Letter number 1.

[Envelope and folded writing paper marked RMS Tahiti. postmarked Wellington NZ 3pm Aug 18]

At sea on Sunday 17/8/24

My dear Mother,

The writing room is full up so I know that under the circumstances you will forgive a letter in pencil since we are to reach Wellington only tomorrow morning and that means being able to post this.

We are both well and have not been too bad. It was very rough after leaving Sydney and this is really the only decent day we have yet had. Friday was a rotten day rain and wind all through and very rough. We stayed in bed all day and had three good meals. Yesterday was bleak and cold and the smell of ship permeated everything. We did not attend the saloon that day either but had them in our cabin. So we did not lose them. I have only lost one and Bill still has all his. Mine went west at 9.52pm on the night eve sailed.

The best thing about this ship is our bedroom steward. He is a corker. Nothing is a trouble to him and he is always bright and happy and a man that knows his job.

The crowd on board are all wolis but thank goodness most of them leave us in NZ and we are hoping for a big improvement from then on as we will get a lot more flash ones then.

Life on board ship is a very lazy one and not much to my liking. One thing does appeal to me however and that is the hot salt baths in the morning. They are great especially when you are called after morning tea and fruit with "the bath is now ready for you sir".

The meals are not bad but the cooking could be better in some lines but there is plenty to choose from.

Well no more to say this time but will write decently from Tahiti after our first port of call.

Hope you are all well at home

Love from

Gordon

Kath Broome gave me a bonzer travelling cushion on the boat and it is handy.

Letter number 2.

[postmarked 'marine post' RMS Tahiti.2? Aug 1924, envelope printed on back R.M.S. Tahiti. 6 pages on two folded sheets (2 blank)]

R.M.S. Tahiti

Still at Sea

22nd Aug 1924.

Dear Father,

Again I am forced to write in pencil as the writing room (four tables) is full up as this morning it was announced a mail would close at 5 this afternoon so we are all busy.

I doubt very much if I could write in ink as it is a very rough day and the old ship is both rolling and pitching so you can picture me on the couch in the cabin with the paper on my knees rolling first one way and then the other. I am quite a good sailor after all and have felt no ill effects since the first night and even then I was not too bad.

So far it has been a rotten trip no one on board worth bothering about as they are all either very old or very young and the weather has been far from the best, nearly all dull days and lots of misty rain and consequently we spend lots of time in bed as there is nothing to do when we do get up.

Bill is goodo and now concentrates well enough to read books and magazines and he also butts in now and again in different conversations. He is going to see the Mayo Bros however as soon as we get to the Eastern side of the States which I think will be about the end of September.

We had about 30 hours at Wellington and it was about 28 too long for me. It rained and blew the whole time and was bitterly cold.

It is a very quaint place with streets similar to Sydney in so much as they twist and turn all over the place. The buildings are all small and nothing higher than four storeys. Bricks are seldom used and there are very few reinforced concrete buildings. The finest public office is the Post Office and the poorest the Railway Station. The latter is woefully small and falling to pieces. It is not as good as Warialda or anywhere near it. It puts me in mind of the old Point Station in appearances only and only has one platform.

We spent the morning looking around the town and in the afternoon took the tourists bus around the outlying surroundings and drove for 2 hours for 5/- which was reasonable. There are no homes of any great beauty that I saw but they certainly have some fine scenery as the town or City rather is built on the edge of the harbour and is surrounded by high towering mountains on all sides and I certainly would not like to have to reach some of their homes if I had a few aboard.

Their trams are owned by a Corp.'s and are very nice and clean but I think much dearer than ours. Safety first is their motto alright and they close the blind side of the tram up so there is no getting on or off the wrong side and nobody moves from their seat until the tram has stopped. Their harbour is a very fine one indeed and they try to class it with ours but I still remain firm for Aussie. Ours is much prettier I think and certainly in made more use of.

We saw lots of snow on a mountain quite close to Wellington.

At night we went to Fullers Vauds show and saw Jim Gerald. He was awful but quite took with the crowd there and was recalled time and again for singing Mr Gallagher and Mr Shean and other songs about the same calibre and maturity. It was a pleasure to get to bed at the Grand Hotel where we stayed as there was plenty of nap on the bed and after being there about 2 hours for the first time I was warm. The next day was cold bleak windy and rainy so after a few purchases we came back to the boat and have been here ever since.

We have Steward Dawson aboard of Ambassador fame and Davies and family of Davies and Davies the Ford car kings of NSW. and Stfansson the Artic explorer and Miss Steinberg late Sec for Melba.

