Friday, May 24, 2013

Heritage journey

A century ago today, my maternal grandparents embarked on their journey to America. They are pictured above and I'm fascinated by the fastidiousness of their shiny shoes. Newly married, they left their families, friends and everything they had known for the chance at a new life in a new world. My grandmother's family had lived in relatively the same area for 300 years, so this was not an ordinary occurrence. These two were the last of my family to arrive; others on my paternal side had decided to make the move in 1860 and 1738. Oddly enough, all 3 families arrived before major wars.

My maternal grandparents took two ships to eventually reach the shores of the United States, the Marylebone from Hamburg to Liverpool and the Baltic II from Liverpool to New York. Like many before them, they traveled steerage. What I find remarkable is that this was only a year after the fated Titanic disaster and the Baltic II was from the same line: White Star.  If it were me, that alone would scare me to death.

The Baltic II was launched almost 9 years earlier on June 29, 1904, making her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York with none other than the famous Titanic Captain Edward J. Smith at the helm...interesting, eh? The family I eventually married in to had a relative with the same name...ditto on the interesting. At her launch, she was the largest vessel in the world weighing in at 23,876 gross tons. She was 729 feet long with a beam of 75.6 feet and a depth of 49 feet and she could travel about 16 knots, top speed.

Just to put this kind of ship in perspective she had 48 furnaces for the engines that consumed 235 tons of coal, daily. The personnel alone needed for the engine and fire room included 14 engineers, 15 oilers, 36 firemen, 26 coal passers, 2 store keepers, 2 stewards and 1 winch man for each of 3 watches.

She could carry a total of 2,875 people...425 First Class passengers, 450 Second Class passengers and 2000 Third Class & crew. By the time my grandparents decided to come to America, the cost of ocean travel had risen by 50% within 15 years.

It only took my grandparents 9 days before they arrived on Ellis Island, but my paternal relatives that came over in 1860 had a journey on the ocean that lasted twice as long and it was in January! To say these people were stalwart is an underestimation.

The heritage spirit of these pioneers lives on in their progeny...cheers to them for the rich legacy they cared to bestow!

Baltic II postcard
Baltic II photo


Baltic II loading
Baltic II decks
Baltic II smoking room
Baltic II drawing room
Baltic II library
New York Times, July 9, 1904.

White Star Liner Baltic Completes Maiden Voyage.

Made Trip from Liverpool in 7 Days 13 Hours
and 37 Minutes — Brought 906 Passengers.

Amid the tooting of hundreds of whistles and the dipping of flags, the new White Star Line steamship Baltic, the largest ever built, made her way up the bay yesterday, completing her maiden voyage from Liverpool to this port. Thousands of eyes along the shore watched the big vessel as she steamed slowly up the harbor on the breast of the tide, and every floating craft to be seen dwindled into insignificance beside the big liner. When the Baltic appeared in the upper bay ferryboats, steamboats, tugs, and sailing craft went out of their course to give those aboard better views of the steamship, and those vessels which were going down the channel as the Baltic came made way for her.
The lines on which the Baltic is built give her the characteristic look of the Cedric and Celtic, the two other largest ships of the White Star Line, but she exceeds both these by about 3,000 tons. To those who went alongside her the Baltic's freeboard appeared tremendously high, the longest ladders on the revenue cutters, which are long enough for all other vessels, hardly reaching to the main deck. Her sides are painted black, and her two big smokestacks are light brown, except where they are circled near the top by board black bands. She has four pole masts. The great size of the Baltic, however, is minimized by the gracefulness of her lines. The steam yacht Corsair was waiting down the bay for J. Pierpont Morgan, her owner, who was aboard the steamship, and as the Baltic came up the bay the black yacht ran for a time alongside of her, the yacht ran for a time alongside of her, the yacht looking like a little toy beside the big liner.
The length of the Baltic is 726 feet. In this respect she exceeds the length of the Kaiser Wilheim II of the North German Lloyd Line, which formerly was the longest ship, by 18.2 feet. Her width is 75 feet. In all she has eight decks, four of them being above the main deck. She is of 24,000 tons gross register, while her capacity for cargo is 28,000 tons, and her load draught about 40,000. The new steamship has accommodations for about 3,000 passengers besides her crew of 350.
The first-class smoking room and library are on the upper promenade deck. The staterooms in the first-class cabin are so arranged that the passengers occupying them will feel very little of the ship's motion. Just abaft the first-class compartment is that for the second-class passengers, consisting of a large dining room, a smoking room and a library, besides the staterooms. With the exception of a limited space forward, the third-class passengers are provided for abaft the second-class.
The Baltic is fitted with engines of Harlan & Wolff's quadruple expansion type, arranged on the balanced principle, which practically does away with vibration. The liner can attain a speed of about 17 miles an hour. The steamship was built at the yards of Harlan & Wolff at Belfast, and she sailed from Liverpool for this side on June 29, stopping on the next day at Queenstown to pick up mails and passengers. She is in command of Lieut. E.J. Smith, R.N.R., who has become well known to seagoers as Captain of the steamship Majestic, from which he was transferred to take command of the new vessel. The Baltic is the tenth command which Lieut. Smith has held in the service of the White Star Line.
The first trip of the big liner was made in 7 days, 13 hours and 37 minutes, and both Chief Engineer H. Crawford Boyle, formerly of the Celtic, and Consulting Engineer Andrews of Harlan & Wolff, who made the trip for the purpose of watching the Baltic's behavior, declares that there was not the slightest trouble with her machinery, and that she has come up to all expectations. Her best day's run was 417 knots, made on July 4.
She brought a total of 906 passengers, 209 in the first-class cabin, 142 in the second-class, and 555 in the steerage. Every one of the passengers united in saying that the voyage could not have been more pleasant. Capt. Smith was delighted with his ship. "I tried to see how she would work coming around the tail of the Southwest Spit," he said, "and, as the channel was clear, I sent her around at full speed. She behaved admirably. Pilot Johnson, who has brought up almost every one of the big vessels that come into this port, piloted us up."
The officers of the Baltic are Thomas Kidwell, formerly of the Celtic, chief officer; W.E. Graham, surgeon; H. McElroy, purser, and H. Wovenden, chief steward. The ship will be open for public inspection on Monday and an admission fee of 25 cents will be asked from each visitor, the proceeds to go to the seamen's charities.

