by Irenka Stankiewicz Farmilo
(Ottawa, Canada )
I left Southampton on the SS Atlantic in September 1953, age 5, and arrived in Quebec City on October 3rd. Crossing time was 8 days, one day longer than planned because of a ferocious storm that had most passengers seasick, and a good part of the crew.
Of my family group of four, I was the only one who could get up and eat in the dining lounge, and one of my memories is wondering why they had so many round tables in the dining room when I concluded they only needed two! Laundry staff weren’t available to change badly soiled sheets from sick passengers for a good part of the voyage.
I remember how cold it was on the deck and seeing an iceberg in the distance when my mother lifted me up to gaze at its beautiful prisms of reflected light.
There was a store that sold odds-and-ends and my mother bought me a toy car that would move on the deck if I pumped air into a hose attached to its back end. I spent a lot of time playing with that car because there wasn’t much else for a kid to do.
Emigration
by: Robert Brown
My mother (Mary) took my brothers Jim 14 and Grier 5 and sister Betty 16 and me 7, leaving Southampton on June 5, 1953, emigrating to join my Father and two older sisters who made the trip in February 1953. I can still remember boarding the ship late at night and being fed a welcoming meal around midnight. Had a good trip, no sea sickness. The highlight of the trip was seeing an iceberg just before going through the Strait of Belle Isle. We debarked in Quebec City as the SS Atlantic was too tall to pass under a bridge, and continued by train to Montreal. What an adventure!!! Only Jim and I are still alive to reminisce our voyage.
Disembarking at QC
by: Anonymous
How interesting. Thanks for sharing the memory and for explaining why we got off the ship in Quebec City. I always wondered.
Lynn Evans
by: Anonymous
I learned also in this exercise that the names of ships were frequently reassigned. I didn’t know when our ship was decommissioned. Sounds like it should have been closer to 53 than 58. How did you learn you had sailed from Southampton?
Southampton
by: Lynne Evans
Two years after we arrived, my auntie followed us to Canada. I can remember her being at the boat when we sailed. Her parting gift to me was a “Home Pride” cookbook and a wooden spoon. (Strange gift for a 3 year old ?). I still have the book and I suspect the spoon was put in to service by my mom. Anyway, I digress. My aunt is now in a nursing home. When I last visited her, I asked about the day that she and my uncle had driven us to Liverpool. No she said – we drove you all the way to Southampton. When I mentioned this to my sister, she asked why I would think Liverpool – it was simply because Liverpool was the closest port to Chester (where we lived). I also think that I probably did not see too much from the car windows and the time in the car did not equate to distance. My sister also mentioned there were 8 beds in our room. Travel has changed!
SS Atlantic
by: Lynne Evans
Our ship was scrapped somewhere between 1953 and 1958. The name was reused on a ship previously known as the SS Badgermarina in 1958. In my search for the SS Atlantic, I discovered that the name has been used and reused on quite a few ships. Actually, until I found out that we had sailed from Southampton I was unable to find information on our crossing.
Lynn Evans
by: Anonymous
You have a lot of clear memories for a 3-year-old. The closest I ever came to sharing crossing experiences before hearing from you was a chance encounter with a man 20 years my senior when we were on a Marine Atlantic ferry to Newfoundland. He had crossed on the SS Atlantic too, but the year before, in 1952, when he was in his early 20s. He said they hit an even more horrific storm, so much so that the propeller was popping out of the water, threatening the ship’s structure. So they turned off the “screw,” and drifted for some days, ending up as far south as New York City before they could put the engines back on. That must have added some time to the trip! Word was, he said, that the ship was sent home to be taken out of service because it wasn’t fit for future travel. I guess that information wasn’t in the marketing material my parents got, but I heard from them that the ship was finally put to pasture after our 1953 trip. Don’t know if that’s true.
Memories
by: Lynne Evans
I remember so little of the crossing. I remember a hall with crew members assisting passengers and closed doors (bulkhead?). I believe they were closed because of the storm. We were in a room that was designated for females only – it was a shared accommodation for multiple families. Years later, my mom mentioned there was a woman and her son in the room. Mom felt her son (a young teen) was too old to be in the room. I also remember a nighttime train ride to Toronto. And I remember seeing my Dad. He greeted us with a bag of candies and a doll. Both of these were still rationed in England in 1953. The saddest thing I remember is being homesick – so homesick that my parents debated on whether to stay in Canada. I obviously got over it – I still live in Canada.
Small world
by: Lynne Evans
I too sailed on that crossing. Our final stop was Hamilton, Ontario. My father had come to Canada about 6 months before us. There was my mom, myself (age 3) and my sister (age 8). The crossing was rough. Apparently, my mom’s bunk broke and we had to share a bed. I was terribly sea sick. My sister managed fine and was able to use the dining room. In fact, she has the menus from the crossing. Many years later, we developed a friendship with a woman who told me a story of a terrible crossing she had from England to Canada. When we compared “bad crossing ” stories, It turned out we were both on the same crossing. Small world!
To Lynn Evans
by: Irenka
You’re the first person I’ve ever heard of in my life who was also on that crossing. What are delightful story. Thanks for posting. You say your father came 6 months ahead. I can add that my father came in February of 1952 on the SS Franconia and said later that he was able to book a passage for me my sister, my mother, and his mother after 12 months here, whereas in postwar England it had taken him 3 years to save the for the passage for just himself.
Montreal to Ottawa
by: Anonymous
After arriving in Quebec City, we took the train to Montreal and I presume another train on to Ottawa. Memories are blank between landing on the great concrete dock in Quebec and arriving at our apartment in Ottawa. Although my father, an architect, had hoped to find work in Montreal when he travelled to Canada about a year-and-a-half earlier (February 1952, SS Franconia), he found there was no work for him there and moved on to Ottawa to be employed in the Federal Public Service. As soon as he could manage it, he abandoned what he called stultifying public-service employment for his own practice, which he kept in Ottawa till the end of his life.
Anonymity not needed
by: Irenka Stankiewicz Farmilo
I did not intend the comment about travelling from Quebec City to Montreal and on to Ottawa to be anonymous.