— m/v Victoria ~ March 25 to April 23, 1957

March 25 ~ left Hong Kong

Click to enlarge

When people were leaving HK to go on leave, they’d put a notice in the newspaper to say PPC, which meant «Pour Prendre Congé». That was French for «To take one’s leave», meaning the person &/or the family were leaving Hong Kong! That way most of the acquaintances and some business people would know that the person/family would be away from the Colony.

The newspaper announcement was something which was done in the 20th Century, probably up until 1970s at the latest and now no one born after the ’70s would have any idea about what PPC meant ☹️

We spent the night before boarding the ship at the Peninsula, which was a fabulous surprise!

Dad was up by 7 and so were we all, excited to get on the ship. We were off by 8:20, and it was just a hop, skip and a jump from the hotel to the quay where the Victoria was moored!

The white «⭐» on the building in the photo shows the Peninsula so you can see it was just down Salisbury Road to the wharf!

We had a wonderful send-off with all the Paquerette ladies there, Anker Henningsen, Tanya Vargassoff, Sashka Smirnoff, Balia and the Yatskins who came on board to say goodbye!

I can still, 63 years later, smell that special smell of the ship! Impossible to describe but it was always the same when we went embarked on either the Victoria or Asia ?

The purser would have put a message out on the loudspeaker saying, «La nave in partenza, i visitatori si prega di lasciare la nave. Grazie!» or something like that, telling all visitors to please disembark as the ship was getting ready to leave!!

Everyone left and we were given streamers to throw down to our family and friends on the wharf!  As the ship started to move, the streamers got taut then snapped, so it was slightly emotional to see the links to HK break, albeit temporary, and made the reality of our leave very obvious ?

Dad said that we all stood on deck and waved goodbye to Balia and the Yatskins until they disappeared from sight and the ship slowly slipped out of the harbour and Lyemun Pass.

The arrows show the route passenger ships took from the wharf out to Lyemun Passage (Click to enlarge)

Daddy said that it was great to see mom looking so relaxed and happy, as was he, and I reckon Lindy and I were feeling pretty carefree as well!

s/s “Peleus” (Photo credit: Rhiw.com) Click to enlarge

There was a Blue Funnel ship called the «Peleus» that also left at 10am and had some Tramways’ friends on board.  The ship was following ours out of Lyemun but once we got out to open sea, the Peleus overtook us on the starboard side and powered on ahead!

The Peleus reminded us of the Antilochus and while we enjoyed our trip on that ship, the Victoria was a passenger liner so way more comfortable than a freighter!  We were very happy to be sailing with Lloyd Triestino  ?

However, school was not furthest from our thoughts as we had to pack our school books in the trunk so that we could study on the ship.  Boo!  ?

It was very important that pupils on leave didn’t lag behind on their studies, otherwise they might have to stay in the same class for another year; and I don’t think any student would have wanted that to happen to them ?  Imagine the feeling – seeing all your classmates going up to a higher form while you had to stay behind and do the year again!  Ugh!  ?

I was allowed to eat with Lindy and my parents so that was fabulous!  No squatting on low tables in la stanza dei bambini!  It was like we hadn’t been away for 4 years – the food was delicious and filling, we saw some familiar faces and were so comfortable with the routine on our way to Singapore!

The reason for this was because Signor Sigurini, the ship’s “maître d’hôtel“, was with us on the Victoria when we returned to HK in 1953, so knew us!

Dad mentioned how cosmopolitan the crowd was and there weren’t many Hongkongers on board.

The next day dad went to Tourist Class to shoot some traps and made friends with a young man named John Penn. I remember the name but can’t remember his face ?

After dinner that night, mom, dad and Lindy went to the Lounge for after dinner drinks and invited Cynthia and Roy Beynon to join their table.  Now I remember them very well – they were HKers and came to several parties which my folks hosted when we got back home.

Neither of them were tall but Cynthia was particularly short – under 5 foot if my memory serves me well – so I was probably on eye level with her when I was 9 ?

