A sea-going family from Calcutta

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33213, 1 May 1973, Page 6

A sea-going family from Calcutta

Life on board the Indian cargo vessel, the State of Rajasthan does not leave Mrs Glenda Thorpe, the wife of the ship’s captain, much time for lounging about. Tending the needs of her active, two-year-old daughter, Catherine, keeps her busy.

This is the second sea voyage for mother and daughter. A month ago, Catherine celebrated her second birthday at sea, amid quantities of toys from a doting crew, which includes 15 young cadets. "She’s well spoilt by them,” smiled Mrs Thorpe, an attractive young woman who was secretary to the personnel manager of a large company in Calcutta before her marriage. Shipboard life adds comlications to the usual mother’s lot. Catherine finds the cabin quarters confining, and Mrs Thorpe has to be

constantly on watch to see that she is not straying.

Visits crew Not that many parts of the 6209-ton vessel are out of bounds to the little girl. She visits the crew in their cabins, leaving behind assorted toys and odd socks. On her first voyage, to Europe and North America, Mrs Thorpe put a gate across the captain’s day cabin to keep Catherine inside. On this three-month trip she is old enough to understand the rules, but still, says her father, Captain R. O. Thorpe, “she’s running about everywhere.” Swing on deck When the weather is fine, which it has been for most of the Asian and Pacific voyage, Mrs Thorpe and Catherine get plenty of fresh air and sunshine on the captain’s deck, where Captain Thorpe has erected a rope swing for his daughter. The deck serves as Mrs Thorpe’s backyard. It is a sunny spot for a little quiet knitting or sewing, and it is where she dries the daily wash, pegged on rope lines.

She has not, she laughed, lost a napkin overboard yet, but the quick drying is the best part of the laundry scene. She finds it difficult to keep up without a washing machine, and has to wash everything in a bowl in the bathroom. Fresh food, too, is a problem. Captain Thorpe sees that there is always plenty of milk on board. His wife and child are on board at the cost of about SNZI a day. “They are not costing much but they are eating me out of house and home,” he said with a chuckle.

Common practice Most captains of Indian vessels have their wives and children on board with them, he said. The State of Rajasthan is becoming a home to children. The former master and his wife also travelled with a pre-school child. Mrs Thorpe thinks the voyages will have to stop when Catherine goes to school. Then she will spend much more time with her husband’s family—he is of British descent—at their home in a small country village out of Calcutta. In the meantime, she is seeing as much of the ports she visits as possible, and takes the opportunity to have Catherine mix with other children.

Children’s company “She does miss the company of other children,” said Mrs Thorpe. “When we go ashore she rushes up to the little kids, just so pleased to see them.” Both Mrs Thorpe and Catherine are proving good sailors, although the little girl goes off her food when the going gets rough. When they are at sea, Mrs Thorpe cooks Catherine’s food herself, using a small stove on the sideboard in the cabin which bears all the

homely signs of occupation by a young family. She enjoys life at sea, always keeping busy. Lately she has taken up crochet. “I don’t know much about it, but I’m trying,” she said. Mrs Thorpe is a member of a growing band of women who are bringing up children at sea. Sea-going families of many nationalities are now an accepted part of the scene at the Port, of Lyttelton.