MATRIMONIAL NET SPREAD ON SHIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18575, 25 September 1928, Page 3

MATRIMONIAL NET SPREAD ON SHIP.

MARRIAGES ARRANGED DURING CRUISE. After a cruise round the-North Cape the White Star liner Calgarie lately returned to Liverpool with the announcement of no fewer than seven marriage engagements. This is an outstanding example of the seductive charm of the sea in bringing about marriages, but it is not bv any means a record, even for a single voyage. When the famous yacht Midnight Sun took up the running of tourist trips to northern seas, she established a record on her first voyage by bringing together nearly all the eligible spinsters and bachelors on board; even two of her officers became engaged before the voyage was over. One eventually married a woman of title, while another became the son-in-law of a tobacco king. For years afterwards the famous old vessel was known as the Love Ship, as she seldom kept her unmarried officers for more than two or three voyages. Since the Midnight Sun began to take tourists on long sea trips many liners have followed suit, but the real attraction to the liner companies did not manifest itself until the shipping slump of 1922. Many big ships - swung idly at their moorings with skeleton crews on board. Shipowners were losing fabulous sums every month in insurance, harbour dues and upkeep. Valuable ships which cost fortunes to build were maintained ready to take up service at any moment in their regular trades. Half-way Round the World. Then the happy idea of running a cruise half-way round the world struck one company as a good scheme; there were many war profiteers, particularly in America, craving for new excitement. It was decided to make a test with' one of the newest Glasgow liners. A carefully-worded advertisement appeared in the Press on both sides of the Atlantic to the effect that if sufficient passengers could be found a famous liner would leave a British port, calling at New York en route to embark passengers for a tour round Africa via the Cape, returning via Suez with stop-over ports during the tour. The result was surprising. Passengers besieged the ticket office. It was a revelation to the shipping companies. Keen business bachelors seeking new fields for enterprise flocked on board. It was the opportunity mothers had long awaited. Men had been too busy making money to think about marriage. It was the old story of starlit tropical nights gliding through the seas of romance. Even the hard-grained bachelors could not resist the alluring charms. One after another were caught in the net of matrimony, until ever- available spinster was commandeered. Thirty-three marriages resulted from that tour. Officers Also Enmeshed. It is not onlv passengers who are concerned in this great matrimonial plot. There is one instance on record of an officer on a liner who became the victim of the daughter of a wealthy banker. But she had to cross the Atlantic for seven voyages before she got him 3 “George was the worst womanhater I ever met,” she confided to a friend after they were married. “ I had to chase him thousands of miles before I brought him to his senses, and then he. came to the silly decision that we must wait until he got a command. But when I got him to that stage the rest was easy. He does not know to this day how promotion came so quickly. George still insists upon retaining his command.” Ship-made marriages, however, are not always a success. A young officer travelling in India, the heir of a nobleman, fell in love with a charming Frenchwoman. Nothing would satisfy the impetuous youth but marriage immediately on the arrival of the liner at Bombay. The newly-created Hon Mrs “X ” objected to a life in India, and persuaded her husband to resign his commission instead of joining his regiment. This was easier said than done. First there was the family to consider, secondly no permission had been requested from the War Office. The marriage must be kept secret for the time being. End of the Romance. Leaving his wife at a hotel in Bombay, the voung officer proceeded to the hill station to lay the facts before his colonel; finally, three months’ leave of absence was granted to allow the officer to return to London and make arrangements for his wife. Unfortunateb' for the woman, the liner called at Marseilles on her homeward passage, for the newlv-married couple had barely crossed the gangway before the wife was arrested. That ended the ship romance. It transpired that the woman was the wife of a Marseilles baker, and had absconded with a false passport, taking with her the whole of her husband’s savings. The Hon “X ” was her third “ husband.” She was on her way to India to join her second when she met him on the liner. There was another case of a widow who married the commander of a famous liner, a splendid man of ripe experience iii command of big vessels, lie gave up his command to marrj' the alleged rich widow w r ith “ silver mines in Mexico,” only to find that she was an absconding charwoman of a banking house in Baltimore.