Highlights In The Shadows: The Empress Of Scotland
"The Empress of Scotland sailed on the afternoon tide and as we pulled away from the quay, many of the passengers tossed their topi's (pith hats) over the rail into the sea, supposedly severing their connection with India forever…''
Owen Clement and his family sail out from Bombay, yet again saying goodbye to India.
For earlier chapters of Owen's autobiography click on Highlights In The Shadows in the menu on this page.
By the time our train reached Bombay, both the Tapsell and Clement families were in good spirits ready and eager to board our converted troopship Canadian Pacific’s SS. Empress of Scotland, formerly the SS Empress of Japan.
We confirmed our reservations and located our cabins before trooping back ashore to book rooms for the night as the paying civilian passengers were made to wait until after the troops had been checked in and settled into their cabins.
That evening we ate at one of Bombay’s top Indian restaurants. My father informed the Indian proprietor that this would probably be our last meal in India, and that we wished it to be a memorable one. That it surely was. The pork curry was so pungent that we drank glass after glass of Lassi to quench the effects of the handful of chillis the owner had added to his devil's brew. Nevertheless, the meal was truly delicious, but I am sure it must have burned all of us at the other end the next morning.
After our meal Gloria and I decided to visit a local cinema nearby where MGM’s “Anchors Away” with Katherine Grayson, Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra was showing. We found the theatre easily enough in the daylight but when we came out onto the crowded ill-lit street late in the evening, we could not remember the way back to our hotel. We saw no European people around and with the animosity to non-Indians still very much on our minds we did not feel comfortable asking for directions. Gloria was becoming quite distressed when I decided on the route we should take. True to her nature, she did not agree with me, but with the alternative of either joining me or going her own way, she decided to accompany me. Fortunately, as we turned the first corner there was our hotel right across the street.
Each civilian passenger was allowed no more than forty pounds of luggage in their cabins. Our beautifully woven thick piled Indian carpets and Mum's treadle Singer sewing machine were stored in the ship's hold.
The Empress of Scotland sailed on the afternoon tide and as we pulled away from the quay, many of the passengers tossed their topi's (pith hats) over the rail into the sea, supposedly severing their connection with India forever.
The male passengers' cabins were located on the port side; the women’s were on the starboard side. Dad and I shared what had once been a first-class single-berth cabin with four other men. The two three-tiered iron bunks were about six inches too short for both Dad's and my long frames.
The smells in the draughty passageways of salt water and diesel fuel brought back memories of our previous passage on the SS Strathnaver eight years earlier.
Gloria and I soon made friends with the dozen or so other young people on board. Frank Cornelius, whose Norwegian parents had been missionaries in India, had a portable windup gramophone record player and a stack of popular records. We youngsters took over one corner of the deck where we made our own fun. Just what the future held for me during the voyage never entered my mind.
© Clement 2006
