Union-Castle Line Purserette "DAPHNE"

I belong to a local History Society which covers a couple of local villages and the surrounding area. We meet monthly, with about 90 members on the books, although not everyone attends every meeting.

Earlier this year 2019 our Christmas Dinner was held in January, to avoid many other local December social occasions. About 40 of us went to a nearby country hotel on the outskirts of the villages and sat down one evening to enjoy a lovely meal served to us at circular tables. I knew several of my table companions only by sight but enjoyed the chance to get to talk to them. Conversation turned to cruising holidays, and then New Zealand, and the friend I was sitting next to started to tell the lady on my other side (I think in her mid-80s) that she had gone there many years ago to live and work. The lady on this other side had done the same but probably ten years before that. They discussed their memories of time there, although my friend had had to return home to the UK after a few months as her father had been taken seriously ill and her mother needed her.

I knew my friend (Ann) had flown out there in the 1960s but I asked the lady next to me (Maureen) whether she had flown or perhaps gone by ship. I said I was interested in ships, having been at sea as a Purserette with a major shipping line called Union-Castle Line back in the 1960s. Maureen said she had gone by ship, she thought Orient Line, in the 1950s and tried to remember what vessels. She sailed from the UK to Australia first of all, before sailing later on another ship to get to New Zealand. Having worked in both Australia and New Zealand during the years, she then sailed back to Australia and finally back to the UK. She couldn't remember the names of the ships but said she would have a look at home and let me know some time.

After an enjoyable evening we all said our good-nights and parted company.

Some weeks later I was at a History Society meeting and during the tea/coffee interval I managed to see Maureen and have a quick chat with her. She produced a little list of the ships she thought she had travelled on, back in the 1950s. She sailed from the UK to Sydney, Australia, possibly on ARCADIA, then later from Melbourne to Auckland in New Zealand on something else, possibly ORCADES. From Wellington she eventually sailed back to Sydney on ORANJE and finally back to the UK from Melbourne on FAIRSEA.

I thanked her for this information as it was interesting to hear about ships that I knew of but had never seen. Maureen then mentioned that I had told her I worked for Union-Castle Line at sea as a Purserette back in the 1960s. I said that was right. She then said that she had a friend she first met a long time ago, who also worked for Union-Castle as a Purserette, and that the friend's name was Daphne. I must have looked a bit surprised at this, and half-jokingly asked "Does she live in Dorset?". The answer was yes, which I found quite extraordinary, made me laugh, and quickly told Maureen why.

Back in the 1990s I had been involved in the Union-Castle Line Centenary Voyage planning with my late husband, who died in 1997, and several other people. In 1998 I had been to a Union-Castle Pursers Reunion, which are still held every 3 years, and met many others there that I knew. One lady offered me her uniform which she still had and was then kind enough to post to me, to my then home in another English county. I bought a dressmaker's body/dummy and the uniform had been on it since 1999, with my hat on top. The lady who gave it to me was called Daphne, and she lived in Lyme Regis in Dorset.

By the most extraordinary of life's coincidences this is the Daphne who is the friend of Maureen.

Maureen and I were both astounded at this coincidence and she said she would let Daphne know, as she had now moved from Lyme Regis to another nearby small town.

There must have been many many Purserettes employed by Union-Castle over the years and I find it amazing that I should make a new friend here - a lady with a friend called Daphne, whose uniform still lives on a dressmaker's model in the dining room of my home.

Daphne in a corner of my dining room, under a Port side light

Daphne standing near Union-Castle Dolly on the sideboard,
under a Union-Castle Centenary Voyage poster


February 2019

FERRYING IN '15, 23rd June, Laurana

Tuesday 23rd June 2015 (contd)

We set off south then to Naples, on a good dual-carriageway road. The middle of the road was full of bougainvillea in full flower, and safely behind big concrete blocks. Swallows were flying overhead in places as they had been for some days and we enjoyed the route with mountains on our land side and occasional views of the sea on the other.

At one point we passed high above the port of Civitavecchia and could look down and see a Cunard liner which might have been QUEEN ELIZABETH, an AIDA cruise ship and another ship which could have been either BONARIA or AMISCORA, the pair of ex-Minoan Lines 'Palaces' which are now employed by Tirrenia.

