A LIFE ON THE Ocean wave…
Margaret Mather recalls a school cruise to Madeira in the Sixties
‘The decks were awash with seasick children, but my sea legs were good!’
In April, 1966, aged 14, I left my home village in the west of Scotland for an adventure on the high seas. It turned out to be an experience of a lifetime! My parents had paid for a ten-day school cruise to Madeira, Lisbon and Vigo. The trip cost £40 which is the equivalent to £566 at today’s rate – a lot of money and they’d worked hard to fund it, but of course at the time I didn’t appreciate just how hard.
Dad was employed at a car factory in Linwood and a part-time greenkeeper at the tennis courts, while Mum worked as a book-keeper in the local butchers. Together they managed to save the deposit needed and paid the remainder on a weekly basis. Grandparents, aunts and uncles contributed to my spending money and I ended up with £5 – a fortune in my eyes. We were advised by the school to change it into the local currencies.
The big day arrived and I remember standing on the pier at Greenock, along with many other children from schools all over Scotland, waiting to board a former army troop ship, Dunera. There were floods of tears on the quayside that day and not just from mothers. Children cried as they clung tightly onto their parents’ hands. Teachers tried their best to calm the more excitable. There were no tears from me; after all, I’d been at Girl Guide Camp in Northern Ireland and Brownie camp in Ayrshire! This voyage would be a breeze…
Snow lay on the ground as we sailed out of the harbour. We familiarised ourselves with the ship, the instructions for how to put on life jackets ringing in our ears. Sleeping arrangements were dormitory style and we were thrilled with our bunkbeds.
I was delighted to hear that I’d made ship’s prefect and, along with the position and badge, came great responsibility. I took my duties seriously and tried not to let it go to my head but instructing classmates to walk, not run, especially the boys, filled me with a warm and smug satisfaction!
The second day on board was not as easy as the first. The decks were awash with seasick children. They were told fresh air would help, but not to lean over the side if feeling sick. Some didn’t heed that instruction and paid the consequences. But my sea legs, thankfully, were good. We hit rough weather as we headed into the Bay of Biscay on day three. Looking out of a porthole all you could see was a wall of water. There was a swimming pool on board and the ship rocked so much, the water spilled out onto the decks.
Half of the children and a fair number of teachers couldn’t leave their beds for the next two days. The rest of us were not allowed on deck. It was a
really frightening time for everyone but we tried to distract ourselves with the on-board entertainment in a make-shift cinema. The film on this particular day was 101 Dalmatians. Chairs were freestanding and as the ship listed to and fro, we slid to one side of the room, then the other, ending up in a heap on the floor. We found this hilarious, but the film was cancelled until we hit calmer seas. On the fifth day, all of the ship’s prefects were invited to a non-alcoholic cocktail party in the captain’s quarters. I felt so grown-up as I mingled with a high-ball glass in my hand, full of mango juice, topped with a miniature parasol and tiny green plastic sword, holding a cherry. I mentioned to another girl how fortunate it was that I’d not been seasick. Then, without warning, I only just made it to the litter bin before vomiting.
When we sailed in to Madeira I thought it was the most enchanting place I had ever seen. Small boats came to greet us selling fruit and trinkets, but we were told not to buy anything from them and to wait until we docked.
The island was all bright blue skies and dazzling scented flowers. I was bowled over by the amazing Bird of Paradise plant; it had a long curved stem ending with a bird-shaped head where spikes of orange and purple petals sat majestically and looked every inch like an exotic bird.
I was so smitten with the blooms that grew in Madeira;
I mentioned them in a postcard home to my parents (pictured above).
After a stay of two days, we set sail for Lisbon. The weather was hot and we had fun playing games on board. I fell asleep on deck while sunbathing and ended up with badly burnt legs! I could hardly walk, my legs refused to bend. Trying to descend the small narrow stairs to the sick bay was agony. Thank goodness for calamine lotion. I kept my skin covered after that. Lisbon was an amazing place with lots of striking buildings. Orange trees lined the streets – it was incomprehensible to me that oranges sold in wooden boxes back home were grown freely on the streets in Lisbon. The smell and taste of those oranges I will never forget.
The next port of call was Vigo in Spain. Vigo is a large busy fishing port and although interesting was not as glamorous as Madeira or Lisbon. We only spent a day there before sailing for home. On the way back, the Bay of Biscay was calm, the sun shone and there was not a hint of seasickness anywhere on board. I made a lot of friends on the journey and was sorry to leave them. It was a fantastic holiday and one I’ll never forget.
Back home on dry land, I vowed I’d return to Madeira – I was smitten with its charm and vibrancy. And 30 years later I did just that.
‘Madeira was enchanting… all bright blue skies and scented flowers’