Our English Adventure #2

The Union-Castle Line operated the mailships which plied between Southampton, England, and Durban,South Africa, via Las Palmas - one left every week, ensuring a regular postal service which took about 12 days. The Capetown Castle (that was the official spelling of the ship's name) was built in 1938 (27000 tons - not very big) and launched by Mrs JD Louw, wife of the mayor of Cape Town at the time. It was therefore already pretty old when we set sail on her, but as I said, through the eyes of a child cosmetic appearance means nothing and experience is everything. I wasn't a very good sailor and spent at least the first day on my bunk, but once I got my sea legs, there was no holding me back from enjoying every aspect of the voyage.

The ship called in at Las Palmas for a day to take on and offload mail and presumably some supplies, and passengers could spend time ashore. We set off to explore the town and one of the first stops was to buy curios - at least I can remember choosing a little Spanish dancer in her beautiful flamenco gown perched on a stool with a guitar, as you will see from the pictures below. Here we are walking through the main street, which looks remarkably like Woodstock Main Road today, and I can recall that the taxis drove without any regard for the rules of the road, much like everywhere else in the world, even today. Perhaps they feel a little adrenalin rush will enhance the experience for their passengers. Although you can't see me, I know that the socks and shoes are mine, as we were always well turned out. The taller girl was another passenger.

I am proudly showing off my newly acquired Spanish dancer doll in the picture above, as we stand overlooking the beach at Las Palmas, and the one below is of her 50 years later!

The flat seas around the Canary Islands did little to prepare us for the stormy Bay of Biscay, where the ship rolled and pitched to such an extent that many of the passengers took to their bunks, and it wasn't the best way to end a voyage which had been one of the most exciting experiences of our short lives so far. But soon we would be landing on the shores of a foreign land and a little seasickness was quickly forgotten as the port of Southampton hove into view.