. Read some western Canada plays Shad has produced and acted in. Jim gave me a picture of the ship, which will help in explaining to the family.

Sat. Nov. 20: Big card game on tonight, ending in hot words. Came down at 10 to find everybody frothing at the mouth over Mrs. S_____, who is a poor loser. I hiked them round and round the deck until they cooled off. 

Side note: maybe this is why she doesn’t spend too much time with the civilian passengers.

Helen Skinner, with Sextant, upon the M.S. Silverwillow, finding Latitude, 1937
Still not so good at arithmetic but I found another Latitude today, taking the corrections from the nautical almanac. Foster supervised the completion of the hammock. Put on the battens and tied up the lanyards. Capt. came down and hung it for me in the aft-starboard corner of the deck. It's wonderfully comfortable, and I'm proud of it. Slept out about 4 hours tonight. 

Called topside after dinner. Capt. pasted stamps in his album. He has them from most of the strange ports of the world.

Side note: I love that she’s proud of her hammock. She should be, but it’s nice to recognize the feeling. And how awesome must it have been being cradled up in the air in a sling you made, outside on the deck, alone, moon out, a big black vastness in the distance punctuated by the stars of that sparkly chaotic roundabout in the sky, the Milky Way? I would say VERY awesome. 

Sun. Nov. 21: Almost the coolest a.m. we've had, and nearest the equator. Watched the `prentices do their weekly house-cleaning, very efficient. At noon Jim snatched one arm and leg, Thompson the other. Threats of the tar and feathers, but took it all out in hot air and so, I crossed the equator.  Came up from lunch to find Capt. in my hammock. Another visit to the boat deck, started "Silas Crockett". 4 passengers, and several from over yonder, doing the backhouse trot.

Side note: Playful equatorial-themed flirting is always fun. The pull-a-person-apart game, so as to exist in both hemispheres at the same time. Captain in hammock = flirting alert! I thought that ‘doing the backhouse trot’ was a dance, but it is not. It means what might happen if one ate bad food. 

Mon. Nov. 21: Slept out in my hammock all night delightful. Reading about setting a course on a chart. Shad furnished a pair of coveralls, Capt. came and took movies of me climbing board and beginning to paint the inside of #4 life boat. I had a fine time wagging the paint brush, got my arms and nose some what burned in the equatorial sun.
Helen, in her new coveralls, and presumably Shad, left, working on the deck of the M.S. Silverwillow, 1937 (other dude must be Foster or Jim or the other one) 
Lesson in Morse, and listened in astonishment to Shad, who quoted poetry, play, sang, ran from the sublime to the idiotic and back without a change of pace. He's really gifted, if he wanted to do anything with it.

Side note: Oh, to have those movies. The personal movie camera had just come out that year. Someone was a gadget head!

And also, more Shad intrigue. And he sounds intriguing.

So much going on and we’re still at sea, but we’re another eight days in. There’s still another 10 or so days to go til Cape Town.

What else was Helen doing aside from the above, you ask? Learning about how engines work. The below is NOT her handwriting. I’m gonna guess it is Shad.

Soon, Helen will know all this stuff like the back of her hand.

by Mary James

14. ON A BOAT! NOLA to ‘at Sea’, Nov 9-13, 1937

By now I thought we’d already be to South Africa, if not further. But here we have just shoved away from The Big Easy’s decadent docks. There are just so many good bits to share.

From a distance, we are now steaming steadily ahead, eastward ho, on the three-week salt-water-y trek to Cape Town, South Africa. Shall we peek in?

The Letter

(As a refresher, we look at the passage from the nice and concise after-the-trip letter and then the corresponding bits from the day to day journal.)

The passengers were left to themselves to get on as best they could. I chose to take part in the daily routine of the ship. During the 23 short days on the Atlantic I studied navigation with the Captain every morning, painted lifeboats with the apprentices, peered into the intricacies of the engine room, learned to send morse signals, sewed canvas with the quartermaster, made myself a sailors hammock and slept on deck under the southern stars. 

End Scene!