This is how we kept ourselves busy on board …

• swimming
• studying in the Library for 1-2 hours twice a day
• getting books from the Library and lounging in our deck chairs to read them
• having a delicious cup of hot beef bouillon brought around at 10:30 every morning when we were in our deck chairs
• eating such great meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner
• playing deck tennis
• playing ping pong
• playing quoits
• playing shuffleboard
• putting rubber “joke” vomit on the deck when it was rough to make the adults ill
• getting Perugina Baci chocolates with one’s after dinner coffee
• going to the Tourist Class to shoot traps
• nibbling tasty green olives with pre-dinner drinks (coke for me!) in the Lounge

What a life! ?

March 28-30 ~ Singapore

Land was sighted at about noon and the ship dropped anchor a couple of hours later at the anchorage. The authorities came on board to check passports and during that time dad said he learned that six old Russians were joining the ship to go to Genova and that a Swiss lady was also Russian!

Mom called Volya Olofinsky to invite him and his wife to dinner on board the following night and he invited us all for lunch.  We met both Volya and Misha Koodiaroff four years earlier when we visited Singapore on the Antilochus and were invited to the Sea View Hotel for lunch!

The next day, a Friday, we all trooped to the Adelphi Hotel, which was the oldest hotel in Singapore, having been established in 1863.  It was an elegant three-storey building with columns, arches and pediments facing Coleman Street.

A bit of trivia : when the Japanese occupied Singapore it was renamed «Nandu Hotel».

Daddy asked to see Mr Pfister (don’t ask, I have no idea who he was!) but was told that he left the hotel 14 months previously.  Mom and dad ushered us into the lounge and we had cokes while they had tea. When we finished, we went to Whiteaways for mom to do some shopping.

Whiteaway, Laidlaw stores were known as “Selfridges of the East“…a department store full of clothes, furnishings and other items from England, and popular with the expats who were stationed in the Far East.  I’m pretty sure that mom got her first job in Shanghai with Whiteaways!  I know we had two in my day – one in Hong Kong and the other in Kowloon.

After getting whatever items mom and dad wanted we all piled into a taxi to go to the Sea View Hotel.  Since we were last in Singapore, the Nicoll Highway was built so it was a fast ride to the hotel.

Had lunch with the Olofinskys then caught a cab back to the ship.  Apparently the skyline of the city had changed quite a bit since 1953, with newly built tall buildings but the old houses in Central spoiled the look as they were decrepit and dirty ?

Daddy told Signor Sigurini (our friend the Maître d’hôtel) that the manager of the Sea View and his wife were coming for dinner so asked him to prepare a special dinner to impress our visitors. And it was a very special dinner … the hors d’oeuvres included black caviar, which was beautifully served, and followed by hot consomme, fish, steak with champignons and then dessert — “Bomba Alaska”! ?

How did we stay thin in those days???

Dad said it was really out of this world and that the white and red wine flowed like rivers!

Volya wanted to get back to the hotel so they invited mom and dad to go back with them and after some coffees and a few dances, they returned to the ship feeling full and happy ?

Saturday dawned and we went to the Adelphi to meet Misha Koodiaroff for a drink. Dad was all grumpy because it was really hot and humid so instead of going around Singapore to take some shots of “typical”scenes, he just took street scenes to use up the film!

Got a taxi back to the ship and we were all relieved to be in the cool comfort of our cabin!  The ship left at 6pm and we watched the scenery as we sailed through a narrow channel out to sea.

That evening the Beynons introduced mom, dad and Lindy to a new passenger called Mr Crabbe and they stayed up in the Lounge talking till almost midnight.  Apparently Lindy wasn’t happy with dad as he wouldn’t jive with her!! Tee hee! ?

We crossed the Equator on Saturday, March 31, and sailed through the Bangka Strait. The scenery was lovely and tropical and it looked like the jungle was growing right out of the sea.  There were beaches with palms; fishermen’s huts on stilts; sailing boats; big and small islands scattered around – some were flat while others had high mountains.

