Monday 19th August
The prospect of seeing land brought my boys to life about six o’clock. My first intimation was Mrs Hale reading a riot act. I followed with another and then slept till half past eight. It was another brilliant morning, almost too hot to sleep on deck. The Samaria left us to go down to New York quite early and we slowed down to put out paravanes.
I spent the morning below, supervising the boys packing and getting on with my own. After that I sat on deck for half an hour sunbathing. Our engines stopped during lunch while we put out another paravane. Just before lunch an aeroplane came out and started circling us. It was most comforting.
After lunch I unpacked the New Testaments from the SGM. They are delightful little books. As I was doing this the cry went up that we could see land. Soon afterwards, small craft came out to meet us.
I am writing this at about half past one at night. Looking back, it seems impossible that what has happened could have happened in so short a time. the land soon became quite distinct and we could see a rocky coast line and woods coming right down to the water line. The first building I picked out through glasses was a church. Soon we could see cars going down a dust road. At first we could only see land to the south, but later to the north as well we could see it stretching away. Our escorts steamed on ahead and the convoy move in in single file. Progress was very slow.
I did some washing for some of my boys and for myself, and went forward to dry it in the sun while I stood and watched us going into port. The scenery was not quite like that we had left, but not very different – not so grand as the passage down the Clyde. We could soon pick out factories and grain elevators in Halifax. A haze of smoke hung over the town. Aeroplanes wheeled around us. It was all very memorable.
I went down for tea and then along to my cabin. My boys had borrowed all my small change from me and I went to collect a note. I found that my trousers which I had put in my case had been rifled. £5 gone, and I was left with sixpence ha’penny. I went to report it to the Purser, cursing myself for being such an ass as to leave it down there. (On the other hand, it is hardly wise to carry round £5 in a pair of shorts!) Well the chief master at arms came down and we searched through the whole cabin. I had already done this pretty thoroughly and it was to no avail. When I went to the Purser’s office I found that we could get our cameras back, so I amused myself taking snaps. There was a terrific clicking of cameras. I was just preparing to take the children their Testaments as they went to dinner at 6 when a newsreel man arrived. Most of the children had started their meal but we got them up on the deck. The photographer wanted them to sing “Oh Canada” but we didn’t know it! So we had to make do with “My Bonnie”. This we sang with much gusto. I was doing my usual conducting. After that he wanted us to sing “There’ll always be an England”. But we only knew the first four lines so we sang them lustily and when words failed us we burst into cheers.
He then took lots of separate shots, first of some girls talking together; they were very bad at it. Then of Billy Bishop saying “They call me Billy Bishop. I’m twelve years old. I think Canada looks a grand place, but not so good as Middlesbrough” this was quite sensational. Then of Patrick interviewing Donald Smith. Then of two boys talking and lastly of some of the smallest children. This was, of course, tremendously exciting for the children. That brought us to just after seven.
News then came through that the children had to be off the boat within an hour. My word we had to work. I dashed down and got my boys together and started them off on a final packing. I then took round the New Testaments to all the children throughout the ship. Then labelled the boys bags, and then the boys themselves. Then there was the pocket money to be given out. It was all in a suitcase so it had to be sorted and distributed. I then collected loans. Meanwhile we had been told that we (the escorts) needn’t disembark. This just about saved me. I can hardly remember a more energetic hour. Half the children hadn’t had dinner but we got them all ready and up on the boat deck by 8.30. it took me a good quarter of an hour opening cases and popping in things which had been left out.
We then led the children ashore by sections. We went straight into a great warehouse filled with paper and soldiers. We had a part at the back with benches and surrounded by iron grating. There we spent a quarter of an hour saying goodbye. I gave a number of boys my address and so on. Then the children were taken off section by section through a hole in the grille for medical inspection. We thought that we had seen the last of them. It was really a very sad moment. The helpers were all extremely nice except for one dragon woman who kept the hole in the grille. She thrust us all aside as we were saying goodbye. However, she met her Waterloo with Patrick who swept her aside and went through and said goodbye to all his section, and then dumped a towel and three pairs of socks on her just like that. It was a noble victory.
We came back very grubby, exhausted and sad to dinner which had been left for us. We then learned that we could go and see them off on the train. (We also learned of our probable plans for return.) So we went back and found a most horrible state of affairs. The children were still sitting on hard benches. Many of the younger ones had fallen asleep in pitiful positions, sitting upright, through sheer exhaustion. The helpers explained that they were waiting for milk and biscuits. We were all furious. The children had been rushed off the boat at an hour’s notice, without being able in many cases to have any food, and there they were kept sitting on a bench in a warehouse for over two and a half hours.
They got half a mugful of milk and three biscuits — many of them had had nothing since 1 o’clock. It was now 10.30. The milk ran out. The children were dropping off benches through exhaustion. Just after 11.30 they began to move. Then we found that all our notes on where the children had wanted to go had been cast aside. They were treated just like parcels. “Going to relations?” “No.” “Winnipeg will do.”
