Union Castle Line

From Great North Road

Long before the jet age became affordable to the masses in the mid 1960s, many thousands of families from Great Britain started the long trek to Northern Rhodesia by taking one of the many Union Castle Line's ships from either the Tilbury Docks in London, or they started their epic journey from Southampton.

Recently while rummaging through a pile of old papers I came across the Farewell Dinner menu, which also contained extracts from the log of S.S. "Braemar Castle", Voyage 23 from London to Cape Town, 18th December 1957 to 6th January 1958. A picture of this magnificent ship with her light mauve hull, white superstructure and familiar red funnel capped by a black band with a view of Table Mountain in the background graces the front of the menu.

Having spent six months on long leave primarily in Edinburgh Scotland, Voyage 23 was a great adventure for this eleven year old to share with his parents Tommy and Margaret Miller, and my Grandparents Nana and Grandad Mees (Jim and Mary) who left Scotland to live and share their lives with us in Lusaka.

Dec. 18 We departed from an aunt's home in Barnet in North London and drove in a Humber Hawk limousine to the London Docks. The car trip was uneventful, that was until we were driving through the heart of London when the roof rack with all our worldly possessions slid off the roof down onto the bonnet then found its way onto the road, shrieks of anguish emanated from both Mum and Nana. We finally arrived at the bustling docks and embarked at around 14:30. At 21:39 we pulled away from the noisy dock and sailed down the Thames River with the lights of London from both shores of the river dancing on the black waters as we made our way to the North sea, headed for our first port of call Rotterdam.

Dec 19 - 20 Rotterdam was a busy sea port, which welcomed ships from around the globe. We visited the Hague, the capital of Holland, before departing on the next leg of our voyage.

Dec 21 We encountered heavy swells and the vessel pitched heavily as we sailed past the Channel Islands and at 19:41 we rounded Ushant and entered the Bay of Biscay. "Carry on Admiral" was the movie that was shown that night and for the more romantic (not this guy) there was dancing on deck.

Dec 22 The vessel continued to pitch in heavy swells. At 17:26 we passed Cape Villano leaving behind the Bay of Biscay. The evening movie was "Competition".

Dec 24 There was a Christmas Eve Dance, however my main concern was whether Father Christmas would find the Braemar Castle as she bobbed her way through the North Atlantic.

Dec 25 He found us, Father Christmas had visited our cabin in the middle of the night and there was a sack full of presents for me to open. (Where my parents had hidden the loot I will never know) We stopped briefly in Las Palmas and then at 16:00, the jolly old elf himself dropped by to the childrens' Christmas party and handed out more gifts.

Dec 26 The seas were starting to get calmer and the temperature had started to rise. The movie of the evening was " The Yangste Incident" a great movie about a Royal Navy ship trying to run down the Yangste River in China.

Dec 27 There was a childrens sports day, however the excitement of the day was when we passed the R.M.M.V. "Stirling Castle" as she headed north to England. Both vessels saluted each other with long blasts on the ships horn. Passengers waved and then watched as the distance continued to increase and then finally the "Stirling Castle" slipped over the horizon.

Dec 29 At 08:20 a slight bump could be felt as we crossed the Equator. King Neptune and his mariners from the deep held court and initiated young and old into the ways of his majesty's Kingdom. I recall being rather nervous as I was held in a chair, being lathered up with shaving cream and a villain of a barber approaching me with an over sized razor to shave my hairless chin. I still have my certifcate recognizing me as a member of the Ancient Order of the Deep.

Dec 30 In the morning we anchored in Clarence Bay, Ascension Island. Supplies were dropped off, but no one was allowed on shore. The Americans supposedly had a secret military installation on this bleak desert island in the middle of the Atlantic. "High Society" with Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby was the movie of the day.

Dec 31 New years eve, the adults had a fancy dress Parade and Gala Dance (no action for this guy).

Jan 01 At 12:30 the vessel anchored in James Bay, and the passengers went ashore to visit the beautiful island of St Helena. Napoleon died in exile on this island. I recall visiting the estate where he stayed, he shared the place with giant tortoises, some of which were still alive when we visited. Jamestown the capital and port nestled in a valley surrounded by steep lush green sided volcanic hills. There are stairs known as Jacobs ladder reaching from the base of the valley to the top of the surrounding hills, where a lookout was located watching for any potential attempts to take Napoleon back to France.

Jan 02 Won a prize in the Children's Fancy Dress Tea Party. I wore a cardboard box and a fedora with dark sun glasses. The box stated " Lost my All on the Braemar Derby " which was reference to the dog races that were run on board where wagers could be made. The dogs were wooden with wheels, and were attached with a long string to a spool. The colourful dogs were lined up and were pulled in by people spooling in the string, the first dog to cross the line was the winner. The ships crew tried hard at entertaining the passengers with dog races, tombola, deck games and placing wagers as to how far we had sailed during the previous twenty-four hours.

Jan 04 At 05:20 we passed the S.S. Kenya, only a few hearty souls were on deck to witness the passing of the two ships in the early morning.

Jan 06 Our estimated time of arrival in Table Bay, Cape town was 06:00. Captain H.L. Holland had brought us safely 6,552 miles from London to Cape Town at an average speed of 17.02 knots.

There was great excitement as we disembarked and headed toward the long sheds where we found the line up under the letter "M" for Miller and Mees, made our way through customs and immigration, found our belongings, and waited for our brand new Vauxhall Victor to be unloaded. We stayed the night in Cape Town and the next morning, we all climbed into the Victor and headed North on the long road to Lusaka.

Contributed by Ken Miller.

July 07, 2001