Panorama of the Baltic II docked in New York in 1904. Click this link and you'll be able to see extreme detail in the image:
http://www.shorpy.com/White_Star_Line_piers_New_York_1904?size=_original#caption



©2013 Debbie Ballard



Thursday, May 23, 2013

Not all my reviews are positive ones!


The above picture is NOT EVEN THE HOTEL that was advertised as being Ocean Shores Inns & Suites by the website we purchased the room from.
This is the actual hotel:
 Looks decent and nice, right? Think again.

My review of Ocean Shores Inns & Suites in Ocean Shores, WA that I've left on various website review arenas in order to warn other would-be travelers about this, in my opinion, lousy hotel:

This is by far the worst hotel experience I've had in more than 30 years. The room had a queen-sized bed that was dirty behind and underneath it. There was no chair to sit on. The mini fridge was topped with the microwave which was topped with the Keurig coffee tray. The older TV was on top of a small chest that had a very small pull-out for writing that you couldn't even use. Next to the bed on an end table was a lamp with a ripped lampshade and a clock radio. The closet had no hangers. The bathroom had only been cleaned with bleach because you could still smell it upon arrival. The sink drained slowly so I took up the stopper which was covered with filthy gunk...it hadn't been cleaned in ages. There was no smoke alarm or ceiling sprinkler system...is that even legal? If there had been an emergency there was no phone, and we tried calling the front desk once from our cell phone because of trouble with the wi-fi in the morning and no one answered. Not to mention that the staff liked to have breaks a few doors down from our non-smoking room and THEIR smoke wafted in every time we opened our door. Oh, and an aerial picture of the hotel makes it look like it's exactly on the ocean...absolutely not, it's across the street from it with another hotel in front that actually does have beachfront and totally blocks first floor views. I was so disappointed I didn't even want to try to dip my big toe in to the indoor swimming pool for fear of what germs I might catch. This property should be bull-dozed. In my opinion, this place totally sucks! If you elect to stay here you must be desperate.
• • •

I only wish I thought to take pictures at the time. Only one night was too long! Thank goodness the beach and other establishments were there to pass the time in!

 ©2013 Debbie Ballard


Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Turn the page


Change. In my lifetime I have been brought to it sometimes kicking and screaming and other times having no choice but to surrender all because of it. But mostly now, with the wisdom of age, I have learned to embrace it. To me it represents a new chapter in life to discover,  a new lesson to learn or a new story to be told.

Whether what's coming next involves tragedy, romance, fantasy or exclusively a recounted memoir depends mostly upon my reaction to the change. How I feel after each life chapter has been completed will determine whether or not I participate in the next chapter, skip ahead a few or put the book down altogether. The beauty of this is that if I select the latter, there are an infinite amount of other inspired writings to choose from out there. The key is to find one that keeps your spirit engaged in reading whatever comes next with enthusiastic zeal.

If it's time to change to a new 'book' for you, don't be surprised if it occurs around the May 9-10 solar eclipse in Taurus. An old cycle, that started on May 10, 1994, is about to come to a close. How you react to this transition, will determine how the next chapter is written, by you...the author.

©2013 Debbie Ballard