1908-10-02: ​​~TOUR STOPS~---images---audio---transcript---notes---links---site navigation
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1908-10-02: tour stops---images---~AUDIO~---transcript---notes---links---site navigation
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1908-10-02: ​tour stops---images---audio---~TRANSCRIPT~---notes---links---site navigation
Friday 2nd October

​I am beginning today an account of my trip to Savannah via Rotterdam and Wilmington.

To commence at the beginning I found myself on Monday evening the [blank] of September, waving farewell to friends and relatives who had come to see me off from Tilbury.  The place from which I waved was the tender of S.S. Batavia III.  By the time the tender was alongside the ship that was to carry me to Rotterdam, their figures (i.e. of the friends and relatives) were hidden in the twilight dusk.  Directly the passengers were on board, the propeller of the Batavia began to turn and we were soon moving down the river at the rate of 15 knots per hour.  I stayed on deck till the land could no longer be distinguished in the darkness, then went below and had some tea.  Another was spent looking over some magazines on board, and then I went again on deck.  The evening was warm, and it was half past eleven before I sought my bunk.  But before that, the cabin door had to be opened.  There were four berths in NO13 cabin.  Three of the occupants were in bed and asleep and before going to sleep had locked the door.  Bang! bang!  Thump!  Rattle!  Rattle!  Rattle!  with the handle and Bang! Bang! on the panels went the purser.  A gentle breathing from within was the only reply.  The purser tried to see through the crevice at the bottom of the door, and couldn’t.  A solo on the handle and a very creditable imitation of the big drum on the panels by the purser.  Passengers in the other cabins awake and begin to be alarmed.  Ah!  The lock turned.  One of the gentlemen of soporific temperament awoke and let me in.  I performed my ablutions and scrambled into a top bunk.  Shortly afterwards a man entered and stared at the number over my bunk.  Said he, “I am no. 13.”  “Excuse me,” said I, “but my number is 13.”  He went out muttering “It is impossible” and I heard no more of him.  I tried to read, I tried to sleep, I tried to feel comfortable.  The paper was uninteresting, The bunk was hard and the blanket short.  Then engines went Thud Thud, Thud Thud without intermission.  Now and then, to vary the monotony, the steam blew off.  Eventually my sole amusement, excluding an endeavour to prevent myself rolling from one side of the bunk to the other, was looking at my watch every ten minutes.  At four o’clock I decided that as a pastime it savoured of the monotonous and I resolved to get up.  I dressed, and went on deck.  The sun had not yet risen, but the air smelt good.  About two hours later I heard Bo.ou.ou ou ou ou ou….looked ahead and saw a dense white mist.  Five minutes later we plunged into it, and were enveloped in a cold sea fog.  My clothes began to show white hoar frost so I went below, put on a heavy coat and a cap that covers all my head except my eyes + nose.  In this I kept warm.  The fog delayed us an hour.  Every minute or so a man would sound with a lead the engines being stopped for the purpose.  Suddenly the Hook of Holland appeared about two boat lengths off, and we stopped dead.  Slowly and carefully we then passed the rocks on which the Berlin went to pieces last year.  The Hook as far as I could judge, since it was enveloped in mist, is a long narrow piece of land studded with piles, and with a lighthouse at its extreme end.

Just after passing the Hook a pilot came on board + took charge of the ship.  A little later, the customs officers boarded + examined the luggage.  All mine of course was passed.

We made better speed up the Maas and at eight o’clock were alongside the quay at Rotterdam.  All the passengers seemed to want to land at once so I waited until the rush was o’er.  Then I allowed a porter to carry my luggage off the ship on to a barrow.  Before I was allowed to take the bicycle however half a crown was charged.  I then proceeded along to the Hotel Weimer.  “I want a room here” I said.  Very well.  Room 308.  I stepped into the electric lift and got out on the third floor.  Now there are not 300 rooms in the Weimer Hotel but the first floor starts with 100, the second floor with 200 and the third with 300.  As soon as my luggage had been brought to my room + I had paid the man for carrying the same 1.25 f (⅖) I made my way to the office of Hirdeg [???] + Veder.  Captain Van Rossem was not in till about eleven I was informed, so I went again at that hour and finding him out again left my card.  He rang me up at the Weimer about 2 in the afternoon and I went out and had coffee with him at a Café.  He then said that the best way for me to spend my time in Holland would be to go to the Hague on Wednesday, to Amsterdam on Thursday and return to Rotterdam on Friday at 11.30 to sign on as a purser.  He named the Hotels for me to stay at and we then paid a visit to the Zeeburg.  After that I returned to the Hotel, had dinner and went to bed a few hours later first taking a walk of about two miles through part of Rotterdam.  The next day I caught a train to the Hague about midday, and proceeded to the Hotel Central and engaged a room.  I got particulars of the places of interest at the Hague from the Hotel porter and proceeded to visit them.  I first went to a picture gallery, then to the House of Commons and the House of Lords.  Then by tram about a mile from the Hotel to the House in the Woods which contains many valuable and rare paintings, + china etc.  After seeing all these beautiful thought to me somewhat uninteresting things I went back to the Hague and took another tram to Scheveningen.  I fell in with another American on the tram and we spent an hour together walking about on the sea shore.  I returned to the Central and was informed a few minutes after my arrival that I was wanted by a Mr. McMillan.  We had some dinner together and arranged to spend the next day at Schevingen as I preferred that to going to Amsterdam.  We enjoyed the next day very well and returned to Rotterdam together on the Friday, where after signing on we took a double bedded room at the Weimer.  Saturday morning we went shopping and purchased 2 pillow.  Mr. McMillan said the pillow of our bunks were hard.  One deck chair, for myself.  12 lemons.  24 pears as the Captain had no fruit coming over and 2 lbs of grapes.  We returned to the Hotel, paid our bill, and had our luggage carried to the wharf known as the Boompjes.  Here we charted a tug for 2.50 (4/2) to carry our luggage to the Zeeburg.  When we got on board we had some beef as we had only a light breakfast at the Hotel.  As there would, we found, be an hour to spare before we left the moorings, we went on shore on the other side, a kind of waste land, by means of a row boat.  We found a shop over there and had our last meal on Dutch soil, consiting of glasses of milk and pastries at Peach.  “Nevah” said the shopkeeper have I had such good customers.”  We took a dozen pasties back with us in a box. Mr. McMillan bought us as a grocers some preserved ginger in a bottle and with the new spoil we went on board again.  This trip however the Captain provided grapes, pears + apples.  As I now write (Saturday the 10th) the grapes and pears are all eaten, likewise the lemons.  Restart poma.  (I write this letter whenever I feel inclined.)

