It was hard to believe that I was on the way to new York! As for the distance - it took the ship two weeks, with stopovers in the Mediterranean and Halifax - it could as well have been on Jupiter. But the excitement wouldn’t have been the same. Who needs those dead stones, when you are going to the center of the world! But first I had to go through the rite of really getting to know the sea, by being introduced to seasickness. I had experienced something like it on my plane flight to Israel, but there we could at least sit and lean back, which made it easier on us. During our trip as apprentices the Mediterranean had been smooth and first time passengers and we had been proud of our ‘sea legs’, everyone boasting that the sea did not affect him. Which was, of course nonsense, the ship advanced like a steady building in the calm seas and just being at sea doesn’t cause seasickness. Now, while still in the Mediterranean , we experienced the real thing! This sea can get very rough, specially in the Gulf of Lyon between France and Italy, where from time to time a wind called ‘Mistral’ is blowing violently down from the North. The work on the way to New York, from where we were about to start the cruises to the Caribbean Islands, carrying American passengers, was much easier. The trip was far from fully booked and life was easy. As a beginner I was given menial work, mainly shining up the boat in preparation for the cruises. But I enjoyed doing it, as after the pressure of the former trips it was relaxing work. I got my first shock, when, having departed from Naples, I went down a passageway inside the ship and the floor suddenly lifted. When it came down again, my stomach couldn’t follow so quickly and tried to stay on top. I said to myself “so that’s it, now lets see if I can pull myself together”. The next one lifted the ship much higher and almost double as much downwards, while one could hear the crashing of the waves over the bow. I just could hold on to a handrailing, in order not to sled down the length of the passageway. After several repeats I tried desperately to reach a public washroom, hardly being able to keep the bile down. Somehow I just made it. As I had been doing some cleaning without any supervision, I sneaked away to my cabin and let myself fall on the bed, thinking I could never get up again. After some time one of the other stewards that lived in our narrow cabin, which on today’s cargo vessels would be much too small for one crew member, chanced to come in. “Oh, I see”, he exclaimed, “getting to know the real sea! Now you have to decide: You want to stay at sea? Then fight it! If you cannot force yourself up, you will never get used to it!” “I don’t care,” I replied, “let them send me home, what do I need that for!” “And what will you do at home? Work in hotels? You’ll be hardly be able to manage on that!” (Wages were lousy in these years) “Listen, I know exactly how you feel and I have felt the same. But you must overcome the breaking point! It is all in your mind. Lying in bed, you will never get used to it. ” The thought of having to work again on meager wages made me pull myself together. I somehow succeeded to get upright, though I was overcome by nausea right away and had no choice but to use the washing basin. Finally I dragged myself back to work, pulling myself forward by the handrails against the changing G-forces. I wasn’t able to do much work, but at least I was on my feet. My head swirled in such a way that I was barely conscious. On the advice of others, I forced myself to eat, but nothing remained in my stomach. It took some two or three additional heavy storms to reach the point of adjustment. If I remember well, it happened inside seconds: One moment I felt lousy, the next the rocking and swinging movements didn’t affect me anymore. Actually, even after you overcome the nausea, heavy storms are never easy on anyone: It is like working while climbing mountains one moment, the next one trying to avoid sliding downwards, with the directions changing constantly, mainly when the ship is rolling from side to side. The highest inclination I have encountered was over 45 degrees, where the walls and the floor are at the same angle. Imagine yourself on a ten-store high building, which is swinging rapidly in a long arc from side to side. Old people use to say “that is nothing! In my time…” Thus we had an old sailor who declared, “This you call a storm? In my time those were storms!” There are people, who never get used to rough seas, yet they stay at sea. They say that Nelson was one of them. All the more I must respect him to have been able to command sea battles in this state, as I have felt what it means (to be seasick, not to lead sea battles). But once we reached the Atlantic, the sea became like a mirror and we sailed to America in the finest imaginable weather, though this was November, at a time where you can expect the Northern Atlantic to really act up. Thus I soon forgot what was behind us and awaited eagerly our arrival in the ‘New world’.In Halifax I got my first taste of the American continent and I enjoyed walking along these typical American streets, the like of which I had seen only in movies. I was specially impressed by the variety of merchandise offered in the stores. I was moved when we passed the statue of liberty. For me it symbolized the mighty nation that had come over to Europe to free us. After the passengers had disembarked, we had to clean up the ship thoroughly for several hours and after that we finally got our shore passes. Some crewmembers that had already made some trips on the line took me along and when we got out of the subway at 42nd street I was overwhelmed and dazzled by the sea of lights I came up to. One must consider that at that time Israel was just starting to develop and life was still quite provincial (which may have been a blessing). In Tel Aviv there was one new cinema that had some flickering lights going around the sign with the name of the movie. It was a sensation at that time and people came to have a look at it from all over the country. But here I just stood gaping at all the richness and it was hard to decide what to have a look at first. The fellows decided to go to Radio City Music Hall, but when we came there we saw a line that went for about a third of a mile or more around the block. So we decided to go on, as we calculated that at the best we would reach the box office at noon the following day; but when we turned back, we realized that the queue was progressing at the same rate as we, so we decided to join it and we really got in within less than ten minutes. Here was where I got to know American efficiency for the first time. Up till then in Israel, as well as in Germany we had been used to it that the cashier was asking each one, which row he preferred, then would study the list; if there was no vacancy, he would suggest another row, in between he might make a phone call, finally he would fill in the particulars of your place with a pen, count your money and return change. Here we just put some dollar bill, the cashier pressed a button, out came the ticket and your change and you went on. The price for a ticket at that time was $1.25 (for $1.50 you got a rich meal at ‘Hector’s’, a self service restaurant on Time square, which had a great variety of anything - no MacDonald style at all, more like Morrison’s if you know that one). Radio City was at that time the most impressive thing I had ever seen (excluding the American bomber armadas of 1000 to 2000 planes, which had passed over us in WWII; I am talking about pleasantly impressive things). First there were the ushers who instructed the crowd in singsong where to go. The elegant interior! The large hall whose floor was covered by deep carpets! The statues! That was the first time I was in a theater, where you didn’t have to stretch your neck in all directions to get a view of part of the screen. From every seat you had a perfect undisturbed view! And place to stretch your legs! And the show itself! It started with an organ playing merry music; when its last notes died down they were taken over by the orchestra, which rose from below. The best entertainers available appeared, only one singer among them, the rest being a program of great variety, including the famous rockets, 40 girls stepping in perfect unision. The orchestra concluded the show and its last notes were taken over by the movie, which was always one of the best ones. Radio City became a must for us at every trip. Alas, today the shows are not the same anymore and they don’t feature movies anymore, but it may have been adjusted to the taste of today. In New York we were joined by the American entertainment staff and one Israeli singer, Shimshon Bar-Noy, who had been wellknown in Israel. The passengers embarked and we set out for the Caribbean islands, including such places as Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico, Haiti and others. The work here was much less stressful than on the regular Meditarrean run. There a total of 120 crew - including deck and engine crew - were serving 600 and sometimes more, passengers. Now we were a total of about 150 crew for 300 passengers and the atmosphere was much more relaxed, though we still worked many hours.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 04:11:53 +0000
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