I had a terrible job waking up my smaller ones. Richard took nearly five minutes, and then he fell asleep standing up! All our escorts carried sleeping five-year olds down, through and on to the train. We gradually learned that we had been expected at Montreal and all the proper escorts were there. But they said they had been expecting us here since this morning. The whole procedure was scandalously inefficient. I carried Roy down to the train. It was then after 12. In Canadian trains you have seats facing opposite, as in a dining car at home. The two seats pull out and make a flat couch. Then folding down from the ceiling you have other bunks.
The seats were not nearly so comfortable as the worst trains I have been on in England. At first they had no blankets. However, some arrived later. I spent 20 minutes going right down through the train saying good night. Poor Mrs Anderson was terribly cut up about the treatment of the children. It was very hard. They had worked like slaves to get everything going smoothly and here we were handing them over into apparent chaos and discomfort. Children who had lived near to each other at home and came across in the same cabin and so on were being split up and being sent off hundreds of miles away from each other. However, the helpers were being very good and they are really in very good hands. I mustn’t paint the picture too black, but it did seem very hard and trying.
Well I came back on board at twenty to one. I haven’t had time yet to sent a cable. I don’t know if I can afford one now!! Anyway, a steward told me that our arrival had been mentioned in the Home News.
One of my first acts on getting back was to remove my sleeping necessaries from the slums or stews, as C deck aft is called, up to a vacated cabin on B deck. I was lucky to find an unused berth in a cabin with a porthole – which I have opened.
In telling the story of this evening I forgot to mention that grand moment as we went ashore, looking back through the doors of the warehouse and seeing lights – lights dancing over the water – NO Blackout.
As I write in the A deck lounge I can see them on the shore, and the Duchess of York too, all lit up. A lighthouse is flashing at the harbour entrance. I was surprised when we arrived to find what a large port this is. It absorbed all our convoy and berthed them all quite easily.
I have interrupted the writing for a chat with Mrs Mills and Miss Moon and for a cup of tea. It is now after half past two. It has been an unforgettable day. Perhaps I shall remember more about it tomorrow. The children are now rushing across Canada. I hope they are sleeping happily. They deserve to. They have been absolutely splendid today. All the excitement, all the bustle, all the discomfort, but not a grumble – only laughter.
Tuesday 20th August
In spite of going to bed so late I had rather a poor night. I moved up from the stews to B deck, where the bunks were more comfortable and I could open a port hole and get some air. I was awakened from 5 o’clock onwards by hooting of sirens and the incessant clanging of bells. We were expecting to sail at seven, but when I got up I found us still in our berth and in a thick fog. That accounted for the terrific row on the river in the early hours. There is not much to tell about the morning. We were impatient to get off and wondering what to do with ourselves. Just about lunch time the fog lifted and we moved out into mid stream, but then it came down again so we anchored. The Duchess of York took our berth. We stayed in harbour till about 3.30, when we started off again with much tooting. I fancy that we went right out in the open sea to keep clear of any snags. There was nothing very much to do. In the afternoon we held our first post mortem on the proceedings of the previous evening. We i.e. the Andersons, Patrick, Jean McIntyre and myself decided that we should do everything in our power to avoid a repetition of such terrible chaos. The more we thought of it, the worse it seemed. Apparently the main cause of the trouble was the inefficiency of Jobson, the British CORB representative. We decided to send a cable to HQ for permission for Anderson to stay and try and clear things ups. The general idea was that he should get in touch with higher officials if possible.
We drafted a cable: “Landing and reception very unsatisfactory. Success of whole scheme jeopardised. Urgently request permission seek interview high officials Ottawa. Cable authority and grant expenses” or words to that effect. In fact, we talked the whole thing out most thoroughly. In the evening Patrick, Jean, Mrs Thomas and myself had a very good game of bridge.
So a very quiet and dull day came to an end.
Wednesday 21st August
I had arranged an early service of thanksgiving for escorts so I was up at six. We had a very good turnout. I thought at first the service was going to be spoilt by our tooting, but it stopped promptly at seven and didn’t start again till the service was over. Then the mist came down and we had a very narrow squeak with a freighter across our bows.
The mist finally lifted about 10. We had a great session of bridge before lunch with Pat Tuckett for Mrs Thomas. This was a great improvement on previous efforts.
We whiled away the afternoon with deck tennis and more discussion. We had now started drafting a report and Jean’s Aunt prepared for an interview with the governor general. It was glorious in the afternoon and evening and we got quite a lot of air and sun.
We had a dance in the saloon in the evening. It was quite good fun but very hot. But it was delightful on the deck afterwards. The moon was brilliant and right astern. We sighted islands on the left and right during the afternoon but were soon out of sight of land again. We had made a big detour that day and wasted some time. The sea was quite grand in the evening – dancing was difficult.
Thursday 22nd August
When I got out on deck I could see land to the south and gathered that we were right in the gulf. We spent the day in much the same way as Wednesday. It was gloriously sunny and I sat on deck for a good part of the time.