We provided our own entertainment, without distracting the driver too much, and this began with singing. I am in a local singing group and we have just done our two summer concerts, and many melodies were in my head. My two friends had been in school choirs some years ago, which surprised us all. We sang what I thought was a well-known piece called "The Teddy Bears Picnic", written in 1932, which was fun with our contrasting voices. My choir concerts entitled "Ages and Seasons" included various pieces such as that one, Mozart's "Ave Verum" which is beautiful, and of course "Summer is icumin in" which was huge fun when sung with 4 groups of us starting to sing in turn as a round.

We had a good lunch break at an auto-route complex with time to eat and relax before heading south again, with the beautiful flowers and views around us. This time it was decided to play the classic I-SPY, and we took it in turn to spy something inside the car. My diary noted that just 3 items (one each) took a long time to guess, with much hilarity, and then we needed time for silent contemplation.

We arrived in the vast city of Naples, which had more cobbled streets than we knew about but the directions from the driver's mobile phone proved efficient and we eventually drove into the appropriate parking place for the hire car offices. After that drive in Naples I think we all made mental notes to avoid doing it again in future, if at all possible, although our driver coped heroically.

A taxi took us to the port and we could soon see LAURANA, of Siremar, at the Naples Maritime Terminal building. She was built in 1992 in Italy, at 10,977 gross tons, and we are to sail on her overnight with an unusual itinerary, on our way to Milazzo in Sicily.

Laurana in Naples



Once checked in at 7.30 p.m. and on board, it was interesting to see the map of the Siremar routes around the coast of Sicily, and the location of the islands near to the African coastline.

Sicily and outlying islands

Volcanic area (from Google)


We wanted to leave our bags before going on deck for 8.00 p.m. departure, so headed for our outside cabins. I put the card in my door lock, turned the handle and took a step into the room. To my amazement one of my friends was standing there, and I have to confess I let out a shriek of surprise. I discovered we had adjoining cabins with a door between, and someone had decided to go through the door and stand in front of me as I went in my cabin!

After apologising, we examined our beds and bedding, and were amused to find that although we were on a Siremar ship, our bedding was unexpectedly named. My pillowcase, sheet and duvet cover were all marked with the Tirrenia logo, but a blanket in the wardrobe was bright red, with a large letter 'A' emblazoned on it. That was 'A' for Adriatica, or anything else one chose...

Outside cabin 58

Tirrenia linen on my bunk

Linen

Dressing table and chair

A for Adriatica etc.


The LAURANA was built for Adriatica, hence the blankets. My friends said that in fact she was the very last ship built for that most famous of shipping companies. She wasn't quite the AUSONIA or, for car ferry enthusiasts, the APPIA, but she was the last in a long and very distinguished line.

Photographs took up a few minutes, but eventually we went on deck by the short stern staircase we found just beyond our cabins.

Two of the few pieces of artwork on board


Meanwhile there was lots to see from the open decks - the cruise ship ISLAND ESCAPE was just leaving so we could watch her, and then see SOVEREIGN arrive. The sun was starting to set over the Maritime Terminal and the golden hour was beautiful, whichever way we looked. Volcanic Vesuvius was steaming gently on the other side of the bay, and many ferries could be seen around the bay. The RHAPSODY, previously known to us as the NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, could be seen nearby.

Island Escape leaving

Through the window

Sovereign

Rhapsody, ex-Napoleon Bonaparte

Dimonios

Sovereign stern

Laurana builders plate

Fauno

Capri, in Naples

I liked this

Maritime Terminal at Naples

The Pilot boat

A new Grimaldi ship in drydock

Don Peppino

Moby's Bastia

Volcanic Vesuvius

Another empty pool



We eventually sailed after 8 p.m., watched the Pilot leave, and headed up to the self-service Buffet Restaurant for a meal.

This was as we approached the Restaurant



The food was plentiful, well-presented and excellent value; the Restaurant was full, with people constantly coming and going, and it all seemed to work well. We joined lots of other passengers in the nearby Bar, and admired the lighting around the room.