"Dear Dad" (Reminiscence)

*

1

Dear Dad

I wanted to tell you what I've been doing lately.  I know you'd be interested. 

First, we in the family have always known that when you were young, you were able to go on a world cruise for college students.  You borrowed the money for the ticket and wrote articles from abroad to 23 different American newspapers, and when you returned, you were able to pay back the loan from the proceeds of these articles.  You didn't talk as much about all this as Mother did.

You met an Austrian man who later carved for you a model of a Viking ship that we kept on our mantle all the years I was growing up at our home in Austin.  The man named Largent Price who came from Dallas to visit you from time to time had been on the cruise too.

When I was about 12, I think it was, you gave me a box full of coins from many of the countries you had visited during the cruise.  I think I was the one who divided the coins into little stacks from each country and then put each group into a separate little box: Bayer Aspirin, rolled gauze, Sucrets... That kind of little boxes.

One piece that seemed like a coin was in fact a chip from the Monte Carlo Casino.  You told us how you and a young woman friend on the cruise had played against each other at the roulette table, one of you betting Red and the other Black or one Odd and the other Even.  You played for hours because one of you would win every time.

We had a few photos in the kitchen closet that Mother would show us from time to time.  Not of you, but of sites you saw on the trip: people riding elephants or looking up at a big statue of Buddha, things like that.  Mother said there were other photos like that too.

Mother often mentioned that during this trip, you were able to interview Mussolini and the King of Siam, who incidentally had been Prince Chulalongkorn in "The King and I" or rather, in the real life version of that story.  Most impressive for a 22 year old, I'd say.

2

A few years ago, my wife and I went to the university archives to see what materials they had of yours.  Well, they have a lot, of course.  You did teach there for about 50 years after all.  They have a lot of stuff, including notes you made during the cruise and some photos, copies of newspaper articles you wrote about your experiences abroad.  It's interesting to compare the reports you wrote for yourself with the articles published; they differ quite a lot.

Later, I was using Ancestry.com - a genealogy research resource - looking for passenger lists that might contain names of family ancestors immigrating to America from Ireland or Germany, when I came across your name on a page from the S. S. Ryndam's passenger list of May 5, 1927.  This was the day when you and the others returned from the eight-months' voyage.

How exciting that was, to find that real world confirmation of the stories I'd heard my whole life about that wonderful educational opportunity you had had way back then.

3

I hadn't thought about your Ryndam experience then for several more years when I came across a photo I'd posted on your Ancestry page, a photo of the 1926-27 ship, in the Holland-America Line.  I must have found it when I found the passenger list. 

So I looked up the Ryndam itself and made a remarkable discovery!  Your trip around the world - the World University in 1926-27 - was the first ship voyage for college credit ever made.  For generations now, that has become such a routine thing, it was exciting to learn that you had been in on this first historical cruise.  And it's famous.

There are encyclopedia articles on World University, created and organized at NYU by Dr. James E. Lough, a psychology professor.  I was astounded to learn that altogether there were 504 students!  I'd never dreamed it was more than 100, if that many.

They came from 143 colleges from 40 states, and there were a few students from Canada, Cuba, and Hawaii.  The voyage eventually covered 41,000 miles, and students visited 90 cities in 35 countries, including Honolulu, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila, Bangkok, Colombo (Sri Lanka), Bombay, Haifa, Venice, Gibraltar, Lisbon, Oslo, Paris, and London.

4

But encyclopedia articles weren't the best things I found.  Lo and behold, there were references too to two books published in 1928 about the First World University.  One of them was a collection of photographs by the Holland-America Line's official photographer, over 200 photographs; and the other was the diary of one of the students.

Well, I found on the international catalog of books, Worldcat, that several libraries have copies of the photographs book in their circulating collections.  Yes, I was able to order it through my local county library via interlibrary loan.

Just consider how thrilled I was to find in this big, scrapbook sized volume, seven - SEVEN - pictures of you, my father, from 1926 and 1927.

Two of them are pictures of you in a large group, the first at a museum in Hawaii -

The second large-group photo is from a university in Hamburg, Germany:

I cannot pick you out of the crowd in the photo with the King and Queen of Siam:

But the other five - I say FIVE - photos of you are of smaller groups.  I have pulled your image out.

The first of these is a photo of the staff of the student newspaper, the Binnacle:

Next is the photo of the 20-25 students on the voyage from Texas:

One of your classes was apparently called just "Discussion."  Here you are from that photo:

And that interaction with Mussolini?  Well, you apparently had the opportunity to talk with him directly, but the picture in the book shows him (third from the left below) with a group:

And of course, there you are on the right side of the page:

5

I had the book of photographs only two weeks.  There is no narrative, and there is only one individual named, the Captain, J. K. Lieuwen:

There are some photos of students' activities, such as the women's sketching class:

a large, somewhat mysterious event called "The Ducking" involving the ship's swimming pool:

There was a photo of hula dancing:

 

and, gulp, yes, a student Minstrel Show:

Elephants appear in two of the photos:

and

6

There are a number of photos having to do with the voyage itself, including one of the ship, cruising in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan:

First, though, we find a picture of the New York/Hoboken pier as the ship is first setting out:

There are several shots of proceeding through the Panama Canal:

There's a dramatic picture shot from the air of the Ryndam steaming by Hawaii:

and an exotic photo in a Japanese harbor:

Finally, there is also a photo of a "tender" carrying Ryndam passengers from the ship to the pier in Naples:

7

 Three of my personal favorite photos are: (1) Diamond Head (Hawaii) as students saw it from the ship:

(2) the harbor at Kobe (Japan):

 and (3) a desalinization plant in Aden (Yemen):

8

Among the many photos of great sites visited by the First World University are:  the giant Buddha - or Diabutsu - of Kawakara, Japan:

a Buddhist priest in Siam (Thailand, we say today):

the Taj Mahal in Agra, India:

There are no pictures of the Suez Canal.  Great sites include Egypt's Sphinx and Great Pyramid:

the Parthenon in Athens:

the Bridge of Sighs in Venice:

The Paris Opera ("l'Opera"):

and London's Westminster Abbey:

9

Apparently, the Ryndam returned to port in New York harbor at night, passing a final great site - a great sight indeed, I'll bet; right, Dad?

10

How I wish I could sit next to you, Dad, turning over the pages of the large old photo-book.  How I'd love to hear your reminiscences, your memories and your perspectives.  I can imagine it, at least.

1980, when you died, seems long, long ago.  1927 at this moment may seem closer.  Odd, isn't it?

So long!

*