We took a pilot and the immigration officials on board about six o’clock. We got our passports stamped during the evening. A discussion took us till about midnight.
Meanwhile, the land had appeared on both sides and we could see that we were right in the river. It was rather fun in the dark, picking up the various lighthouses and passing them.
Friday 23rd August
I had arranged to be called at 4.30, as that was the time that we were due to arrive at Quebec. Patrick woke me at a quarter to four! When I got out I could see nothing: it was pitch dark! On my way back to my cabin I met the assistant purser and we went for breakfast with the US and Canadian officials. This was very welcome. I went on deck about 5.30 and found Miss Moon and Mrs Mills there, so I went back to the tourist saloon and got them some breakfast to eat in my cabin. At about 6.30 things got very interesting on deck. In the distance we could see skyscrapers and the Heights of Abraham. We passed the Isle of Orleans and the Falls – which looked very fine.
Quebec itself was a fine looking city and we had plenty of time to admire it as we dropped the officials and four passengers. Soon after leaving the city we passed under a bridge. We had really got up to see this. By a strange optical illusion it seemed to be coming right down onto the ship. We watched from aft on the boat deck and it seemed as though it must take our mast and even a bit of our funnel. It was really a most vivid and extraordinary illusion. We then had tea on the deck and after that breakfast. In spite of our earlier breakfast I had grapefruit, cereal, fish and two eggs and bacon. The river banks soon became very dull. I had been told that the St Lawrence was a beautiful river. Most of us found it singularly uninteresting. It was very flat on either side and as far as you could see there was only a very narrow channel – sometimes we passed through bays with only yards to spare. For a long way the banks looked like the Thames above Henley – but the hills behind were not so good as those there. More often it looked like an Essex backwater or a piece of the fen country.
We went through miles and miles of this sort of country. It looked exactly the same late in the afternoon as it did in the morning. Some things struck me. First the architecture and building of the houses was frightful. Most of them looked like the cheapest soft of holiday bungalow built of bits and pieces. Then there were an amazing number of Roman Catholic churches – about one every two or three miles. These were usually shining white-silver – all built to type with little bulging spires. I spent a lot of time packing and writing and preparing the final draft of our criticisms.
We came up to Montreal about 6, having had dinner at 5.30. We were all on the prom deck forward, where we had a good view. It was a very cheery arrival. We could pick out a great contingent of Red Cross nurses as we drew near the dock. We berthed about 6.30. After a while I called down to one of the nurses and asked if they were waiting for children. Believe it or not, Halifax with their incredible inefficiency had not told Montreal that we had got rid of our children! The whole ship knew of the conditions at Halifax and when this muddle was revealed the boat just rocked with laughter. We were all deciding that we wouldn’t sleep on camp beds in a hostel and so on when we learnt that we were to be taken to the best hotel in Montreal and be paid our 7.50 dollars a day, so things looked up. We spent some time unloading and going through the customs and we didn’t start away from the docks till about 9.00. We went up by special bus. There were rows of specials ready for the children too. In fact, Montreal was a hot-bed of efficiency. The Hotel was terrific – the last word in modernity. I went straight up and had a grand hot bath and complete change. When I came down I found that Pat Tuckett was in conversation with a man who knew her brother-in-law in Toronto. He had just butted into her conversation with Mr. Anderson. His name was Don Hulburt. We three and Mrs Nelson and Mrs Mills had supper together. Then Pat Tuckett had to go. She was catching the 11pm for Toronto with an invalided Canadian airman.
So Dan took us three round in his car. It was grand to see a town lighted at night; and my goodness they know how to light the streets and use signs over in Canada. It really was quite a picture. Well, Dan took us on a ‘rubber neck’. We went up to the look out, 621 feet up, from which we had a wonderful view of the city. Then we were taken right round the city, finishing up at his house for an attempt to get the news. All this generosity was bestowed upon complete strangers.
At midnight we adjourned to the Music box at the Mt. Royal Hotel where we had a glass of ale. The Music box was a small dance floor surrounded by tables. The music was provided by two Wurlitzer machines. You put in 5 cents (a nickel) and press a button for the choice of a tune. There were two of these machines and frequently two tunes being played at once. The dancing was fast and furious: it was most amusing to watch. We were amazed at the youth of those present. Some were only about 15! This place closed at 1, so we then went up to the Normandie in the roof. This was a high spot: a grand place. We gate crashed in to find Mills and Patrick, Jean and Joan Jewett (of the American reception board) there. We talked with them for some time. Miss Jewett was most amusing. She told how she had gone down to the docks to see how the reception was carried out. She had spotted some CORB labels and though “Aha, children” so she put a notice on them “Please report at the office”. This was to gather the supposed children together. Of course, it was escorts’ luggage. “Ye know when you begin by saying I can explain everything it means you’ve put your foot in it. Well I certainly, put my large 91/2s right there. But never mind, I can explain everything.” She was a grand person. We sat there for some time and got to bed after 3. That was a long and exciting day. Just before I dropped off I asked to be called at 8 by phone, of course – everything is done by phone.
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