About 6 o’clock the tug began pulling us down the Mass then we cast her off then we cast her off and a few hours later we were in the North Sea.  Next morning the weather was delightful and we slowly passed the Goodwins Deal, Dover and that well known coast.  Then came Dungeness and other points on the South Coast.  The next day we passed the Devon coast + the Eddystone lighthouse, and later on Bishops Rock on the Scillys our last land for three weeks.  As for seasickness, for one whole day the 3rd I lay on the sofa at one end and Mr. McMillan on the other.  I ate nothing that day but some dry rusks for breakfast, a few grapes for dinner, and an egg for supper.  I was not sick but the heaving + pitching or rather the rolling of the ship, made me feel giddy.  It was just like sitting on the end of a see-saw which is calculated to make one giddy after a few hours.  The next day I had no breakfast, but during the morning I got out Sc+H are read from pp 293 to 298.  Carefully.  After that my head became all right and I had a good dinner at 10 o’clock, and have never missed a meal since.  Mr. McMillan managed to eat but was obliged to lie down for over a week and still occupies the sofa a good deal, though not from seasickness now as we are both having a slack time.  The deck chair is a boon so is the rug.  We have had all sorts of weather, stormy rainy fare, heavy swells, lights swells, fogs, etc.

(Writing bad because my hand is cold.)

We see very few vessels and have been over a week at times without sighting one.  Plenty of porpoises play around the ship and one day we sighted a whale about a mile away blowing the water in the air and making short dives.  A week ago I saw the Aurora Borealis and last night in the fog there was a moon rainbow.

Saturday Oct. 17th 08

Tonight we shall anchor outside Wilmington.  Since I last wrote we have passed the banks of Newfoundland where we met with a fog, and heavy swells.  Such swells!  Nearly rolled us out of our bunks.  Had to catch hold of things when we walked about, and hold the soupplates in the air to prevent the soup from flooding the cloth.  Heavy oily swells, and a foghorn which sounded for one minute at a time with two minute intervals.  When this passed the weather gradually improved, and the last three days have been dead calm.  Very little motion of the ship.  The Zeeburg rocks more than usually this trip, (she is a very steady boat as a rule) owing to the fact that she carries very little cargo and the ballast used is low down, making the center of gravity in the wrong place.

Have seen two small whales and some flying fish.  The sunsets are most gorgeous.  The whole sky is sometimes a bright red.  Right away in the east the setting sun tinges the clouds with red, sometimes a single ray, like a searchlight from the west, sometimes the whole sky.  In the north + south close to the horizon there are the most delicate blue green + yellow tints, fading into each other.

[Drawing showing the course of the ship through the English channel, across the Atlantic, past Newfoundland, and down the eastern coast of the US to Savannah.]

The map above shows the approximate course of the Zeeburg.  We went N a little after passing the Bishops Rock Scilly Ils and then neary West for part of the way.  Then S.W. and then South.

If you look on the map you will see Savannah is in a latitude a good deal south of Gibraltar.

Wilmington Sunday October 18th

Yesterday evening we saw land for the first time.  About 8 o’clock a pilot boarded us and took us up the river to Southport where we anchored for the night .

