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[Identification of item], in the Doris Thompson journal and log book of voyage aboard the S.S. Tetela, 1935 Mar. 25-Jun. 5, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
Purchase, 2008
Processed by: Alice Poffinberger, September 2010
Encoded by: Noah Huffman, September 2010
Accession(s) described in this finding aid:
Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory:
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
Doris Thompson was a "stewardess" aboard the ship and resident of Grimsby[?], England
Collection comprises a manuscript journal and log book (59 pgs+ blanks) authored by Thompson while on a voyage between England and Jamaica from March 25 to April 28, 1935. However, the journal actually closes with a description of her train trip home on April 29. Includes Thompson's 33 black-and-white photographs, 2 telegrams she received from a Captain Greenhill, her certificate of discharge, and an Irish sweepstakes ticket for the Derby syndicate (dated June 5) that she purchased during the voyage. In addition, Thompson copied into the journal a 3-pg informational article on bananas, written by H.C. Bower, and kept a record of the ship's log for the trip. The S.S. Tetela was a cargo and occasional passenger ship that belonged to the banana-importing firm Elders & Fyffes, a wholly owned subsidiary of the United Fruit Company.
All the entries in the piece indicate that Thompson was an experienced sailor and had navigational training, "Started work this morning. The ship's Log Book had been filled up last trip, and they couldn't get a new one at Rotterdam, so the entries for the last few days had been made on odd sheets of paper. I re-wrote these on official paper and.... Continued making all entries during the trip (pgs. 1-2)." The Tetela sailed from Southampton and arrived at Port Antonio, Jamaica, a fortnight later. Over the next week, the ship took on a large cargo of bananas at Montego Bay, Bowden, and Kingston, where five passengers joined the ship for the homeward voyage. The ship birthed at Garston Docks, Liverpool, two weeks later. In the journal, Thompson does not record what duties she carried out as stewardess. Instead, she recorded weather, passing ships, as well as sea life, but mainly focused on describing, with an active sense of humor, staff activities, meals, gossip, recreation, and teasing aboard ship. She also detailed a day trip she took to Port Antonio, the loading of bananas as cargo, as well as her contacts with officials of the United Fruit Company and family members of the ship's staff. The photographs document much of her description, but include several images of Thompson taken by the Tetela's captain.
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