We spent the whole day on deck watching the scenery and dad mentioned that the air was marvellously dry, which surprised him with us being so close to the Equator!

After dinner we watched the movie, “Ma & Pa Kettle Go to Town“!!!  Eeek!  No newly released up-to-date movies for passengers in those days ?

April 1 ~ Djakarta

No, I didn’t make a typo ?  This is how present-day Jakarta was spelt back in the 1950s!

We arrived at Djakarta Roads at 3 in the morning and it wasn’t till 8 when the ship started moving.  We passed through a very narrow entrance in the breakwater then were swung around and towed backwards to the wharf.

The first thing which dad and mom noticed were the amount of guards carrying machine guns on the wharf!  The only people allowed ashore were those carrying landing permits and they weren’t allowed to bring any currency with them.

The weather was terribly hot but not humid! Again, surprising!

One of the many Indonesian islands we passed heading to the Sunda Straits (Click to enlarge)

The soldiers came on board and wandered through the ship, checking some cabins and clumping through the dining room when we were having lunch, despite Signor Sigurini’s protests. Dad said he could hardly wait for the ship to leave!

We sailed at 3pm and passed what seemed like thousands of islands, all of different sizes!  Some were so small that they had no more than a dozen palms on them, while others were quite large and had villages on them.

These islands seemed to stretch on and on in the sea for the next four hours, until the ship got to the Sunda Strait.

Dad didn’t say if we passed Krakatoa (Krakatau) or not as we sailed through the Strait.  I’m sure we would have been all excited if we saw a volcano spitting up smoke and lava and dad would have mentioned it  ?

The next few days passed with us swimming during the day and the evenings spent either watching a movie, horse racing (the horses were wooden and moved by the Purser after a roll of the dice) or dancing after dinner.

Lindy noticed that the young officers used to congregate around the ping pong table after dinner so I was told to go and play ping pong with them and introducing my new friends to Lindy and her friends ?  The downside of having an older sister!

Attilio was the one who seemed to be Lindy’s preferred choice and so they used to chat often on deck after dinner.

April  5-6 ~ Colombo

The Victoria arrived at Colombo at 3pm but we didn’t get ashore until quarter to five. Dad got a taxi to take us to the zoo but as it closed at 6pm, we didn’t get to see very much.

Dad asked the taxi driver to take us for a drive around the city until 7pm but instead the driver drove slowly back to the wharf, giving us a commentary about Colombo all the way back  ?

Colombo had changed quite a bit since 1953 – the Galle Road had been resurfaced, new and modern buildings had been built and there were policemen directing traffic at almost every intersection, unlike when we were there four years earlier!

Got back to the ship and were so pooped that we all went to our cabins to crash after dinner!

The next morning, Saturday the 6th, daddy decided to make a dash to Cook’s to find out about baggage facilities in Genova so he got up early for breakfast and, as there was no launch available, he took a walla-walla to the wharf.

He got to Cook’s at 8:45am and was told that all the luggage arrangements could be made when the ship gets to Genova so he headed back to the jetty.  Got back to the ship by 9:30 and mom was relieved to see him as the ship was leaving Colombo at 10am!

The excitement on April 8 was passing the Victoria’s sister ship, m/v Asia, as she headed to the Far East! Part 1 of our Victoria clip shows us leaving HK and then it shows the two ships passing each other, then scenes in Bombay, Karachi and sailing through the Red Sea towards Suez.

It really was an exciting and fun thing to pass the sister ship and it happened every time we sailed on either of those two ships  ?

That night dad grumbled about the “Ballo” after dinner!  Apparently the dancing was hijacked by someone he called the “professor”.  The guy said he would be singing some songs with someone’s wife accompanying him on the piano.  He sang a couple of songs but then gave out sheets with words on songs on them and insisted everyone in the Lounge sang along with him. Not only that, but he started to get all those passengers there to stand up, sit down, clap, etc, which didn’t impress mom and dad or the Beynons.

They left to finish their drinks in the Cocktail Lounge and then poor dad was badgered into playing the piano for the group of 8 there.  Poor guy was up until midnight when he really wanted to get to bed early that night!

