EX-WRENS GIVE SHIP A “TOUCH OF HOME”

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22669, 21 June 1948, Page 6

EX-WRENS GIVE SHIP A “TOUCH OF HOME”

MELBOURNE, May 22Women at sea give a ship a “touch of home,” say sailors on La Cordirella, which has a domestic staff of ex-Wrens, bnt it is not all plain sailing. For instance: — Seamen have to drop traditional words of the sea; the Cordirella’s crew has some of the most carefully-spoken men afloat, A "no fratting” order (except on Sunday nights) is now enforced after two marriages which robbed the ship of four of its crew. Some members of the British Seamen's Union don’t like women taking “men’s jobs.” On board the Cordirella in the bay today, Miss Vera Hunt, aged 20, stewardess, of London, said the glamour of ship life had worn .off, but she was happy travelling about the world. The chief stewardess, Miss K. Ritchie, aged 28, said the girls had become pi ess-shy, and could not understand the terrific interest taken in them at each port. The girls averaged about £l9 a month for a job of seven days a week, with 10 hours a day. Three thousand English girls who would like to emulate them have applied to the company for stewardesses’ jobs. The only other British ship with a domestic staff of women is the Langley Scot, owned by the same company.