EXCITING TOUR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 10, 12 January 1940, Page 9

EXCITING TOUR.

five months away. CAUGHT BY THE WAR. SHIP "LOST" FOR THREE WEEKS. (By Telegraph.— Own Correspondent.) CHRISTCHURC'H, tl.is day. W lien Mr. and Mrs. J. Connell and Miss Diana Connell, of Christchurch, left for a visit to England, tlie Continent and the United States in August last they little knew that within five months they would be back home with more interesting experiences to relate than if they had completed their projected two years' tour.

1 he voyages both to and from England were eventful. Caught half-wav by the declaration of war, they found themselves 011 a "lost" ship for three weeks, while 011 their return the liner collided with another in the Thames, and was ater held up at night in the Atlantic •V a French destroyer, which Jired a shot across the liner's bow.

.Travelling Home via Suez in an Orient liner, Mr. and Mrs. Connell were two days out from Colombo when news of the declaration of Avar reached them. \\ itli the ppsition in the Mediterranean uncertain, the liner diverted to Mombasa, Capetown and Sierra Leone, cruising aimlessly for three weeks before leaching there, where 48 other ships rode at anchor, awaiting convoy. Kventuall.v a convoy was arranged arid the vessel reached Southampton, having been at sea nine weeks and four days, and crossing the equator three times. "We were cut oflf from the world completely for the three weeks following the declaration of war," said Mrs. Cornell this morning, "but apart from the anxiety it was good fun. At first our only news came from Daventry, but then these broadcasts were purposely jammed by the ship's radio, so that tlie passengers could not know what was happening at sea. We were issued with regular bulletins, but for those three weeks we were a lost ship." Wartime London. The difficulties of sightseeing in England during the war were compensated for to some degree by the novelty of life there, said Mrs. Connell. Famous buildings were all closed and sandbagged. One found in Hyde Park sandbags, trenches, shelters, anti-aircraft guns, and barrage balloon bases. These bases were established in almost every piece of open ground and the balloons were in tlie sky all day and night. There were no children on the streets, and the adults were all trained for duty in the expectation of an air-raid. The guests at their hotel were allotted a shelter under a Y.W.C.A. building in the same street.

Visitors could leave England only with •a definite reason, not for sightseeing. Mr. and Mrs. Connell and Miss Council were able to visit Ireland for a short |>eriod, and even there, from Dublin as far south as Killarney, blackouts were the rule, including the eight-hour train journey. They had intended to visit Scotland, but at that time air-raids 011 the Scottish coast were frequent, and they would not have been permitted to cross the border in any ease. Mr. and Mrs. Connell found it impossible to leave for America or the Continent, and on inquiring at a shipping office just what they could do, they were informed that a ship (the Largs Bay, of 15,000 tons) would be sailing for Australia and New Zealand in thirtysix hours, aNd after that they might not be able to leave the couutry until after the war. Eventful Return Trip. In the Thames Estuary 011 November 14, the Largs Bay collided with another darkened ship, and was delayed two days while her anchor was recovered from the river-bed. That mishap may have saved the lives of the four hundred passengers, for a Japanese liner that was following her along the river was torpedoed and sunk at the mouth of the Thames.

Having missed her convoy because of the mishap, the liner became mixed up with another convoy in the Channel, was weeded out, and later, while the vessel was zig-zagging across the Atlantic at 2 a.m. a shot fired across the bows brought the passengers rushing to the decks fearing a U-boat attack,"but as the liner swung to bring her gun into action it was seen that the shot had been fired by one of two French destroyers on patrol duty. The passengers were so relieved that when French sailors came alongside they gave three cheers, sang the Marseillaise and threw them cigarettes.