April 8-9 ~ Bombay

We got into Bombay around noon and Lindy and I went on a sightseeing tour while mom and dad went shopping.  It was some Hindu holiday so all the shops were closed so mom and dad went to the Taj Mahal Hotel for a drink then sauntered back to the wharf.

The ship was crawling with the local authorities, like when we were in Djakarta, and dad wasn’t impressed at all.  He was moaning about how these towns were all going to hell without Europeans in their governments and reckoned the only port that was worth visiting was Colombo!

The next day dad ventured ashore by himself and said all the beggars in the area were sticking to him like flies!  He took some photos and then went to mail the film back to HK.  He said the weather was hot and humid and he was glad to get back onto the ship and into the air conditioning. He was happy when we sailed at noon!

April 10-11 ~ Karachi

We all spent the morning in the pool, splashing about, then the ship arrived at Karachi after 3pm.  Mom and dad weren’t keen to go ashore but Lindy went off with some officers on another Lloyd Triestino ship.

On Thursday the 11th, mom and dad got a taxi and went for a drive. Lord knows what Lindy and I were doing – hanging around the ship or doing studying perhaps?

The taxi took them past the Beach View Hotel to Elphinstone Road, which was where all the shops were situated.

Elphinstone Street, Karachi (Click to enlarge)

Apparently mom bought three camel blankets and a couple pairs of slippers and then dad went to the GPO to mail a couple of movie films to England, and then the taxi took them back to the ship.  Dad remarked how, unlike Bombay, the Pakistanis were all keen to have foreign currency so one could change money anywhere and with anyone.

Sailed after 2pm heading towards Aden, getting closer to Europe! After dinner, when my folks were having coffee dad was handed a Marconigram – this was a telegram going from shore to ship or from ship to another ship!

It said : «Regret Brock has passed away» and dad said that he and mom were absolutely shocked!

Now who was Brock?  No idea but I suspect it must have been a colleague at Tramways.  Dad sent a Marconigram to Mrs Brock sending their condolences and dad said that he genuinely liked Brock  and felt terrible for Mrs Brock left with two children and no husband  ?

Friday the 12th was a Fancy Dress Ball after dinner so all the passengers were busy decided what costumes they’d get into.  At 9pm everyone who was taking part in the Ball gathered in the Cocktail Lounge.

Lindy had made friends with an English girl called Robin Alcock, who was travelling with her mother, and they got dressed up as Lloyd Triestino sailors, while dad dressed in a sarong and the group entered into the Lounge to parade in front of the other passengers.

Someone dad called “Mata Hari” won first prize for ladies, while John Penn – his friend at the trap shoot – won the men’s prize for his absent-minded professor costume  ?

Mom had saved a table in the Lounge and was joined by the Beynons and Mrs Alcock so once the Fancy Dress event finished, dad, Lindy and Robin joined them. It was a very enjoyable evening and everyone had a lot of fun, despite the Marconigram!

The next day, Saturday the 13th, the clocks went back an hour and even with the extra 60 minutes, people were finding it hard to get up and about after the late night enjoyed last night!

There was a party for kids at 5pm but Signore Sigurini suggested to the folks that I shouldn’t attend the party as everyone thought I was 12 years old (so that I could eat with the family) and not 9, which I was  ?

Daddy was very kind in his remarks about me, saying I was a very sensible and, for a nine-year old, very advanced and well travelled, but it was embarrassing when people asked me questions which any 12 year old would know but I didn’t!

Dad said because I was tall for my age, he felt for me as I appeared backwards not being able to answer their questions  ? I believe that was the case during our first leave too – looking like I was 7 or 8 while being only 5 or 6!  ?

April 14-15 ~ Aden

There was sunbathing for the oldies in the morning while I did my hour’s school work in the Library.  It had to be done every day, unless we were in port, so that I didn’t get downgraded when I got back to Quarry Bay at the end of the year!

After our tea at 4pm, we went onto the deck and saw the jagged mountains behind the port of Aden come into sight.  The ship moored at 7pm, during our dinner, and then we all got ready to go ashore.

