THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October 1. l'<14. 



'Principe Udine"— First Ship to Leave 

 Genoa with Stranded Americans. 



papers showing citizenship; to ' ook's offici foi <lrafts for pas- 

 sage against my letter of credit; to th< White Star office to 

 for tickets, and we wnr steerage passen- 

 gers bound for England. 



After a last \ isit to the cabl H . for 



that n e \ e r 

 were sent, we went 

 aboard t h e boat, 

 first buying steamer 

 chairs, and prepared 

 to make ourselves 

 comfortable. It 

 easy to see that 

 the boat 



crowded, ergo so 

 would the dining 

 saloon be. Five 

 dollars to the head 

 steward placed us in 

 the "first sitting." 

 That meant break- 

 fast at eight, instead 

 of nine or ten. 

 Then we hunted a 

 good place for our 

 chairs — one cool but 

 not cold, and not 

 likely to be swept 

 by rain. Then we 

 looked t h e baths 

 over, and a very lit- 

 tle figuring showed 

 that many would 



perforce go bathless. Then we faced the steerage. We were 

 located in Compartimento 2, Cuccetta X. 5 and 6. It took some 

 time to find it, but by getting the stairways located, and guided 

 by the galley smells first and the bilge odor second, it became 

 in time quite easy. It was bad, but not so awful bad — better 

 at least than 

 many of the Cen- 

 tral American 

 boats, for there 

 were no pig 

 dogs, crying ba- 

 bies or seasick 

 women. Then 

 were several 

 fleas, a n d o n e 

 could find hid 

 bugs, and that in 

 spite "i the 

 f o r m a 1 d el 

 odor that spoke 

 of recent fumi- 

 gation. Natural- 

 ly the steerage 

 was in the bow- 

 els or rather the 

 intestines of the 

 ship. Our "com- 

 partimento" was 

 a big room, filled 

 with racks made 

 of gas pipe, dou- 

 ble tiered, on which lay narrow burlap mattresses filled with 

 hay. On each was a red woolen blanket and a single white 

 sheet — clean, too. The ports were open and the air was warm, 

 but sweet. We did not sleep there, preferring to take mat- 

 tresses and blankets up four flights of slippery stairs and camp 



The "Cretic" — the First Ship to 

 Genoa with British Refugees. 



under the stars. \- cabin passengers and all felt the same way. 

 id- deel . n fairly well cumbered, and a wonderful variety 

 of pajamas and hath robes was displayed 



Then were only eighty American-., and the six hundred 

 Britons took the whoh affaii a; a matter of course, so there 



was no mixing and 

 little horse play, and 

 soon the whole pro- 



ng becami 

 matter of fact as if 

 it had been a life- 

 lone custom. There 

 « a- i 'lie break in the 

 solemnity. A huge 

 man, said to I 

 distinguished scien- 

 tist, elected to bed 

 down on a batch, 

 where the smoking- 

 room lights were 

 brightest. He wore 

 a thin cotton night- 

 shirt only, and as 

 he stood up to make 

 his bed his anatomi- 

 cal idiosyncrasies 

 were plainly dis- 

 played. An occa- 

 sional wet sponge 

 thrown by a compa- 

 EAVI . triot. and the sew- 

 ing up of the night- 

 shirt in no way dis- 

 composed him. and he continued his shadow-graphs to the end 

 of the voyage. 



Most of the regular crew had gone to the wars and the riff- 

 raff that were shipped in Genoa were very able and persistent 

 thieves. They went through the steerages and looted trunks 



and stole suit- 

 cases, until one 

 hundred of us 

 were made spe- 

 cial police. We 

 stood two -hour 

 watches, day and 

 night, and thus 

 put an end to 

 their thieving. 

 Stewards w ere 

 few and over- 

 worked (so were 

 bath towels), 

 and passengers 

 turned to and 

 wiped dishes In- 

 deed, the Ameri- 

 can ladies, too, 

 both wiped and 

 swiped, for 

 guests though we 

 were the souve- 

 nir instinct was 

 too strong to 

 be resisted, and 

 after-dinner coffee cups and spoons disappeared like magic. 

 This, too, in spite of the fact that the bulletin board in the main 

 . iloi m bi ir< these 1 1 rses : 



Moses, lawgiver for all time, 

 Wrote for the sons of men 



The Midland Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool. 