This morning at 8 o’clock the doctor came on board and inspected the crew.  He went away at a quarter past with a box of cigars and an Edam cheese.  At 9 o’clock we pulled up the anchor and proceeded to Wilmington reaching there at 12.30 pm.   The customs officers came on board and consumed wine, spirits and tobacco, and about 1 o’clock I was informed that I was wanted.  Mr. McEachern had come on board with two letters from father.  He had dinner with us on board, and Mr. McEachern + myself then went on land on his motor boat.  Mr. McEachern is the London + Savannah Naval Stores agent at Wilmington.  He knows Mr. Garrard and will probably travel with the boat to Savannah at the end of this week.  We discharge the fertiliser this week and then proceed to Savannah.  Father has written me to stay in Wilmington this week as there is nothing doing at Savannah.  Mr. McEachern took me to his office.  I sent a wire to father and one to you and we then took the car, in company with the chief engineer and 2nd mate to the sea beach about 11 miles from Wilmington.  We spent ½ hour there and then took the car back and I went to Mr. McEachern’s house to supper.  After supper, we went and called on the Docks.  A Miss Dock married Mr. Swartz.  Returned on board at 10 o’clock to find the Captain and Mr. McMillan have not returned.

​I shall post this letter tomorrow the 19th of October.  

Love to you all,

Cecil

I have not said much about the food.  

Well, I haven’t drunk any tea because they use green tea which tastes smoky to me not being used to it.

Most of the food is all right though Mr. McMillan + myself can’t go the codfish on Friday.  Smells too much like a wet dog and so say all of us even the captain who enjoys it.  The pickled dog and puppy (our pet names for certain sausages and tinned meals) are all right.

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1908-10-02​: ​​​tour stops---images---audio---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
Friday 2nd October
This helps me to date the following nice little article:​
2.
To commence at the beginning I found myself on Monday evening the [blank] of September, waving farewell to friends and relatives who had come to see me off from Tilbury.
Wikipedia says:
Tilbury is part of the Port of London with a major deep-water port which contributes to the local economy.

​When I took a Polish ship (the Stefan Batory) from Montreal to England in 1981, I disembarked at Tilbury.  (Yes, planes had already been invented in 1981.  I prefer boats.)
​
3.
The place from which I waved was the tender of S.S. Batavia III.
Maybe the Hamburg-America Line

4.
Slowly and carefully we then passed the rocks on which the Berlin went to pieces last year.

Wikipedia says:
SS Berlin was a steel ship, which was owned by the Great Eastern Railway and built for use on their ferry service from Harwich and the Hook of Holland, which the company had initiated in 1893.

And:
At 0500 on Thursday, 21 February 1907, the Hook lighthouse keeper recorded that Berlin was navigating the channel when she suddenly veered off course northward after a huge wave struck her on her port quarter. Captain Precious and pilot Bronders managed to return the ship to her original course, but another wave struck Berlin and she swung northward again, causing her to become impaled on the tip of the granite breakwater at the entrance to the New Waterway.

And:
It is now known that 128 of 144 persons on board were killed, including about 40 crew members.

5.
We made better speed up the Maas and at eight o’clock were alongside the quay at Rotterdam.
Interesting that Uncle Cecil says Maas instead of Meuse.

6.
Before I was allowed to take the bicycle however half a crown was charged.
Was he bringing along a bicycle?  Or was he taking a bicycle taxi?  From the language I would say that he's bringing a bicycle, but in 1908?

7.
I then proceeded along to the Hotel Weimer.
I read Uncle Cecil’s handwriting as Weimer, but I find a Hotel Weimar that seems plausible.
Wikipedia:
Hotel Weimar was located on the corner of Spaanskade and Haringvliet in Rotterdam , on the Oude Haven . The hotel opened in 1903 and was destroyed during the bombing raid on 14 May 1940 .

8.
Thump!  Rattle!  Rattle!  Rattle!  with the handle and Bang! Bang! on the panels went the purser.
Wikipedia says:
A ship's purser (also pusser) is the person on a ship principally responsible for the handling of money on board. On modern merchant ships, the purser is the officer responsible for all administration (including the ship's cargo and passenger manifests) and supply; frequently the cooks and stewards answer to them as well.

9.
Then by tram about a mile from the Hotel to the House in the Woods which contains many valuable and rare paintings, + china etc.
Wikipedia says:
Huis ten Bosch (Dutch: Paleis Huis ten Bosch, pronounced [paːˈlɛis ˌɦœys tɛm ˈbɔs]; English: "House in the Woods") is a royal palace in The Hague, Netherlands. It is one of three official residences of the Dutch monarch; the two others being the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague and the Royal Palace in Amsterdam.


10.
12 lemons. 
Mama Margaret Stokey would be pleased: biliousness averted.  See:

11.
We returned to the Hotel, paid our bill, and had our luggage carried to the wharf known as the Boompjes.
Wikipedia says:
De Boompjes is a street in Rotterdam along the Nieuwe Maas on the right bank of the Meuse .


12.
Next morning the weather was delightful and we slowly passed the Goodwins Deal, Dover and that well known coast.
Wikipedia says:
Goodwin Sands is a 10-mile-long (16 km) sandbank at the southern end of the North Sea lying 6 miles (10 km) off the Deal coast in Kent, England. 


13.
Mr. McEachern had come on board with two letters from father.
Mr. McEachern may be:
D, McEACHERN,Wholesale Grocer and Naval Stores, 204 and 206 North Water Street
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