In 1966 I had just taken my final GCE O level exam when I finished packing and set out with my parents on a voyage to Singapore. Once we had taken our ginger cat up from Yorkshire to Scotland, by train, to live on my grandparent’s farm, we travelled down to Southampton to embark on the P & O ship Cathay. By today's standards this was a very small cruise liner. Only 14000 tons, it took 240 passengers. Arriving on board on July 8th, we watched one of the cars being lifted up from the wharf in two large nets, one for each set of wheels, to be deposited in the hold before having a noisy night in our cabins listening to all the rest of the cargo being loaded. We were determined to witness our departure, so we were up and dressed at 6.30 am. It was a dull misty morning but it was fascinating to look out over Southampton water and round the Isle of Wight past the Needles. As we entered the Bay of Biscay it became rougher and the boat started to roll. My mother and I felt lightheaded and my father had to lie down. There were no stabilisers on the ship, but I soon felt well enough to play table tennis on deck. We had found another British family, also going to live in Singapore, with two boys, Chris and Mike, one younger than me and one older. Their father, like mine, worked as a civil servant for the Ministry of Defence and at that time there was a very large British Military presence in Singapore. We would be attending the same British Army Comprehensive school there.
At our table in the dining room were two other people, the wife of an army officer travelling with her small son who had eaten earlier and also “a cockney rough diamond” (according to my mother) who ate beef salad for every meal including breakfast. Occasionally one of the ship’s officers joined us. The food was excellent with several delicious courses so unfortunately I put on a lot of weight during the 6 week voyage. Every morning, Mum and I walked round the deck 9 times but that was only one mile! The swimming pool was tiny but a lot of fun in rough weather when it surged from side to side. I soon met two girls who were also going to be at my school in Singapore, one was two years younger, but the other, Jill, was my age so we soon became inseparable. My mother had made friends with a young lady from Ceylon who wore some very beautiful saris each evening. She had also met a missionary on his way to Borneo.
Sadly there was no stop until we reached Port Said a week after our departure. Our only sight of land being the rock of Gibraltar looming in the dark. As we approached Port Said, a pilot boat came alongside and the pilot scrambled up a ladder onto our ship. As the ship drew nearer to its mooring boys swam all around it, calling to the passengers to throw money which they would dive for. Soon there were many small boats touting leather pouffes, bags and jewellery. Some traders came on board and my mother bargained for 2 small wallets. She was very pleased to receive 3 letters sent from family and friends in the UK.
We went on an organised tour of Port Said in a fleet of
taxis, honking their horns to clear pedestrians out of the way. Passing donkey
carts we were taken to see new blocks of flats in narrow streets and then we
arrived at a mosque. Taking our shoes off outside we walked on the rush matting
and admired the magnificent chandelier above. Next to the Roman Catholic church
where a beautiful painting was shown to us, above the altar. The echoing voice
of our guide was difficult to hear. After driving over a rickety bridge to the
edge of the Canal we were shown hovels which seemed to be built with wattle
walls. The land seemed to be divided into small allotments for each house and
they were growing small red peppers, tomatoes, sweet corn and mint. Two grubby
children gave us beaming smiles which were of course rewarded by the tourists.
Next we were taken to the very fine railway station with its walls of murals
showing transport from horse to train and sailing ships to large liners. I saw these again recently on a TV programme.
Driving back, we saw goats wandering along the road, an
occasional sheep and many unhealthy horses. The main shops were not tempting but
the stalls of prickly pears and water melons looked good. There were shops called Boots and Woolworths
but they had no connection to the British or American companies. There was even a shop
called Harry Lauder, perhaps because so many Scottish engineers had worked
there. We saw many healthy looking dogs but only one skinny cat. This was the first time I saw oleanders
growing and there were also small sunflowers, geraniums, zinnias and canna
lilies. As we walked along my father was constantly bothered by men trying to
sell him “dirty postcards” but we just bought a collection of Egyptian stamps
instead!