Kinda like a movie trailer, right? Just giving the highlights. But then the lights go down, and we watch it all unfold, one morse signal at a time.

The Journal

Lights, camera, action! 

[Present location:] 

Lat. 26" 57' N 
Long. 87° 52" N 

Wed. Nov. 10:  

8:30 — Breakfast — prunes.  

Wander over to watch the apprentices work and get a job setting grommets in a piece of canvas that's to enclose the Captain's deck.

Side note: She did wait until after prunes to find the engineers and land a job, but this was her first morning at sea, so she certainly didn’t waste time.

The apprentices are the ‘clean, intelligent looking youths from Canada’ from the last post, mind you. We will get to know (at least one of) them plenty. 

After lunch the Captain tells me he has discussed with the Mate my studying navigation — decided they'd experiment and see if an inexperienced person of normal intelligence can really learn how to steer a course in five months.

Side note: Normal intelligence. Pfft. Her two degrees from Columbia U would beg to differ! But maybe five months is a short amount to learn to navigate a freight boat? So if she could do it she was not just of normal intelligence, but extra?

Sadly, this was probably the only way she could learn ship navigation. Women weren’t navigating boats in 1937 (and barely even today). I looked this up, and a few women were ‘allowed’ to navigate when they got stuck at sea because the Captain became incapacitated or dead. And a few women disguised themselves as men and got to navigate… until they got found out. You may read more about it here.

But Helen got to learn while dressed as she pleased and while all the men on board were at full capacity. Good on you, men of the Silverwillow!

She was clearly meant to maneuver ships, as you can see:

M.S. Silverwillow, 1937, with its Captain and with Helen Skinner, learning to navigate with a sextant (this must be the Captain she went dancing with in NOLA??). 
Listened to "One Man's Family" and the Chesterfield Program on the Capt.'s radio.

Side note: I love when she mentions movies, politics, radio. It puts a timestamp (era-stamp?) on things. One Man’s Family was a radio soap opera, that, like the soaps still do, ran forever (silly me didn’t know they had soap operas before TV!).

The ‘Chesterfield Program’ means ‘Chesterfield Time‘ radio variety show (named after their sponsor, Chesterfield cigarettes). And I’m listening now to Chesterfield Time, and I suggest you do too, as it is leg shaking, fast talking fun. Era-stamps are important.

And then note that she is listening to these programs ON THE CAPTAIN’S RADIO — I hadn’t caught that before. Nice mood music, too. Hm. 

Weather: wind force 4. 

Sun in a.m. It may just be the day, but there is almost no sensation of motion of the ship. The engines throb through your conscience, but unless you look at the water you can't be sure you're moving. 

Inspection of after deck with Capt., the ship's potatoes are kept in a huge bin. News: Ramsay McDonald is dead. Brazil set up a dictatorship on the Nazi pattern.

Side note: a lovely thing about random journal entries is how they jump from topic to topic so effortlessly. From throbbing engines, to potato storage, to Nazis.

You can almost hear the staticky Walter Cronkite crackly type voice, more static, and then ***ATTENTION: We interrupt this programming with breaking news out of Her Majesty’s England. We have just learned that the former Prime Minister, Ramsay McDonald, has died. I repeat…***

Maybe they wouldn’t break in for Ramsay? But you can still hear the voice, can’t you?

And on November 10, 1937, Brazil’s Getúlio Vargas did indeed make for himself a new constitution and cancelled elections. Not good.

The bath procedure: Bucket of hot water, placed in rack in tub, sponge off or dump it in the tub. For a rinse fill the tub with sea water.

Side note: like I mentioned, a no frills trip. 

Present location: 

Lat. 22" 22' N
Long. 85° 04" W

Thru. Nov. 10

10 a.m. at the Captain's desk — I am set to work learning definitions for my first lesson in navigation. Study until 11:30.

Side note: For what she’s gonna be learning, this eighth grade level short on nautical navigation was way too much for my brain.

At dinner lettuce cooked with a fried onion and tomato sauce, artichokes. 

