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| Leaving Toronto for South Africa- June 29, 1954- 70 years ago! |
I had a dream last night about my nephew Simri, his little son Owen and a baby girl I did not know. We were in a familiar house but the rooms were spacious and well-appointed and the gardens were full of beautiful flowers and fountains. I am far more practical than mystical but I took notice when there was an overnight message from Simri on my computer this morning. We obviously were thinking about each other!
Simri asked about the type of ship my parents and his grandparents took to South Africa when they first travelled there in 1954. After Mom died in 2013, we quickly packed up her things for Dad. I threw a couple of scrapbooks and a large manila envelope full of old photos in my suitcase and put them in the back of my closet until today. Simri's request motivated me to pull out Mom's well-documented trip to Africa and our first trip back to Canada.
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| Clipping from the Aurora Banner |
According to Mom's daily diary, they flew from Toronto's Malton Airport in a TCA plane and landed in Montreal where they boarded a BOAC - British Overseas Airway Corporation- airliner headed for London, England. The flight was 9 1/2 hours long and included a refuelling stop at 2 AM in Gander, Newfoundland. They spent a short time in England with some of Dad's Hackett relatives before they boarded the
M.V. Dunnottar Castle, a passenger ship on the Union-Castle Line. Their tickets cost $548.00 CDN for two passengers. The ship left with the tide at 1 AM on July 2, 1954, the day after Dad's 22nd birthday. By 10 AM they were at the White Cliffs of Dover.
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Dad on the Dunnottar Castle, the Alps in the background
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Dad wrote a letter to his parents about the first few days of the trip. They travelled "Tourist Class", not First Class. Their first cabin had four bunks, no porthole window and a communal bathroom in the corridor. Mom was three months pregnant with me. Thankfully they were moved to their own small cabin with two single beds and a window, but they spent much of the time on deck when they crossed the rough waters of the English Channel to avoid seasickness. The cabins were not airconditioned and the temperatures were hot as they approached the Suez Canal.
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| Mom with another passenger, Abdullah |
They were able to leave the ship for sightseeing in several ports including Gibraltar, Marseilles, Genoa, Port Said, Suez, Aden, Mombasa, Tanga, Zanzibar, Beira, Lourenço Marques and finally their destination, Durban, South Africa.
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Dad at Beira, Mozambique
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| Marseilles |
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| Aden |
Dad was the child of new immigrants to Canada and Mom was a daughter of the British Empire. Her Empire Loyalist family came to Canada from the United States at the beginning of the 19th century. Anticolonialism spread quickly after World War 2 and the Africa Mom and Dad visited in the mid-1950s is vastly different today. Mom and Dad were young and idealistic and followed their dreams and calling around the world. Their choices shaped the lives of their children and grandchildren and spawned many stories and legends. In the next few posts, I will try my best to share true travel stories that include the growing family.
*Credits: The photos in this series are digitalized copies of my father's Kodachrome slides*
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