We were relieved to leave the hot land and go back on board
for dinner. Afterwards a “Gully Gully” man came on board. He did several
conjuring tricks, mainly involving the appearance of chickens! I was to see
many more Gully Gully men in Singapore but they usually charmed snakes. During
the evening we watched a small armada of ships arrive from the Suez Canal. One
was the Chitral, sister ship of our Cathay which moored nearby and there were
many tankers and two submarines. Little
did we realise that less than a year later the Canal would be closed by the
Arab-Israeli war. 15 ships travelling north along the canal were trapped for 8 years, their crews changing every 3 months and all other sea transport had to sail round the African continent past Cape Town.
We watched on deck as our ship entered the Canal seeing the spot where we had been earlier in the day and then went to bed. At 6 am we were the second ship in the convoy in a very narrow part of the Canal. Unlike the Panama Canal there are no locks on the Suez Canal. On one side it was lush with trees with colonial style bungalows and date palms, on the other bank we saw sandy desert. We were told our speed was seven and a half knots and 4 different pilots took it in turn to guide us through. Later we stopped at anchor in Great Bitter Lake waiting for the northbound ships to come through. My mother wondered if the BP tanker, British Prestige, was bound for Loch Long, near to our grandparents. Our ship had to pay £7200 to pass through the Canal.
Entertainment on board ship was not like a modern cruise liner. There were frequent quiz nights which our team often won or did well in. As we left the Canal there was a Gala night with the theme of Naples! We had red and white checked table cloths and candles in chianti bottles. The waiters replaced their white P & O shirts with coloured ones and the violinist played Italian songs. The usual French menu was written in Italian but the food was much the same. We were dressed casually in cotton trousers and skimpy tops and danced on deck although it was very warm. On another evening the Chinese members of the crew performed a very impressive lion dance for us. On some nights a film was shown. One amusing film I remember was “The Prize” a 1963 spy film with Paul Newman and Elke Sommer.
Entering the Red Sea we were hit by the intense heat, so we
appreciated our air conditioned cabins. It was wonderful to see a few porpoises
and many flying fish. We were now loving the swimming pool which felt like a
warm bath. Approaching Aden, we were advised that it was not a safe place, but
the ship needed to refuel at the BP oil pipes in the sea. There were brown
hills behind the small town. We boarded a launch to take us to the port.
There we saw many Scottish soldiers carrying guns. The shops sold mainly
cameras, binoculars and electrical equipment, so we refrained from spending any
money. Once again we saw many goats and a skinny cat. The Elinis, a ship we had
seen at Port Said was also moored offshore. It was full of people on their way
to live in Australia, so they were buying sewing machines, radios and record
players. Six months later there were riots in the old Arab quarter of Aden town and in June 1967 mutiny spread from the South Arabian Federation Army to local police. Eight British soldiers were killed by mutineers followed by ambushes in the following weeks when 12 more British soldiers died. In November 1967 the British Army withdrew and Aden became part of Yemen. We were unaware of the future but glad to return to the ship and couldn’t believe how romantic
the lights of Aden looked at night. A lady on deck said to me, “Wait till you
see, Hong Kong.” Of course she was right but it was a year later before I had
that experience.
We had 6 days of sea travel when we encountered monsoon
winds that made the Bay of Biscay seem like a millpond. When we went to the bow
of the ship a huge wave came over and soaked us. Both my father and I were
seasick but my mother had a stronger constitution. I recovered in time to see
the film “Our Man in Marakesh,” even though at mealtimes everything was sliding
off the tables, but my father was still unwell. Every night the clock was put
forward half an hour, so we had less time in bed. We spent a lot of time
playing deck quoits, playing Scrabble and entering word competitions set by the
ship. They finally put on a dance of modern music on records for us teenagers
which made a change. Each Sunday the Captain took a church service.
We were about to arrive at the beautiful island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) but that is a story for another day.
With thanks to my mother who wrote in detail to my grandmother about our voyage and to my grandmother for keeping the letters.
Maps from Creative Commons: daves_archive_1 on Flickr and I O Heroditus on Wikipedia
Part Two of my journey to Singapore in 1966
