tessawillow
22nd June 2008, 19:56
Hello,
As a 7 y/o I was a passenger on Rotterdam Lloyd's 12 passenger freighter, Wanasari from Seattle to Singapore in 1956. Our family of 4 were the only passengers on that voyage. My brother and I enjoyed the voyage in spite of encountering the edge of a typhoon. We had games, puzzles, models and hours of time to spend uninterrupted with our parents. We became well acquainted with the officers as we ate in their dining room.
In 1961 our family of four boarded the Rotterdam Lloyd flagship Willem Ruys in Singapore and sailed to Fort Lauderdale, FL via, Sidney, Melbourne, Wellington, Pitcairn, Balboa, and the Panama Canal. We enjoyed the pool, being allowed to eat in the adult dining room, the equator crossing ceremony complete with jello and dye in the swimming pool, a costume ball and a Mad Hatter's ball. At one of the balls my mother recognized the captain was the same captain from the Wanasari. He remembered our family and invited us to his quarters on the Willem Ruys for a private tea. I still keep the souvenir scarf he gifted me at that time. I'm sure somewhere in my mother's papers she has recorded the captain's name. It was quite a promotion to go from the Wanasari to captain of the R. Lloyd flagship in so few years. In Pitcairn we boarded two Pitcairn islanders (Mr. and Mrs. Roy Clark, postmaster) who continued to Fort Lauderdale and we became friends and corresponded with them for many years there after. We discovered that Mrs. Clark had common ancestry with us to English whalers from Nantucket Island.
I wonder if anyone has information regarding the Wanasari or the captain. I believe I did once see a small newspaper clipping and believe that it was explaining her demise. I would enjoy seeing a picture of her or a sister ship of hers. It is possible that the captain could still be alive. If so I would like to correspond with him.
As a 7 y/o I was a passenger on Rotterdam Lloyd's 12 passenger freighter, Wanasari from Seattle to Singapore in 1956. Our family of 4 were the only passengers on that voyage. My brother and I enjoyed the voyage in spite of encountering the edge of a typhoon. We had games, puzzles, models and hours of time to spend uninterrupted with our parents. We became well acquainted with the officers as we ate in their dining room.
In 1961 our family of four boarded the Rotterdam Lloyd flagship Willem Ruys in Singapore and sailed to Fort Lauderdale, FL via, Sidney, Melbourne, Wellington, Pitcairn, Balboa, and the Panama Canal. We enjoyed the pool, being allowed to eat in the adult dining room, the equator crossing ceremony complete with jello and dye in the swimming pool, a costume ball and a Mad Hatter's ball. At one of the balls my mother recognized the captain was the same captain from the Wanasari. He remembered our family and invited us to his quarters on the Willem Ruys for a private tea. I still keep the souvenir scarf he gifted me at that time. I'm sure somewhere in my mother's papers she has recorded the captain's name. It was quite a promotion to go from the Wanasari to captain of the R. Lloyd flagship in so few years. In Pitcairn we boarded two Pitcairn islanders (Mr. and Mrs. Roy Clark, postmaster) who continued to Fort Lauderdale and we became friends and corresponded with them for many years there after. We discovered that Mrs. Clark had common ancestry with us to English whalers from Nantucket Island.
I wonder if anyone has information regarding the Wanasari or the captain. I believe I did once see a small newspaper clipping and believe that it was explaining her demise. I would enjoy seeing a picture of her or a sister ship of hers. It is possible that the captain could still be alive. If so I would like to correspond with him.