Tuesday 27th August
I was woken earlier than I intended by Pat Tuckett. She had arrived early that morning to rejoin us.
I spent the morning finding out which of our party had forgathered again, getting information from the UK Commission, and doing some shopping. I ordered a big parcel of groceries to be delivered to the ship. In the afternoon I collected the tickets for our party and delivered them. We had asked Mrs Douglas to come out to lunch with us and learnt that she had got a job. [She had come out with us, her home is in Montreal.] After all the ticket business was over, Pat, Mrs Douglas and I went up Mount Royal in an open cab – this is the only means of transport up there. Our driver was a fat old Frenchman whose great delight was in passing all the other cabs. The view of the city from the top is great. We had tea up there. When we got down we packed and collected films which we had got developed, had some supper and then went to join our ship. The cargo was still being put on when we got down about 8 o’clock. We were able to study our fellow passengers and to enjoy the comfort of the cabin smoke room. Things seemed a bit dull, so Pat, Nesta, M and I played a raucous game of snap. We compared experiences with our own party and after further silly games went to bed.
Wednesday 28th August
We were on the move when I woke up: the steward failed to call me so I missed breakfast. I gathered that the others had had trouble with their table steward. I was unable to do anything very active, so I sunbathed and read all the morning. Lunch took us an hour and a quarter, so I had a few words with our steward afterwards. I spent the afternoon playing piquet in the sun. I had somehow caught a pretty hefty cold – I think it must have been from waiting about after going off the aquaplane. Pat put a new dressing on my foot and it was looking very neat. We came up to Quebec about 6 and docked while we were having dinner. This meal was a distinct improvement – the complaints seemed to have done the trick.
After dinner we were allowed on shore. The two Pats and I went up to the Hotel Frontenac a wonderful building right up on the heights. We couldn’t see much of the city but I have impressions of steep streets -.odd looking terraced street cars – a wonderful view from the terrace of the hotel – a river boat lit up like a Christmas tree ferrying across the river – scores of horse-drawn cabs – and the unpleasantness of a very heavy cold.
Thursday 29th August
Thursday was another fine day. We spent it lying on deck, playing piquet and other silly games. We had left Quebec in the early hours and all day were going down the better part of the St. Lawrence.
In the afternoon all the Priest escorts gathered for a confab. I spent the evening with the Assistant Purser who came from Sutton.
One thing worrying me was that my parcel of groceries had not turned up. As far as I can gather it arrived at the foot of the gangway and was claimed by another ship. I have never experienced such a chapter of accidents!
Friday 30th August
We were turning north through the straits of Belle Isle and it was much cooler. We had an early celebration taken by Johnson, Chaplain of Queens Oxford.
I was able to move about a bit more, and during the day played quite a lot of deck tennis, and other deck games. One had to do something to keep warm. I slept all the afternoon. In the evening we had a dance. It was tremendously hot. The ship was pretty steady. We were out of sight of land at the end of the day.
Saturday 31st August
It was colder still – we saw quite a number of icebergs during the day – some very small but one or two of a good size. We played deck tennis all the morning. Pat took out my stitches after lunch – the service at meals, incidentally, had improved enormously.
We have a fixed party for tea – Mrs Hale, Pen and boyfriend Jock, M, Pat and myself. Mrs Hale tells stories of Tree and Irving and of her experiences. She is wonderfully amusing and interesting (A good story: Tree to Irving after Irving had essayed Hamlet “I must congratulate you – funny without being vulgar.” and to the American whose acting of Richard III took everything out of him “I wonder you continue to play the part if you find it so unwholesome.”) Her fund of stories is immense. She calls tea time Hales Hour.
After tea on Saturday we had a dance. This was a cooler affair as we were not blacked out. In the evening we had racing in the lounge. Time marches on and jumps 50 minutes a day at 5 o’clock. This helps a lot. We are gradually establishing light contact with escorts from other parties.
Sunday 1st September
We had an early celebration which had a very poor attendance. The ship’s service was crowded out.
In the afternoon, the Priest escorts had another meeting and prepared a report and compared experiences. We all agreed that what had sounded an easy job was really extraordinarily difficult. We had an Evensong at 5 which I took, and McKee, a Presbyterian, did the talking. I played bridge after dinner; and after that enjoyed an extra Hales Hour.
Monday 2nd September
I had a great job to get up for breakfast. What with a cold and the abundance of fresh air and the movement of the ship I felt very sleepy. Some people were falling by the wayside. Pen failed to turn up for dinner on Sunday and breakfast and lunch today. In the morning we played Piquet. We had an action stations in the course of the morning and our guns fired three rounds practice only.
I played bridge and ping pong in the afternoon, and then settled down after the Hales Hour to write the past week in this record. I found quiet in A deck lounge, but we are now rolling a good bit and shipping a sea every now and then, so I am going to move somewhere more central – no use asking for trouble.
We had Housey Housey after dinner. It was great fun. Our table did very well and we were quite a lot up. After that we had dancing. This was very comic as we were rolling tremendously. After one heavy roll five or six couples piled up in a corner. The chief engineer, dancing with Nesta, landed neatly in a palm tree.
We got to bed just after twelve, but it was a very noisy night.
Tuesday 3rd September
Another wet and horrible day. We have had B deck cleared for two days now. I spent the whole morning indoors and playing ping pong. We had a very chilly boat drill, calling for a little rum before lunch.
In the afternoon the priest escorts gathered again for the final consideration of their report. I typed out four copies afterwards. We had the usual Hales Hour, devoted this time to Ellen Terry, her daughter and husband, and to the dealing of the FRs with Bernard Shaw.
After supper we had racing. It was a poorly attended meeting but when I threw we won, and when Pat threw we won again, so all was well as far as we were concerned. This was followed by more dance – still very difficult and comic.
We seem to be doing little else by eat, drink and be merry, but we are all longing to get back.
Tuesday 3rd September.
We seem to be doing little else by eat, drink and be merry, but we are all longing to get back. Most of us are agreed that the height of bliss would be to lie in a hot, fresh water bath, eating a good boiled egg while listening to an air raid warning.
Wednesday 4th September
Tuesday night was again very bumpy. There were some terrific crashes during the night. But it was bright and sunny in the morning. After breakfast we walked the decks and studied nature. There was a most amusing little finch onboard, which we had picked up three days out. Then we saw three or four whales. We had turned south east and it was getting warmer. Quite a number of gulls have come out to meet us. We change course every three or four minutes, so the rolling is quite terrific.
We were now coming into the danger zone again, and so had to start sleeping in clothes.
During the afternoon we passed through a lot of wreckage – timber and so on – and a little later saw an open boat, empty. I don’t know the story of it.
Thursday 5th September
In the morning we passed a convoy of 14 largish vessels. A destroyer came to question us about the Swedish vessel that was crossing with us (MS Kaaparen). We had been a little nervous of it as it had short wave wireless and we could not pick her messages up. Also, she was rather careless about the blackout. She crossed with us as she had no guns and we had. However, all seemed to be in order.
The day passed quietly, and it grew warmer. We were not able to have the deck tennis nets up as they got in the way of the lifeboats. However, we played with a net improvised with string.
In the evening we passed an outgoing convoy of 42 ships with their attendant destroyers. (Convoy OB.209) They filled the whole horizon, outlined in the setting sun. They were of all shapes and sizes and some seemed absurdly small to be going across the Atlantic. As night fell we could see the lights of Northern Ireland. They gave us a great feeling of security.
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