Coming over on the Boat by Henry P. Kramer

        Dad went to the United States a month before the rest of us did. Mother, my sister, Doris, and my brother, Steve and I followed him a month later. At the time we were living in Antwerp, a big port city in Belgium. The ship we took sailed from the French port, Cherbourg, on the English Channel, a branch of the North Sea that separates the French mainland from the islands of Great Britain. The ship, the SS Berengaria, owned by the Cunard Line, had its homeport in Southampton in the South of England.
        From Antwerp we took a train to Paris where we spent the night. The next day we went on to Cherbourg. The evening we spent in Paris was memorable. First we registered at the hotel and went up to our room on the elevator. The elevator was a glass cage pulled up by a cable. We could see all around everyone and us saw us going up in the glass cage. When we had all washed up a bit, we went out to eat at a restaurant.
        Of course, being in Paris, it was a French restaurant, and according to the French custom, there was a carafe of wine on the table and next to each plate was a glass. Even though I was only eleven, I drank wine with my meal, according to the French custom. And the more I drank the better I liked it. The wine put me in the mood for the next adventure that mother took us on.
        We got into a taxi and she told the driver to take us for a ride down the famous Champs Elysee, the main street of Paris. There was a slight drizzle and the pavement was wet. So the glistening pavement reflected the many lights from the street lamps that lined the road. Paris is known as the City of Light and so it will be forever in my memory.
        The next day we arrived in Cherbourg and got on the boat. I remember the strange thought passing through me that I was leaving civilization forever to go to an unknown and savage land. Both parts of that feeling were wrong. The continent of Europe that I was leaving was not so civilized and America, the country I was going to, was not so savage.
        The boat was enormous. It was like a small floating city. There were three stories, called decks, for the passengers. First class passengers were on the top deck, the second-class passengers on the second deck, and the third class passenger on the third deck. Below that there were accommodations for the crew, and for the cargo, the supplies, and way below the water line was huge engine that propelled the ship.
        Each of the passenger decks had several restaurants and dining halls in addition to the room, called cabins, for the passengers. There were also social rooms where movies were shown at night. There was a swimming pool. There were places to play shuffleboard, and ping-pong, and miles of walks on the decks.
        My brother and I enjoyed ourselves enormously on the boat trip. Mother and sister both had seasickness and stayed in their cabin. Brother and I were not bothered with seasickness. In the morning we heard a knock on our cabin door. "Yes", we said. And I very British voice answered "would Master care to have his bath drawn". We said, "Yes, Master would." A little while later there was another knock. The voice said, "Master's bath is drawn." Master went to the bathroom two doors down the hall and had a nice warm bath in salt water. Then Master got dressed and went with his brother up to the dining hall.
        Because most people were sick from seasickness we two were almost the only people in the dining hall. A very tall waiter came to our table with an enormous menu containing what looked like thousands of different delicious things to eat. Eating was one of our favorite activities. We chose fruit, and pastry, and bread, and eggs, and sausages, and ham, and … and … more than we could possible eat. And there was no mother who told us not to take more than we could eat.
        After breakfast we would go to the swimming pool. That was a particular joy. Because of the rough seas in the North Atlantic in November the enormous boat as big as a tall block long building would pitch, roll and yaw with the waves. (Pitch means the bow would rise and the stern would fall, and then the bow would dip into the water and stern would rise. Roll means that the boat would rock from side to side, and yaw means the ship would move back and forth around a vertical axis sort of through one of the chimneys.) Combining all those motions meant misery for some and great fun for others. Steve and I enjoyed it and particularly in the swimming pool where the water would slosh around in very interesting patterns. When the sea wasn't too rough we were allowed to go swimming. But sometimes it was too dangerous to be in the swimming pool.
        Another great diversion was to play shuffleboard on deck. It was good to be on deck around ten o'clock because a waiter would come around with tea and sandwiches. Since it was two long hours since breakfast we were of course ready for a bit of food. After that we could get back to shuffleboard or ping-pong with fresh energy. Having built up an appetite again by twelve we were ready for lunch.
        Again we went to the dining room There were a few more people there than for breakfast but we were still handed an enormous menu with a vast selection. For the first time in my life I tasted corn on the cob and didn't like it at all. It has since become a favorite food.
        In the evening, movies were shown. I remember seeing San Francisco with Spencer Tracy. It was a fantastic movie about the San Francisco earthquake.
        After several days, I think it was five, we approached the shore of North America. I remember that most of one day we sailed along Long Island. And I saw all of the little white houses on shore and for some reason I thought that all of the people in them must be supremely happy. Finally, towards sunset we approached New York harbor.
        It was time for the early sunset of winter. The red ball of the sun was setting behind the gigantic fairy castle of Lower Manhattan and bathing the towers and turrets in red and orange and purple.
Finally, the huge boat docked at a pier on the West Side of Manhattan and we walked off the gangplank. And there was Father waiting for us. We were very happy.
        I knew I was in a new world. I had been used to people behaving in a very orderly quiet fashion. All of a sudden I was embedded in an ocean of human sound. There were taxi drivers shouting, there were policemen blowing whistles, there were trucks tooting their horns. Noise assailed us from everywhere. Papers were blown by the wind. It was utter chaos and everyone out for himself. We were in America.