大象传媒

[From Liverpool to Egypt on the SS "Andes" 1940 - 1941

An account by Jeffrey Jackson, edited slightly by L Jackson.]

"After survivor's leave [following the bombing of the SS 'Oronsay'], I went to Oswestry and thence to Liverpool, where we embarked on the Andes, a magnificent new ship that had been intended for the South American route. What a contrast with the horrible Oronsay! (I heard later that it had been sunk somewhere [see previous story for details].) This was by now some time in November. We sailed west for the first week, so the weather was fairly unpleasant, but it improved steadily after we turned south, and eventually became warm enough for me to escape from the cramped conditions below and to sleep on deck under the stars. A couple of Cypriots had been tacked on to us, and one of them was convinced that he wasn't getting his fair share when the potatoes were being dished out, hence his anguished cry of 'Everybody two bananas, me one banana!' [now an old family saying] We saw flying fishes and a whale spouting (the only time I've ever seen either).

We put in at Freetown, Sierra Leone, but were not allowed ashore (my first sight of Africa - I did not set foot in Freetown until 1981). Africans came out to us in small boats and would dive for shillings. One joker wrapped a halfpenny in silver paper, on discovering which the disappointed African called out "By Jesus, you pulla my bloody leg!" After Freetown, we went on southwards, crossing the Equator and round the Cape, and calling in, unfortunately, at Durban, (Cape Town would have been far more interesting - I still haven't got there). It was amazing to see a city that wasn't blacked out. I don't remember much, except enormous jellyfish in the harbour, a tropical storm, and being baffled by finding that there were seats on buses that I couldn't sit in because they were for blacks only. I had never heard of apartheid.

After Durban, we sailed northwards, celebrating Christmas and New Year at sea. We passed just as night was falling through the straits at the entrance to the Red Sea, with sinister and completely barren mountains on the African side. There was no sign of life, and no attempt by the Italians to stop us. Finally we reached Suez and sailed on to Port Said through the Canal. Here we entrained for Cairo, and were seen off by a crowd of Egyptians shouting obscenities and smiling broadly - they'd obviously been taught them by soldiers as English greetings.

I didn't see anything of Cairo on this occasion, but what was peculiar was that, although Egypt was being used as a base by British forces, it wasn't actually at war with Germany."

[SS Andes: pictures and information here:
^{About links}

"... built in 1939 by Harland and Wolff ... scrapped in Ghent in 1971.]
^{About links}

"... Tonnage: 26,689g, 14, 787n. ... Passengers: 403 First Class, 204 Second Class, 451 Crew. Launched on the 7th March 1939, completed September 1939."]

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