Pacing the Capt.'s deck after dinner. Learned how the Dutch are displacing the English in South Africa, since all in govt jobs must be bilingual — Africans and English, and the English won't bother.

Capt. says I may follow the 'prentices — do what jobs I want, and he'll have them practice Morse code sending with me. 

Side note: How about the Dutch and English just leave it all well enough alone??

And now the promising young men from Canada have been ordered to teach her whatever she wants, whenever she wants. And she wants to know everything.

Nov. 11 Foster taught me 4 knots: bowline on a bite, the knot used for handcuffs, hangman's noose, crown. Capt.'s wife expecting a second child momentarily.

Side note: The ‘prentices get right to work helping her do what she wants. And again, a married captain! Hm.

Notes from journal on ‘Capacity of Tanks’ and ‘Anchors’, perhaps taught to her by ‘prentices
Present location: 

Lat. 20" 23' N
Long. 30° 11" W
Dist. 330 mi.
Av. Speed 13.95 mph 

Fri. Nov. 12: I begin my pursuit of navigation this a.m., The Capt. explains the ecliptic and in a flash it is mine permanently.

After lunch — on the Engineers deck, had a try at Foster's hammock. It was a delightful sensation, mentioned it to the Capt. and he said, "why don't you make one?'. Within 5 min. the canvas was cut and ready. Service!

7:30 p.m. — "Not to be opened until Fri. Nov. 12" — so the box of candy Kay and Ann gave me made its debut in the Capt.'s room tonight.

Side note: The ecliptic is a navigational thing I just read about but don’t understand (not ‘in a flash mine’), so see the link from the beginning of this sentence.

And also, enter… the hammock! She mentioned it in the letter snippet above and here it is, happening, on day four.

Lastly, she is back in the Captain’s room, eating candy. Hm.

Helen (right) hanging out on the M.S. Silverwillow. (Yes, the woman on the left seems to be missing an arm, but I think that is a photo illusion, as Helen describes all the passengers, and with her level of detail, that would have come up).
Present location: 

Lat. 18" 21' N 
Long. 74° 48" W
Dist. 330 mi.
Av. Speed 13.96 mph 

Sat. Nov. 13: Woke at 4:00 a.m. Up and had a look at the stars, they seem so much closer in these southern skies. Up again to see the sunrise and watch the boat come to life about 6 a.m. 

In a haze off to starboard lies the mountain that looked like a cloud bank, but is Jamaica. Started figuring GMT, and am painfully dumb at it. Navassa Is. to starboard this a.m. and shortly after the beautiful slopes of Haiti loom up to port. Low banks of cumulus clouds give the effect of a volcano from the highest peak. Foster undertakes to give me some help in navigation, until tea time working problems. 

4:15 — Worked on my hammock with one eye on the clouds. The last view of Haiti was a soft gray mist with purple shadows on the land as a peak shone thru here and there. This morning the water was sapphire, and the waves so smooth it seemed you could slide on the surface. At sunset: puffs of pink cloud all around the horizon, and the water almost motionless, a turquoise color with iridescent reflections.

End scene!

“This morning the water was sapphire, and the waves so smooth it seemed you could slide on the surface.” – Helen Skinner

And side note: if stars look close in a good way, I suspect her heart is full (she has her trifecta of machines, travel, and men). If the stars were close in a bad way, they’d feel claustrophobic, and that is gleaned nowhere in her writing.

I’m also sure she’s not dumb at GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). They are moving around the world, slowly, so the time is constantly changing. How, without Google, would anyone know the time!?

I am ending this one here, as I believe Haiti is the last bit of land she sees for about 20 days, and that seems a good place for an intermission.

Next up: latitudes, handwriting analysis, a tiny bit more land (oops), the backhouse trot, and engineer intrigue (not just the how of it, but some of the ‘who is this smart hot cute engineer’ of it?’). Stay tuned!!

by Mary James

13. Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away With Meeeeeee! 🎵

Setting Sail

In The Helen Files, I mentioned that my uncle Bob had transcribed Helen’s travel journal from her 1937 trip around the world, with its eensie handwriting, and that it came out to 70 typed pages. When a printed version made its way to me, a smart-me would have scanned it and used a software to make it into editable typed text. But stupid-me got excited, underlined a bunch of it, circled some, and put stars and exclamation points all over.