It seems that daddy like how Aden looked at night more than how it did during the day.  I guess it helped that it wasn’t so hot at night either! It had a very mysterious air at night and the contrast of coming off an air conditioned, Continental ship and into the city, with its dark, old Arabian buildings was surprisingly stark!

Mom and Lindy did some shopping – what they bought I know not – then we strolled to the Crescent Hotel for refreshments, like we did four years earlier, before heading back to the wharf and back on board our ship.

The Victoria sailed from Aden at 2am on Monday, April 15, and we all stood on deck to watch the ship sail through the narrow point heading into the Red Sea.  On the left were the high mountains of Africa and on the right the sandy hills of Arabia!  I remember he was in awe about the scenery when the Antilochus passed through the same spot four years earlier!

Apart from studying we did lots of swimming and that night, mom, dad and Lindy attended the Captain’s cocktail party.  They sat with the Beynons and polished off 4 bottles of champagne ?  Lindy came to bed at 2am while dad dragged mom away at 3am!  What a life  ?

Did a bit of swimming in the morning until it got too cold. During the day it got more windy and rough and turned quite cold so we all donned our sweaters when we went up on deck to watch us heading up the Red Sea to Suez.  In the evening mom and dad played canasta with Andrin Blaauw (we knew Andrin & Bill Blaauw, and their kids, quite well in HK) and Mrs Gandeling.

April 18 ~ Suez

Going thru the Suez Canal (Click to enlarge)

We arrived at Suez about 2am but dad was woken by the steward who brought at letter for Lindy at 6am. He dressed and went on deck but came straight back to the cabin to put on warmer clothes!  The morning was beautifully bright but so cold!  Brrrrrr!

The passengers who were headed to Cairo got on the launch which took them to shore, but British, Australian, French and Israeli citizens weren’t allowed ashore.

«In July 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal, hoping to charge tolls that would pay for construction of a massive dam on the Nile River. In response, Israel invaded in late October, and British and French troops landed in early November, occupying the canal and other Suez territory. Under pressure from the United Nations, Britain and France withdrew in December, and Israeli forces departed in March 1957. That month, Egypt took over control of the canal and reopened it to commercial shipping.»
[Source: history.com]

Our ship was one of the very first passenger ships allowed through the Canal after it was opened!  Dad mentioned that he saw many machine gun emplacements along the banks as we started to move through.  There were many soldiers on guard there but they were pretty friendly, waving to the passengers as the Victoria steamed through the Canal.

Click to enlarge

There were very few ships going the same way we were so we felt like royalty travelling almost on our own!  There wasn’t much activity going on on either side of the Canal and the houses there had their shutters down tight.

Got to the Bitter Lakes at around 1pm and arrived at Ismailia, which was situated on the west bank of the Canal, at 6pm.  Because there were so few passengers on board with those passengers who travelled to Cairo, us youngsters were allowed to stay up late as we were headed towards Port Said and the Gully Gully Man!

We arrived at Port Said at 11pm and soon after the Gully Gully Man appeared on deck!

The Gully Gully Man was an Egyptian magician that visited ships which were moored in Port Said. He would entertain the crowd alongside other traders that sold souvenirs to the the passengers on board. The Gully Gully Man would perform coin, rope and card tricks and his finale would be the cups and balls. I also remember little chicks in the cups, which made all of us children oooooh and aaaaah with wonderment!

The Gully Gully Man thrilled everyone and when he finished, dad decided it was time for us to go to our cabins and sleep, and not wait up till 1am for when the ship sailed!

Daddy said in his diary that he was watching the Egyptians and there was no sign of any belligerency in their attitude towards the British when they were among téhe passengers, nor did the “Egyptian Gazette” show any anti-British articles or opinions in their paper.

The next few days as we headed towards Naples were cold and windy so there was no swimming for us.  Just studying for our allotted time then mooching about.  It could get quite boring being on the ship, especially when we knew the end was in sight!

