She and Bob became well acquainted as shipmates, fell in love, and continued to stay in touch after Robert left the company in New York to join the Panama Canal Steamship Company in late 1910. They probably served together on the S. S. Furnessia. Mary still held affection for Robert almost three years later, writing him love poems and sharing her intimate plans. She and Robert saw each other in New York from time to time when their ports of call coincided. Robert probably was writing her, too, based on her knowledge of recent events in his life.
Mary decided in early 1913 to change companies and sail for Australia to join some well-to-do cousins living there. She was apparently a single mother, because she left some sons behind, presumably in Scotland. She wrote Robert about her hopes for Australia in a letter dated April 1, 1913, from aboard ship off Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on her way from New York to Sydney, Australia.:
I hear [[Australia]] is a lovely country. Everyone you hear speak, and they tell me I will never want to leave it. However, time will tell. Should I not like it I will stay, say, for three years and come back if God spares me, and if my boys are good and steady I won't need to go to sea.
Before her last trip from Glasgow to New York, as can be derived from her letter, Mary said farewell to her sons, whom she apparently put in boarding school in or near Glasgow, planning to "get them out" as soon as her prospects improved.
It was a terrible parting with boys and, believe me, I have a good cry every day some part or other. I must work my finger ends off to get them out soon. . . .
Well! I cannot say yet that I rejoice at change of Company . . . However, I must make the best of it now -- It was for my boys sake that I have done it & I believe it will be all right in the end....
She quit her stewardess job with Anchor Line when she got to New York. The crew threw her a goodbye party there.
I was well treated by my shipmates and [chief steward] before leaving. The ladies bought me a handsome box of underclothing & Mr. Gordon gave me [a one pound note] to buy gloves & anything I needed, & Baker made me a lovely iced cake. I appreciated them all very much.
Mary referred to a number of mutual acquaintances in her two letters. In her April 1 letter, Mary sent regards through Robert to poor old Brady. In her May 20 letter, she seemed to allude to Robert's frustration at not being a Chief Steward yet, given his age, and his idea of leaving the S. S. Panama to go into business with Brady:
I hope you are making lots of money Bob & taking care of it too. It is a wise plan & now is your time. [Chief Stewards] in this [Company] are mere boys & run the bars (both [Chief & Second Stewards]) They are much more refined than Anchor Line.
Mary also referred to Miss D. In her April 1 letter, Mary said Miss D had not written to Mary recently. The Niagara sailed from New York before the mail arrived, Mary told Robert, so she didn't know if Miss D had sent her a letter. Mary asked Robert to remind Miss D. to write. In her May 20 letter, Mary said Miss D still hadn't written.
Mary referred to Clara in her April 1 letter with the following remarks:
I do miss Clara every day & I will never forget the happy night we all spent to-gether, but what a sore heart I had all the same, I never closed my eyes that night. . . .
Mary left Anchor Line and joined the crew of the RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Niagara, leaving New York for Sydney, Australia. Mary found out shortly after setting sail that the Niagara would be reverting to a Sydney to Vancouver (Canada) run, making the trip too long for her to bear. She presumably was referring to the Anchor Line run from Glasgow when she said New York "was quite long enough."
. . . I hear all will be different when we get to Sydney & she gets into her proper run to Vancouver. I'm very much afraid I will never run to Vancouver with her. The long voyage is simply disgusting. N[ew] York was quite long enough.
Her ship crossed the Equator on Easter Sunday, March 23, 1913.
We crossed the Equator at 1:30 pm Easter Sunday. I didn't feel her bump, but a terrific thunderstorm. I felt heat in Red Sea much worse but it was bad enough. We expect to arrive in Durban (where I expect to go ashore and post this) Thursday aft. & coal & leave again Sunday for Melbourne & Sydney.
Mary posted her letter from Durban, South Africa, when the ship made port of call on Thursday afternoon, April 3, 1913. She liked the ship itself, if not the workload, according to her letter, and the captain seemed to have plans to bring Mary out of the lower holds of the ship, making life a bit easier for her before reaching Sydney.
The ship herself is certainly a marvel. My room is just lovely & every comfort & convenience, but away from my passengers. Captain Gibb has condemned it & says a room has to be got ready on promenade deck for Sydney for "Chief Stewardess" (That's me)
Mary struggled to keep up with her duties, climbing several decks to service her passengers. She complained of having to do the work of three persons. The chief steward wouldn't allow the use of the elevator by the stewardess because there were so few paying passengers; the bulk were Union Steamship Co employee families. As a result, Mary was always tired, and very unhappy. She missed home. And she missed Robert, hoping to see him again someday.
I feel very, very miserable and unhappy, Bob. Sleep and I are strangers now, and I feel just worn out. Am doing work of three stewardesses which is very hard. And the lifts are not working until we get to Sydney. Chief Steward declines to use them for class of passengers we are carrying beds I have about doz real live saloon, & rest are wives and daughters of U.S.S. Co. Employees. . . .
Will we ever meet again Bob[?]. I can't think that we won't. I really would like to meet again. . . . I have pictured you many times Bob & my thoughts are often with you, I can tell you.
