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Location
Houston, USA
Age
18 Years

1st November 1941

Today has been a day of excitement, interest and joy. We weighed anchor at about 8.30am, and made for the Shell berth farther up the canal, instead of the old prearranged Bayway. We passed many things of interest on the way up, one of them being the oil wells in the water! As soon as we had passed beyond Galveston, we sighted “The Lone Star Monument” which  stands approx.. 507 ft. high and is the tallest monument in the States. It is in commemoration of the battle between the Texans and Mexicans, the former being led by Houston, after whom the city was later named. The Texans, whose army was vastly inferior to that of the Mexicans, beat them back and won a victory for which every Texan is thankful. The monument is in a sort of wild park knowns as the “Battle Grounds”. How easy it was for us to imagine those men fighting on the wide flat plains, with nothing more than a few trees and shrubs to break the endless stretch of prairie. It was every bit as I had imagined it, and a really wonderful sight.

So we went on, seeing the countryside bleak and bare and yet strangely beautiful, for about 50 odd miles.

Once we were tied up, the emigration and British Consul came on board to see if we were allowed to go ashore. I had my heart in my mouth because I had no photo, but they accepted a snapshot, although officially they shouldn’t have done. We were told then that a bus would come and collect us at 1900 to take us to the Merchant Navy club, which was about 21 miles away. So a party of us went up at 7pm and had the time of our lives at the best club we’ve got.

There was a ¾ size billiard and snooker table, and a wonderful table tennis table. Later on in the evening, girls came in to dance and we had a really good time. I met three English girls who had been evacuated from England. I don’t know their ages, but I fancy they were around 16, the elder one being possibly 17. They had been over in Houston for just over a year. One of them called Marion came from Sutton and another called Mary (daughter of Lady Somione-or-other) came from Kingston! Lady S-o-o, works at the club by helping to cook food and entertain generally. She is one of the best. The girls seemed rather fed up with the heat and longed to see some snow again! Strangely enough, the girl from Manchester and Marion came over on the “Western Prince”, which was in the same convoy as our 2nd mate was in and he says he can remember seeing children running about on her decks. The W.P was torpedoed and sunk on her return voyage