Anne on the Conte's Promenade Deck in her white sweater, blue knit skirt and deck shoes

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Anne's Travel Journal

 

February 6, 1939 - on Board the Conte di Savoia

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We got up when the steward brought our hot water at 8 o’clock.  We set our watches ahead 48 minutes every day, so 8 o’clock comes pretty early.  I dressed all up, with a white sweater, blue knitted skirt and deck shoes, and went to breakfast.  It was still pretty rough – the ship was rolling.  We were having a nice breakfast, all serene,  when all at once the things on the table started slipping off – dishes crashed all over the dining room.  Still we rolled farther and farther to the starboard side.  I felt my chair slipping but didn’t realize how serious it was until the chair went over backwards with me in it.  I started sliding faster and faster ‘til all at once, I came up against the base of a table with the top of my poor head the point of contact!  My first catastrophe at sea!  I never had such a blow and when I realized what had happened, I felt my head and there was a bump there the size of an egg.  They picked me up and took me to the doctor.  They put compresses on my head and in an hour or so the swelling was reduced.  A nurse took me to the cabin and continued the compresses there.  Later I found other bruises on my back and right leg, but was very fortunate not to have a more serious injury.  If I had struck something sharp it might have been curtains for me.  I was very glad it wasn’t Paul –he might have been the one to sit in that chair.  The chair either wasn’t fastened down as it was supposed to be or it broke loose.  Everyone was very concerned, and I had lots of attention but felt rather low the rest of that day.  I had lunch and dinner in my cabin.  My ardor was a bit dampened temporarily.  Daddy [Paul] went down to dinner but didn’t dress and we went to bed early.

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February 7, 1939 - on Board the Conte di Savoia

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I didn’t feel so hot but went down to breakfast.  I made arrangements for a massage in the afternoon on account of my neck and back.  It helped a lot.  We walked around the deck several times, listened to a lecture on Palestine, saw a picture show – John Boles, Madge Bellamy in “Sinners in Paradise.”  We dressed for dinner.  Sydney L___, the bridge expert, gives lessons and talks every afternoon, and he gave an exhibition of card tricks in the Colonna Hall.  After that, there was horse racing & dancing.

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February 8, 1939 – on Board the Conte di Savoia

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Paul told our room steward to bring us hot water every morning at 8 o’clock.   As we set our watches ahead 48 minutes every day, it keeps getting earlier and earlier.  Today he said you had better make it 9 o’clock from now on!  But tomorrow we want to be up bright and early as we get to Madeira!  It will be our first sight of land since New York. It is lovely today- warm and the sun is shining for the first time since we left.  It is so balmy that I am sitting on deck with no wrap.  Heretofore, we have been bundled up in coats with rugs wrapped around us.  We had a nice breakfast and came up on deck to find a dancing class, open to all.  We joined in with about 30 others, and we did the Lambeth Walk.  We learned a tango step and a rumba step – just the first part.  Think I’ll take a few lessons if Daddy wants to.  We listened to a lecture on Madeira, Las Palmas and Gibraltar.  It will be wonderful to see these lovely places.  After lunch, I had a grand massage for all the sore places following my ignominious catapult across the dining room.  We saw the picture show – Marion Talley in “Follow your Heart” at 5, which we didn’t like and left before it was over.  Met a Frances K____ of Detroit and talked a while to her.  She was traveling alone.  We had a lucky number dance after dinner, but my No. 10 wasn’t lucky.  We are going to bed early (12 o’clock) to be up at 6:30 and on deck to get our first glimpse of Madeira Island.

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Poor Anne - not an auspicious beginning to her cruising experience!  Atlantic crossings are usually rough - especially during the winter months.  Although the Conte had the gyroscope stabilizers, they didn't save Anne from going over backwards in her chair and careening head first into a table. 

 

The accident did not set Anne back for very long; she was up and about the next day, and the day after that she and Paul were learning new dance steps!  The Lambeth Walk was a very popular dance of the day.  It was invented in England (Lambeth Walk is a street in London), premiering in the 1937 musical, Me and My Gal.  Couples dance side-by-side, forming a line, so it is a good social mixer type of dance.  The "Walk" was inspired by a cockney gait and is a jaunty, swaggering strut with knee slapping.  Occasionally you raise your arms, snap a finger and cry out "Oy!" - British slang to express annoyance, disgust or disappointment.  Anne and Paul must have had a grand time learning it.  Afterwards, Anne had a massage and was ready for sight-seeing in Funchal - the ship's first port of call. 

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 Next time...the Stillmans visit Madeira

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