When I went to scan it, the transcribing software got confused by my scribbling and made half of the text like *)H%%soiwue)(. But the other half was ok, and, through re-re-transcribing it, I got to live the tale again, and I noticed all sorts of new detail.

There are two main artifacts. The first is the journal, with all the daily detail and juicy bits, peppered with buried hints. That along with A LOT of particulars. And the other is a three page letter, summarizing it all beautifully. I shall section them in a juxtaposed way, in chronological order.

The Letter – Post-Trip 1938

To preface, when Helen was 34, she did a 360 degree world-loop, solo, on a freight boat, with nary a few civilian passengers (but at least one really nice crewman).

Here it is:

M.S. Silverwillow. Helen spent five months aboard, from 1937-38, going worldwide, dodging real and figurative fireworks

The letter is likely a carbon copy, and the same letter sent to multiple people. And it was written from Arlington, New Jersey, where her parents lived. By October 1938, her parents definitely would have known all that is in the letter, as she returned several months’ prior. As would her sister. So maybe she wrote this to friends and less immediate family.

See:

Post trip letter from Helen, likely a carbon copy sent to multiple people, Part I, 1938

Here she starts:

October 29, 1938 

The Motorvessel Silverwillow is heading north from Panama on her way to New Orleans again. She has been around the world since I left her last March at San Francisco, and it's nearly a year since I sailed for Cape Town and points east. It is high time I attended to some sadly neglected correspondence.

Side note: ‘Motorvessel’ must be the M.S. in the boat’s name: The M.S. Silverwillow. Google says this could mean Motor Ship and that is interchangeable with Motor Vessel. As for how she knows where the boat is located a year later after her trip, it is likely because she maintained relations with a, now former, crewman.

It was Nov. 9 when, loaded with lumber, mining machinery, asphalt, shingles, apples, canned salmon, Ford trucks (to mention a few items of cargo) and eight passengers, the freighter Silverwillow nosed out into the Mississippi and set her course for South Africa. 

Side note: November 9, 1937, to clarify. Right around when a certain World War was brewing.

My fellow travellers were a heterogeneous assortment: a retired rancher and his wife from Canada, who left us in Africa (he had fought in the Boer War, and was going back to see what it was all about)... a fluttery 70-year old spinster from Frisco... a neurotic woman of about my age who was dangling on the brink of divorce...three widows, two of them past 70 years of age, and the third, my roommate, was a dear, a good traveller, easy to live with. 

Side note: Heterogeneous for middle income civilian travelers from America with the means to travel for five months in 1937, yes. But this wasn’t a highball-up, pinky-out kind of trip. Though the Booze Cruise freight boat experience did seem quite opulent, this one was no frills. No costume parties or Gin Rickeys whilst perched on railings. The eight civilian passengers had buckets for showers, slop with the crew, and glorified cubby holes for rooms. We will learn all this…

It chipped years from my age to be the youngest in the crowd, and guess I was the 'enfant terrible’ of the voyage. Anyway I'm sure I had the best time and saw the most, even if I skipped a museum now and then. 

Side note: She absolutely had the best time.

End first scene!

The Journal – The Realtime Timeline

And over to the journal now, where we get to dive in and see what was really going on. She starts by meeting the boat. 

Present Location:  

Lat. 26" 57' N 
Long. 87° 52" N  

Mon, Nov 8 

At last — the Silverwillow. 

Captain said, "I'm glad to see some young blood getting on — it looks like an old ladies' home." A cheerful thrust for an introduction — went on board.

Side note: Cheeky captain! We learned from her last travel log that she quite enjoys a good flirt.

Wandering around the boat, C___ encounters the Captain, we all go up on his deck where he makes us at home, offers smokes and beverages. We talk for a couple of hours. He takes us back to town in his cab. Capt. asks if I want to go back to the boat or for a bit of a dance — to the Blue Room. He listens to my navigation aspirations, sounds hopeful about the possibilities. Back to the ship at 1:30 — roommate still up. The Capt. is a fine person — if only the trip may be as pleasant as the send off.