Now dear Bob I trust you are well & much happier than I am . . . As soon as you get a new sailing list you might let me have one. I will look [at] your list & see when you will be in [New York] & wish I could have been there too. I never thought I could have been so homesick & unhappy.
After refueling, Mary's ship sailed from Durban on Sunday, April 6, 1913, heading for Sydney, Australia via Melbourne. Based on her May 20, 1913 letter, Mary was met upon her arrival in Melbourne by the ex-Mayor of Footscray, Melbourne. This prominent member of the community invited her to his home and claimed he was willing to take her boys in when they were ready to come to Australia. It is unclear from context whether J Samuel Johnson is one of the very wealthy cousins referred to earlier in her letter.
I have some very wealthy cousins in Melbourne, & Councillor J Samuel Johnson (last year mayor of Footscray, Melbourne) came to see me on Niagara & to take me home with him & says he will see to the boys when they are ready to come, so my mind is easy on that score.
As predicted, once she arrived at the offices of Union Steamship Company in Sydney, Mary concluded that Vancouver was too long a trek. So she volunteered to serve aboard an inter-colonial run, five weeks from Sydney to Melbourne and back, hitting intermediary points in New Zealand and Tasmania. The ship sailed from Sydney to Wellington, New Zealand, then hit ports along the New Zealand coast (Lyttleton, Dunedin, and the Bluff) before heading over to Hobart, Tazmania. They called in Melbourne for three days, then reversed the trip (Hobart, the Bluff, Dunedin, Lyttleton and Wellington) back to Sydney. Mary pointed out that the Bluff is the most southerly point of land in the world.
Quite the opposite of her experience on the Niagara, Mary found there was too little work to do aboard ship. Furthermore, she soon learned that all the big tippers were aboard the ships crossing the Equator, running between Australia and America or Britain.
Well! I am not stuck on this [Company] as yet, & don't think ever will. Have very little to do, & not any beds to make in any port, only when at sea. Got a kind & courteous [Chief Steward] & we can go out at any port -- sailing day [or not], it doesn't matter. Don't turn out before 4 o/c morning & set up with [Chief & Second Steward] at table in Saloon in port & at sea. All the same I am very, very unhappy, more ways than one. . . .
There isn't any nobility travelling here. Best people are between Britain & here or America & here. I won't say to anyone what I have said to you. Believe me, Bob I have cried myself to a skeleton almost & will never settle until I am crossing the Line again. . . .
She wanted to get back on a ship heading north, as did many former Anchor Line employees in Australia.
I have met a lot of Anchor Line boys here & met 3 or 4 [Stewards] from Glasgow & all are anxious to get home, but I've never said I'm trying to get back. I do not regret leaving Anchor Line not for one moment, but I would have liked to have met you occasionally. . . .
Mary quietly began to use her contacts to find another job which would land her north of the Equator part of the time. She even found a promising job offer out of Glasgow, where she could see her sons for a few weeks three times a year.
Don't say a word to a soul, Bob, but I have the chance to get into Blue Flannel Line (Holt's) running from Glasgow to Australia & I am going down to "Auslines" when I am in Melbourne June 3rd to interview [Chief Steward] to see if I can get a position there. Manager in Sydney thot of me & told me I had to see all [Chief Stewards] as they came in until I got back to Glasgow & then I would be taken on there. I would like it better & would have 2 or 3 wks at home & see boys every 4 months & get them out with me when they were ready. I would like that better Bob & would be a bit happier.
John Campbell, one of her fellow Union Steamship Company crew members, was arrested for stealing from a passenger. Mary said Campbell, with whom she was well acquainted, was a former Anchor Line employee; Robert apparently did not know Campbell. As a result of his thievery, the Company fired all their Scotch and English employees, save Mary. It is unclear from her remark whether she was Scotch and they fired all her fellow countrymen, or if she was Irish.
The Electrical Engineer on this boat was a John Campbell (late of Anchor Line) & he is in jail now for stealing one of 2nd cabin passengers bag & jewellry to the value of L 19 - 10. I knew him well. Isn't that a scandal, so they have sacked every man (Scotch or English) I am only man left on.
Mary thought she might end up making a run to San Francisco when she returned to Sydney from her inter-colonial run because the ship had been hired to conduct a survey.
They change you around here very much, & I might be sent to San Francisco when we get to Sydney as she is taking up Aorango's sailing for a trip for survey & then perhaps another ones. However if I do I will write you from Frisco. You might see in shipping news I guess you will.
Mary continued to miss Robert. She would remember him fondly for taking her to the show. Taking in a theatre performance was always a favorite pastime for Robert, according to his son Pat.
Now Bob take care of yourself & think how I would love to be beside you when you are sitting in a theatre. I've never been to one since I left you & I don't think I will ever again until I see you. Now with all my best wishes & every thing that is good & write soon, soon to your loving old pal, Mary.
Mary ended her letter with a poem:
'Tis hard to say "Goodbye"
'Tis A word that causes pain,
But as the years go by,
Perhaps we'll meet again.
And if we never meet again,
I hope you won't forget
To often cast one little thought
To one who loves you yet.
MJS
No comments:
Post a Comment