Great White Whale

Posting this in December 2017

This is a photo my daughter sent me recently of some of the pages in her first (possibly only) autograph book.

The pages are written and signed by various officers and crew of the iconic SS Canberra when we were treated to a quite extraordinary two-week holiday cruise from Southampton and all around the Med and back to Southampton. Not long before the Canberra had been in the centre of the Falkland Islands conflict and tenderly given the name The Great White Whale as she stood out so well in her white colour and thus always a possible easy target for Argentinian bombers. Apparently the pilots mistakenly assumed she must be a hospital ship.

For the moment I am not going into details of how, what, why etc until I can properly scan a photo taken on the trip, Sadly the only one in my possession. Perhaps one day the others may find their way in some copy form.

I do have my written diary so know a little bit about what happened and in the absence of any other day to post a journal will show the itinerary below:

19/8 Drive to Southampton, Board Canberra pm
20/8 At Sea - Bay of Biscay
21/8 Sail through Straits of Gibraltar at night
22/8 City Tour Malaga am, Beach Hotel pm, Sail evening
23/8 At Sea
24/8 At Sea
25/8 Athens, Akropolis am, Beach Hotel pm Astir Palace, Lemos.Sail evening
26/8 Izmir, Ephesus Tour am, nearby Beach Hotel pm. Sail evening
27/8 Rhodes Hotel problems thanks to EU. Beach hotel and sail. late pm Town tour. Sail evening
28/8 At Sea
29/8 At Sea along African coast
30/8 At Sea
31/8 Gibraltar, Army tour of the inside of Rock, Town wandering, pm Spain private house pooling. Sail evening.
1/9 At Sea. Treated to special Birthday curry lunch cooked by Indian staff who normally only cooked crew meals.
2/9 At Sea
3/9 Dock Southampton. Drive home

Busy schedule but I have to say we did get somewhat different treatment. The tours weren't those offered to normal passengers. We had two limos, chauffeurs and local guide waiting at each port. We were taken off board first and the Beach hotel day rooms were all prepared!

Some of the entries they wrote for Kate (aged 9) amuse me:
Nick our personal daytime steward while on our private sun deck: "To all the cakes that have gone before you ..." The poor fellow had to deal with feeding 3 children, Kate (9), J (5) and Anna (5?). They did have Anna's splendid "child minder" to keep control and ensure manners.
Sidney the cabin steward "To a very sophisticated young lady Miss Katie .....)". Even though she is my daughter, Kate was always very aware of behaving well (at least in public!) perhaps a bit shy but more she always wanted to do things right and thus came across as hesitant. Certainly hasn't harmed her when I see her 30 years later.

A wonderful holiday and experience for which I am very grateful to the organiser and benefactor and his wife. More to follow.