Side note: She drops off her things, and finds herself promptly on the Captain’s deck, smoking, drinking, and schmoozing, and I’m certain this is exactly where she wanted to be, as it’s the Captain who needs to make her navigation aspirations real. The place where she goes to boogie with the Captain (until 1:30am!) was NOLA’s swanky new club, The Blue Room, which would see the likes of Frank and Louis and Ella in its day.

Tue. Nov 9: 

5:30 a.m. wake when the loaders start shouting and the winches begin to creek putting aboard objects of 10,000 lb. At 8:00 and 8:30 jangling of a bell: warning and breakfast. 

Boiled potatoes are depressing in the morning even if someone else is eating them. Good toast and eggs. Stewards and cooks Chinese — food British. 

9:00 a.m. — I take a taxi to town, buy stationery, gum, some golf clubs at a bargain. 

Side note: She goes to town to get necessities for her trip at sea… like golf clubs. Hm. Also, she only had four hours of sleep due to all the dancing. And while I’m a big fan of the potato and don’t like it disparaged, this is golden:

“Boiled potatoes are depressing in the morning even if someone else is eating them.” – Helen Skinner

To the boat. Mr. Sparks introduces the apprentices and things look up. There are four, three of them and a Junior Engineer are clean, intelligent looking youths from Canada. 

Side note: This is key, as one of these youths is a 23 year old Mr. Royal E. Shadbolt of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. And when you see what he looks like, you’ll understand why she said ‘things are looking up’. But you’ll have to wait until South Africa for that. Also, it’s too cute that she is already meddling again with the crew rather than lounging with the passengers. 

At 5:45 we cast off, the wharf recedes, we are turning in a wide arc and heading down the river. 

It has actually happened — I am starting around the world.

I feel excited and nervous for her, even though I know what all transpired.

That is the end of the pre-boat preparations! We are sailing!!

by Mary James

6. Helen – The Socials, The Box, and The Early Years, Phase I

The Early Years are broken down into two phases — Phase I is the ‘Going through all the documents in order…’ phase.

Exhibit I The Birth Certificate

Certificate and Record of Birth, Helen Grace Skinner, Born Sept 7, 1903 in Menands, New York

Helen was born September, 7, 1903 near Albany, New York. As you will see at the bottom of the document, this is a ‘true copy (photostatio)’ – I cannot find the word ‘photostatio’ even in Google, but the document looks to be an official mimeograph, ordered in 1935, with a raised seal and stamp on the back that says in red “New York State, Received 3 Aug 1904, Department of Health.” .

But Menands, noted above, is in Upstate New York near Albany.

The document says, at the time of her birth, her father, Frank Skinner, from Charlton, New York, was a 31 year old Civil Engineer; and her mother, Gertrude Skinner (nee Bunyan), from Saratoga, New York, was 27. Helen was their first child.

The tiny picture that accompanies the birth certificate at the bottom, which had become unglued, must have been part of a photoshoot that also produced the pictures below, as her shirt and hairdo are the same.

Exhibit II: Baby Photos

Gertrude and Helen Skinner, early 1904. Note Helen’s stylish middle part. It says ‘Age 5 Mo’ in the bottom corner.

A baby book, titled ‘Baby’s Red Letter Days’, also includes a picture from the same photo shoot along with lists detailing milestones and such.

Exhibit III: Baby’s Red Letter Days

A page from Helen’s baby book. They lived at the time on Brookside Ave in Menande, NY., very close to Albany (and close to both Charlton and Saratoga, where her parents were from, respectively)

A look inside the baby book:

Pages from Helen’s baby book, completed by her mother, Gertrude, 1903-1904

Some of the notes inside include (with punctuation/spelling intact):

  • Christmas Has Come – “Went to Ballston to spend the day. Very good girl all day.”
    • Side note: It’s hard to be very good all day, even for adults.
  • Short Clothes – February 24, 1904 – “our Baby dons short cloths”
    • Side note: In the baby book, ‘Short Clothes’ has its own page like the ones above, but with illustrations that look like mini adult clothing.
  • Cute Sayings – “At the age of 19 mos Helen exclaims to the astonishment of Dady and Mother, “Oh, my sakes.'”
    • Side note: this is adorable, proper and intelligent, all with a hint of theatrics.