I am excelling myself today but the seat is comfortable and so I roam on. I hope you can read it at all as the boat is as rough as bags and one wants a good saddle and a pair of spurs to stick on with.

Tomorrow we lob in at Rarotonga and if fine and calm enough we can go ashore in a boat from the ship for about 3 hours but if it is at all rough or likely to be we will not be allowed off as there is no wharf and if it blows up at all they are forced to put to sea at once. So that is that.

36 hours after that we land at Papeete for a day and then the long 10 day stretch to the completion of our long first stage of the journey. This will be the last time you will hear from me before San Fran as there is no other mail I can catch.

I hope you are all well at home and that Fred is in some small way making up for my absence. Love to Mother yourself Chas (when you write) and Fred.

I will write to Chas when I reach San Fran.

Tell Mother to tell Mrs Day I will write her later on when I get some dry land under me.

Gordon

Letter number 3.

R.M.S. Tahiti

At Sea Still 3rd Sept 1924

My dear Mother,

We will be in San Francisco in two days now (Friday 10am) so that is good news as we are both a bit tired of the boat and looking forward to a day or two at least on dry land. It is now nine days since we saw the last palm tree of the wonderful South Seas Islands.

To retrace our steps a little. I think the last time I wrote was a day out from Rarotonga and it was posted there to catch the boat back in about 2 days so I will carry on from there and tell you a few of the things that have happened since.

We first sighted Cook Islands about midday and anchored off the reef at about 2pm as there is no harbour there and all copra and fruit comes off the island in surf boats and these land passengers on the return trip. It is a thrilling ride as the surf is always fair and a big swell runs. We had a safe trip and then had our first taste of island life. Rarotonga is only small but very pretty and abounds with nigs who all play Ukulele or guitars all day long even returning from work on the plantations. They are a very happy crowd and there seems to be no discontent among them. The population of the island is distributed amongst 4 villages none of any size so we took a car and toured the island going right around the island in under 1 hr and a half 20 miles so you can imagine it is not very large. On our return we looked around the villages and it was then time to return to the ship as we sailed again at 6.30pm that night on another 3 day stretch to Papeete on the island of Tahiti and this place I am sure must be wonder island of the Pacific.

We picked up the island about midday and sailed through the Straits with Tahiti through the shadow of its mountains on one side of us and the lofty needle like pinnacles of the Morea on the other. The coral reef encircles these islands also but Tahiti has a break in the coral 40 yards wide which forms a natural harbour for the ships and through this we sailed and berthed along side the wharf right in the town. Coming in to Papeete was the prettiest sight I have yet seen. The water was a rich colour blue, the houses beyond with red tiled roofs and behind the great mountains covered with coconut palms and tropical vegetation of all description and then the great ravines and gorges between the mountains was sufficient alone to turn a perfectly normal suburbanite like myself into a bushman right away to explore this wonderful island.

I will have to wait until my return to tell you about all the things we saw and did there as it was great. Why the best champagne there is only 5/- per large bottle but one is hit well to leg for other things. We spent the afternoon firstly in the glass bottomed boat out on the coral reef to see the wonders of the deep and then we explored the town. At night we went to the pictures and the fight and had a great time as everything was in French except the fight. That was Aussie from start to finish, (in the sixth round) when the nig had had enough and so lay down and took the count then got up and retired smiling to the crowd. We slept on board and next morning took a car and went to Venus Point where Cook landed to observe the transit of Venus. It was a great drive full of interest as we crossed gorges and mountains in profusion and finally came back to the sea about 14 miles from Papeete at a lighthouse and monument erected to commemorate the voyage of Capt Cook. We returned in time for lunch and left Tahiti at about 3pm on the long run of 11 days to 'Frisco and we arrive there on Friday morning at 10am we hope and this is Wednesday.

Since leaving our last post, games have been started on board and Bill and his partner beat my partner and me for the final of the mixed doubles in the quoit championship which is not too bad for us.

Last night was the fancy dress ball and it was a great success as nearly everyone dressed for it. I rigged out in a sheik outfit made up of a pair of highly ornate silk pyjamas, a sheet, a large scarlet silk h'chief & a multicoloured head band all found around the ship & together made rather an attractive outfit.

Well that is that and it brings me I think up to date and if you will keep all my letters till my return I will fill in detail where required on my return as I find it impractical to write a diary so far.

We are both well and I think Bill is improving but we intend going straight to Rochester in Minnesota to see the Mayo's and then enjoy the trip after.

I hope you can read this as the boat is rolling and pitching this afternoon and it makes hard work of writing letters.

I hope you are all well at home, even Mack.

Love to all,

Gordon

You have not forgotten my address c/- American Express Co Broadway, NYC.