Time Capsule: March 1, 1951 Vulcania Atlantic crossing

Dad kept the tickets for that eventful sea voyage when FAO moved it's staff and families to Rome, Italy.

Following is extracted from documents of FAO's Documents Repository:

" The transfer to Rome was effected during the early months of 1951. A contract was made with the Italian Lines for the transport of the staff and their families, utilizing regular sailings of the S.S. Saturnia and the S.S. Vulcania. 76 staff and family members sailed out of New York on the Saturnia on 17 Feburary; 78 on the Vulcania on 1 March; 82 on the Saturnia on 22 March; and 5 on the Satumia on 28 April. A scheduled sailing of the Vulcania on 4 April having been cancelled, the travellers booked on that sailing were transferred to such other sailings as were available at the time. A few staff members and families made the crossing later in the year.

The 4 April sailing of the Vulcania was cancelled because on its previous passage it had encountered a very bad storm and had to go into dry dock for repairs. A few incidents will indicate the severity of that storm. The grand piano in the main lounge broke loose and, cruising about the lounge, reduced most of the furnishings to kindling. During the height of the storm it was impossible to operate the dining room, and waiters crept along the corridors with sandwiches and whatever else could be served in the cabins. One staff member was thrown from her berth and suffered some cracked ribs. Sir Herbert Broadley, then Deputy Director-General, recounted — with his usual wry humour — being seasick and having to crawl from his berth to the bathroom, where he had the misfortune of having the seat of the toilet fall down around his neck! It was an epic voyage, and one that the 78 FAO staff and family members who experienced it did not soon forget.

The intensity of the storm that struck the Vulcania can perhaps be more fully appreciated from Street's (1951) account, written shortly after the event:

The second ship was caught in one of the worst storms in recent years. For a day and a half it drifted helplessly, battered by mountainous seas. Passengers could not leave their rooms, not even for meals. They were thrown out of their bunks, were cut and bruised. Two sailors were lost overboard. The main hatch broke open and water poured into the hold, where automobiles and household furnishings were crashing about in destructive abandon. The captain himself had doubts that the ship would survive."

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