April 21-23 ~ Napoli (Naples)

Not only was April 21 Easter Sunday but before breakfast we passed very close to Stromboli and it was pretty exciting to see the volcano belching out smoke.

Dad attended the church service in the Tourist Class and then visited Loula Ballerand.  Loula was the daughter of White Russian Émigrés whom my parents knew in Hong Kong – Shura (Alexander) and Yelena Skvorzov.

Their younger daughter, Luba, actually modelled for mom in one of her fashion shows in the early 1950s.

Everyone went on deck and onto the bridge as the ship approached the Isle of Capri!  The Captain headed straight towards the island and only swerved away at the last moment, much to dad’s relief as he thought the ship would end up on the rocks of Capri ?

The ship sailed so close to the island that we could see everything there very clearly and saw the people there waving to us, so, naturally, we waved back!

We arrived in Napoli at 4:45pm and went ashore at 5:30.  Walked along the empty streets before stopping for a drink in the Galleria Umberto I (aka the Arcade) before heading back to the ship.

The next day most of the passengers took a tour to Pompeii but we decided to take the Funicolare Centrale up to the top of the hill.

«Naples is unique in that is has the most funiculars in daily use in all of Italy. Opened in 1928, the Central Funicular of Naples is one of the most used funicular railways in the world, and carries over 10 million passengers per year. In the second half of the 19th century, the Vomero hill area of Naples began to expand. The steep incline of the hill made it difficult to get to. Construction soon began on both the Chiaia and Montesanto Funicular railways, the Chiaia being one of the oldest in the world. The Mergellina is the most recent (1931) funicular in Naples and also the least used. Each of Naples funiculars move millions of people up steep inclines, each well over 500 feet in altitude change from top to bottom.»
[Source: Funiculi, Funicula… Funiculars in Italy]

We took in the views of Naples at the top and then walked to the National Museum of San Martino where we wandered around, given a tour by the attendant there.

Got back to the ship and at 1:35pm, the Victoria left Naples and the Captain took us close to the Ligurian Coast to show us the beauty of the land as we headed towards Genova  ?

April 23 ~ arrived Genova (Genoa)

We had breakfast at 7 then stood on deck and watched more towns on the Ligurian Coast slip past as we sailed towards Genova.

We arrived at the port at 9am and we all went ashore while dad went to speak to the Cook’s representative at the customs shed.  He arranged for Cook’s to keep some of the luggage which was unloaded from the Victoria in bond until we boarded the Asia on our homeward journey, and also forward two suitcases to Tübingen.

The porter took our 7 bags of luggage to the taxi which took us to the railway station, and dad had the bags stored for when we got on the train later that day.

We walked to the new Lloyd Triestino office near the Piazza Corvetto and dad made sure that we got the cabin of choice on the Asia, then we walked to the Piazza De Ferrari to find the restaurant we ate at on Lindy’s birthday in 1953.  Couldn’t find it so ate at another place which dad said was lousy and expensive and then, when we came out to head to Hotel Colombia, we saw the restaurant we were looking for ?‍♀️

Me with Atillio

Arrived at the Hotel Colombia at 3pm. As described in my 1953 page about Genova, it was a beautiful hotel with marble floors and fabulous woven rugs covering some areas of the floor.  It was also across the street from the huge statue of Cristoforo Colombo!

Had a drink with Attilio when he rocked up and then he, Lindy and I went for a wander around the streets while mom and dad did their own thing! Then we met up with the folks at Taverna Principe for dinner and then we hurried to the train station, got our luggage and the porter took our bags to the platform for the Rome Express to take us to Paris then to Calais!

Toot toot, London here we come!!

Photo credit: Rome-Express trains-worldexpresses.com (Click to enlarge)

This video shows the 2nd half of the outward trip on the Victoria, but then it goes on to show Genoa, the Rome Express, Paris and finally London.

Suez Crisis (Google Arts & Culture)

1957 March 25 to April 23 ~ m/v Victoria

Pictures of us on board the Victoria as we sailed from HK to Genoa and all the ports in between!

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