CRUISE VIGNETTES 12, Enna G

M. S. ENNA G
At the end of January 1980 we drove to San Francisco to sail on the freighter ship, the “M. S. Enna G” for a 6 week trip to the South Pacific. We found a parking garage where we could park our car for the 6 weeks, spent one night in a hotel, then enjoyed sailing past downtown San Francisco, past Alcatraz Island, and under the Golden Gate into the Pacific Ocean.

I had done this when I was 17 years old, but under different circumstances, and without such a delightful ship-mate. (If the crew members in the Merchant Marine were as delightful, I would never have left!) In 1946, the troop ship, “Marine Cardinal,” left San Francisco on its way to Manila, stopped in Singapore to celebrate my 18th birthday (or was that just a coincidence!), and on to Calcutta, then back to Singapore (for some repairs), and on to San Francisco, a month or so later.

I was not permitted to visit Singapore either time we were there. I could see the buildings in the city had been bombed and were in sad shape, and the harbor was filled with hundreds of sunken ships. I had the momentary idea of jumping ship in Singapore, but since there was no way to get to shore, I have often wondered if it was a real “feeling” or just a hunch. That would have been a disaster, because if I had stayed in Singapore I would never have met “ol-what’s-her-name!”

A WONDERFUL TRIP
It was expected this trip would be mainly “… sleep late, eat well.” Well, breakfast was served between 7:30 and 9:00, so we didn’t sleep too late. As usual on ship-board, three large meals plus snacks each day, meant that deck walking was a necessity. The ship’s library was fine, but we had brought plenty of books with us.

As might be expected, we were the youngest “couple” on board. Two or three other individuals may have been younger, but all couples were older. The approximately 70 shipmates averaged over 70 years of age by actual arithmetic. The ship’s purser, from New Zealand, always figured this from the passports. He finds it interesting to see who, and how old, his customers are.

For one thing, you almost need to be retired to spend 6 weeks away from home. Another reason is, the usual freighter ship hauls only 12 passengers and has no Doctor, and there is an age limit of 70 on those ships, so most of these people are too old to sail on those freighters. We talked about travel with many of our shipmates, and we don’t think there is a place on earth that hadn’t been visited by at least one of them. Many lost account of the number of ship rides over the years. One man had spent 128 days on ships in 1979.

There were MD’s, Ph.D.’s, farmers, lawyers, rich people, and some who had saved every penny until they could pay for this trip. Then there was the beautiful, wealthy French-Canadian lady, who lived in Chicago. She became a real good “friend” with the Captain, and continued to be a real good “friend” of the Captain, even after we got a new Captain, half-way through the trip.