Tuesday August 26, 1930

Josephine wrote (1):

"we met in the social room and got our tag and little book - we saw land very little - put off passenger at Ireland - dance tonite and going to bed early - very fogged - the boat just blow and blow - we land tomorrow at noon 27th"

This meeting may have been the time when Party R’s escorts gave the pilgrims orders. Perhaps they were reminded to keep their Identity Card with them at all times.

The ladies were given their car and suitcase number (I assume the car refers to the special train they would take from Cherbourg to Paris after the ship docked in Cherbourg).

In the afternoon the passengers got a glimpse of Ireland, though through a heavy midst. The fog horn was bellowing and the whistle was shrieking. When Mrs. Fine asked what all the blowing and whistling was about, she was told “They are trying to make Captain Randall come in, and he won’t. You have the finest captain that sails the seas. He is called Hero Captain Rand because he piloted his ships so successfully through the submarine zone.”

Then they saw a young girl. They were told, “That’s a French war bride going back for the first time since she came over in 1919.” According to Mrs. Fine, she seemed very happy, traveling steerage.

The pilgrims also saw the Celtic, which struck a rock in April 1929. They were told it was being destroyed. (2)

There is a lot of history to be told about the Celtic, which had plenty of disasters happen to it. The last disaster was when it became stranded on the Cow and Calf rocks with more than 200 passengers aboard. The passengers were safely disembarked. Several thousand tons of cargo were scattered. A salvage team attempted recovery, but several men died after a hold loaded with grain and flooded with seawater was found to have filled with toxic fumes; due to structural failures it was judged the ship could not be moved or salvaged, and was abandoned to the insurance company which declared the ship to be a total loss. Celtic was completely dismantled for scrap by 1933.

Josephine planned to go to bed early. I wonder if she attended the dance, if only for a short period of time.

As Josephine prepared for bed on this last full day at sea, did she think back with joy on all that she had experienced? From her very short notes, we can surmise that Josephine enjoyed the sea air, the deck chairs, the attractiveness of the ship, and all the comforts that were afforded her during the eight days of ocean travel. Did she look forward to the days to come with anticipation for the most important thing she wanted to accomplish: to visit the grave site of her dearly beloved son, lost at much too young an age, for whom she had mourned for twelve years?




Source: written by Carolyn Ourso