At Sea
Tuesday, July 18, 1911
Dear Papa and Mama and all:
I want to mail you a letter before we land, so will drop you a line this morning. I hope this finds you all well and having a pleasant summer. It is delightfully cool where I am. I am just feeling fine and dandy since I was sea sick for “twenty four hours”, about four days out from land.
We are certainly having a fine voyage. The sea has not been the least bit rough with the exception of the day I was sea sick it was a trifle blustery.
We are now proceeding up the English Channel and will be in sight of land some time this afternoon and will land at Tilbury Dock, a short distance from London, sometime tomorrow P.M. While I am anxious to see what is on the other side, yet I love the voyage.
The passengers, officers and stewards are all very nice to us. We have a nice library where we may read if we choose,
beside we have all kinds of sports.
Saturday we had a field meet or you would probably call it a deck meet, the entire afternoon being devoted to sports, including sack races, cock fights, skipping, three legged race, bun eating, cigarette and neck tie race, spar and pillow fight and golf, for which prizes were awarded. Sunday morning we had services conducted by the Captain and Purser, which were very nice. Last night we had a big concert furnished by the passengers, and at the close of the concert, prizes won Saturday were awarded.
Yesterday morning we went down in the engine room and were conducted thru the different appartments by a guide. We were thirty six feet below the surface. The stairway and floors, etc. are all iron. The floors are so oily you can scarcely stand. It is certainly a great sight; the machinery is something marvelous, you can’t imagine the net work of gigantic machinery necessary to propel a large steamship. There is an interesting and a pitiful side to the scene. The heat is almost unbearable. We could hardly stand to go down. The men working down there are covered with oil and dripping with perspiration. It is a most wretched sight to see the stokers chanelling coal into the large furnaces; It almost brings tears to your eyes to see them eking out such a miserable existence, poor air, darkness, and scanty and undesirable food.
It is almost breakfast time, 8:30 so I had better bring this to a close soon. By the way, we get all we want to eat on this ship. Breakfast at 8:30 Bouillon and crackers at 11:00 Lunch at 1:00 p.m. Afternoon Tea at 4:00 and Dinner at 7:00, and sandwiches and fruit before retiring if you wish, besides you may have coffee and rolls at 7:00 a.m. if you care for them. However we do not take the latter and I rarely take the bouillon & crackers. It is all English cooking. The Minneapolis is owned by an American Company but is armed by English officers and stewards.
Oh we are beginning to pass a great many vessels and the sea gulls are around us in swarms. They are pretty brown & white birds about the size of two ordinary pidgeons. They light on the water and ride along on the waves and look very much like lillies.
This is another beautiful morning; the sky is so clear, the water so blue and the air so sweet and balmy.
Write me as follows: Ora Hackney Member, Rocky Mountain News Party, c/o Thos. Cook & Son London, England
Hoping this finds you all well, and wishing I could see you,
With love,
Ora.
The Contest To Win A Trip To The "Old World" The Ship - The U.S.S. Minneapolis
Last Updated on March 29, 1998
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