The more juicy stuff is housed in the back of the booklet in a section called ‘Mother’s Notes’:

  • Feb 15 – First played with rubber ball intelligently
    • Side note: my high standards theory, validated
  • At 7 1/2 months Helen begins to say da-da-da and ma-ma-ma-ma and ba-ba-ba
    • Side note: Google says this would give her an A+, age-wise
  • At 8 months Helen can get around on the floor quite well. She does not creep but hitches along
    • Side note: hitching, I learned, means kind of crawling but with one foot on the ground that is pulling the body forward, and it’s something that is corrected today
  • June 29 – I find my baby standing behind my chair
    • Side note: if worth noting it must have been a milestone and/or startling
  • Helen begins to be very orderly. At age of 14 1/2 mos she picks up her daddys slippers and shoes and puts them in the closet and shuts the door
    • Side note: an astrology minded person would say she was a Virgo through and through
  • 18 mos – Helen gets loaf of bread and knife and comes upstairs and says ‘piece’
    • Side note: this might also be startling

What was the world like then, outside of Menands, New York? Some highlights: Teddy Roosevelt was president; the Ford Motor Company formed and released the Model A (also known as a horseless carriage); the first silent film was released; and, more apropos to Helen’s future, The Wright Brothers had their first flight on the Kitty Hawk. And refrigeration and electricity were not yet widespread. In other words, it was a long time ago (at least in American terms).

There are two pictures of houses in with the childhood photos.

Phase I, Exhibit III: House Pictures

Skinner Homestead, Charlton, N.Y.

The back of the picture of states:

Back of photo of Skinner Homestead, Charlton, N.Y. picture.

The house above was where her father grew up (and many Skinner generations before him). The Van Dam Hotel in Saratoga, Springs, N.Y. mentioned above, still stands, but under a different name.

The other house picture:

Henry Mead Home – West Charlton, N.Y.

The 2nd house was owned by some combination of different branches of her mother’s side of the family, with names such as Mead, Smeallie, Cavert, and Bunyan. The back of the picture (which is actually an unsent postcard), says “Helen Skinner (and later Mary), and Betty Bunyan spent summers on the farm until it was sold in 1918. Grandma Mead moved to Brooklyn and lived with The Skinner Family.”

Phase I, Exhibit IV: People Pictures

This is the only other baby picture of Helen, and it’s a cutey.

Back says: Helen Skinner. [This was likely 1904 in Menands, N.Y.]

Maybe the clothes in the picture above are Short Clothes, even though they are long? That little sweater looks quite sophisticated. I can’t tell what the black thing is to the left of her. I first thought a loom and then perhaps a croquet set stand.

Then jump forward a few years and there are three more pictures. The first one isn’t labeled except for her name, but she looks maybe eight?

Helen Skinner, circa 1911

I thought the above might be a school uniform, but nixed that idea after some Googling. But what I did find is that it was a sailor dress popular in around 1910, made by the designer Peter Thompson. So she was on trend.

Pictures of Helen, her sister Mary, cousins, and grandmothers – West Charlton, N.Y., likely 1913

Both of the above pictures were taken at the 2nd house in West Charlton, NY. The cute little girl with the bowl cut is Helen’s sister. Helen is the taller of the older girls (the one not in stripes). The other girl and little boy are their cousins, Betty and George Bunyan. The two women are Grannie Janie and Grandma Mead (one from each side of the family).

Betty looks unhappy in both pictures, but I was assured they were best of friends and partners in crime for decades.

And that was all I had from the childhood years based on chronology. Later I found a trove of additional detail.

Next up: The Early Years, Phase II.