THE HAPPY SHIP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 308, 30 December 1933, Page 5

THE HAPPY SHIP.

ONE-CLASS TRAVEL. AMUSING THE PASSENGERS. CHANGED CONDITIONS. Passenger traffic between England and Xew Zealand has undergone remarkable changes since the days of sailing ship voyages round the Capo of Good Hope. Steam and the Panama Canal have ehorn it of its tedium, while the size and luxury of modern vessels have made one of the longest sea trips of the world a pleasure instead of a martyrdom. A few years ago the passenger liners on the direct route from Home were equipped to carry first, second and third clasts passengers, and three distinct social communities lived their five weeks of sea-going existence within the confines of the one hull. Today the thr-ee-class liner is in the minority on the Panama route. The cessation of emigration schemes and

the straightened finances of many travellere have brought about the introduction of the one-class ship, with its absence of notices such as ''Third class passengers not allowed forward of this rail."

And with the new system have passed many time-honoured customs of travel at sea, for the one-class vessel has brought its own problems and their quick solution on the five-week voyage to or from England. This trip is unique in ocean voyaging, for no other is undertaken with such long, unbroken intervale at sea. The modern traveller, too, even though he voyages at a cheap rate, demands more than meals, sleeping accommodation and exercise space. He expects entertainment, and he gets it, since in these times of keen competition shipping companies recognise the necessity of making a voyage attractive. How they do this is "well exemplified in the experiences of passengers aboard a vessel, whose line and name need not be mentioned. She is known by those who have lived and travelled aboard her as "The Happy Ship," and she typifies the new travel conditions. Captain's New Role. Time was when the captain of a liner was an austere person in gold-braided uniform, who dwelt up near the sacred bridge, made morning inspections, dined in the firet saloon, occasionally graced the second with his presence, extended courteous greetings and the privilege of brief conversations to his first class passengers, and associated more commonly with the most important of them. His duty was the safety of passengers and cargo. The purser was the social officer, and, under his guidance, elected sports committees arranged various social conditions for the voyage. These the captain graced with his presence. How different are conditions aboard "The Happy Ship." Here "the old man," who is really not so in years, is the host of a company whom fate has thrown together for the Voyage. He undertakes not only to pilot them safely through it, but to be the initiating spirit in all that happens aboard to make this confined community enjoy the trip, and the. task is no small tax on his ingenuity. Gone, too, are the old regulations whereby the deck and engine room officers dine apart from the passengers, and are forbidden to talk with them at sea. Officers and engineers are his assistant hosts, and co-operate in the plans. "Keep them amused, and they'll be happy," is his motto.

Aboard the one-class ship people in all walks of life are thrown into close contact. Cliques form quickly, and they are the cause of most of the back-biting and jealousy ruinous to the enjoyment of the trip. For the first two or three days at sea the captain of "The Happy Ship" moves freely among his passengers, chatting with them and studying their peculiarities. He is a self-trained psychologist. He goes about as an emphatic clique-breaker, and uses plain nautical terms in doing so. Within three days he knows everybody, and staid old matrons and young flappers alike, titled ladies and humble emigrants, are greeted by their Christian names. Only a unique personality could undertake this without giving offence, yet the older the women passengers are the more they seem to like it. An entertainment committee is elected, and it always seems to contain just the right people, for very shrewd pre-election work has been quietly undertaken by the skipper, and passengers, all unknowingly, elect those whom his judgment has weighed and found not wanting. Then begins a round of entertainments and sports lasting, on the homeward voyage, to within two days of the Canal, to be resumed two days after the excitement of ehoregoing has waned.

Everybody Made Happy. When there is a dance, every officer and engineer not on duty has to play his part. For each dance that he enjoys with one of the "attractive young things," he has to have one with an elderly passenger. Captain and chief engineer see that the rule is strictly obeyed, and set the example. There are no "wall-flowere," and matrons and spinsters well on in years take a new lease of life. So it is with the bi-weekly picture show on deck. The young always find escorts. The officers become escorts for the elderly, and the captain may be seen holding the hand of 6ome whitehaired old lady and chatting away. The fancy dress ball is one of the events of the voyage. Propaganda for it commences "a fortnight beforehand, and even the blase are politely forced into enthusing over it, while the ship's company co-operates in costume designing. The electric light race meeting, with wooden horses sent along the course by dice, is an affair with quite an Ascot flavour. A tote is run, bookmakers, dressed for the part, yell the odds, passengers air their racecourse fashions, a gramophone in the distance plays "God Save the King." and "royalty," made up for the occasion, arrives on the course. The whole event is given a theatrical touch, and passengers enter into the carnival spirit of it.

There is a unique way or satisfying the curiosity of those who want to eee the ship. The notice board announces a "mystery hike," and warns everyone to come in appropriate costume. A wonderfully garbed gathering results. Participants are- dispatched in groups of four at three-minute intervals, with a card that gives the route. Away they tramp on a journey that lasts two hours, passing through the galley, where the cook has a batch of hot buttered scones, through the freezing chamber, over the bridge, into the crew's quarters, and along those many alleyways leading to storerooms and places of which the landsman knows nought. At each point is stationed someone who explains the why and wherefore of it all, and in a cosy nook ice cream is eaten by the trampers. The journey is completed in the smoke room, and. at the end of it

passengers know far more about a ship than most of them ever imagined before. It gives them a new topic for conversation, and passes an exhilarating morning, concluded by a dip in the swimming pool. The Children's Party. So the days pass, each with its novelty to while away time. Passengers' ingenuity vies with that of the officers in devising entertainment. But in one event passengers stand aside, and anxious mothers hand their juvenile charges over to captain and officers for the event of the voyage—the children's party. There is a guarantee that none will be returned in tears, unless they are tears of joyous excitement, but parents are warned that they must not interfere with the proceedings, though they may be spectators. The party starts with a

"royal feed/' partaken of in fancy dress that must be of a type which will stand the strenuous time to follow. Then the kiddies are taken up to the bridge for the "aerial flight." A stout wire stretches right aft; a perfectly safe chair provides the means of transport, and shrieking children fly through the air above passengers' heads, to be released v by an officer at the stern. The first trip is made in trepidation; then little feet patter back at high speed for another dose of excitement.

Next comes the circus. The captain is ringmaster, the mate is clown, another officer is the strong man who challenges anyone to wrestle, and is vanquished by child after child, following his great struggle with the clown. A fearsome elephant and a sagacious horse, tributes to the ingenuity of the ship's designers, and tortures for those of the crew who form the fore and hind legs, perform wonderful antics under the ringmaster's whip. And the party concludes with the water chute. A well-greased contraption leads from the height of two decks down into the tropical swimming pool. Children are invited to try it. They hesitate. Down goes the captain amid shrieks of laughter. The clown follows. No further encouragement is needed. Soon a shrieking procession is sliding down into their arms, splashing in water, clambering out and rushing round for another turn. When the party finishes a sopping and bedraggled procession of kiddies parades to be judged for the best fancy dress. The captain decides that they have all won, and each gets a prize. It is a day in a child's life that will be a memory for all time.

And it is but an item in the day of those whose task it is to run "The Happy Ship." She is but one of a new type brought into being by new conditions, but she is a memory of joy to all who have travelled on her.