India

The SS Riviera, rounded the Horn of Africa and sailed into the Indian Ocean.  According to father those few miles the ship traversed around the Horn were quite exciting.  Plenty of rough water and he said a great many questioned the old ship's ability to stay afloat!

Unlike the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean was much calmer and time could be spent working on repairing some of the worse of the deck rust.  Apparently, they carried extra steel plates for such purposes and using hammers, banged out rust until metal could be found and then welded replacements in.  Then, of course, all of those repairs needed to be painted.  Everyone was kept quite busy!

Life aboard the ship was boring, card games flourished as did the friction between the British sailors and the Germans.  By the time the ship made port in India the situation had become explosive.  The ship made port at night, so ship's leave was to begin the following morning.  Some of the of the British sailors took this opportunity to plan an attack on the most hated German and severely change his outlook on life - if not actually kill him.

They waited until he approached and then fell on him violently.  Accordingly, they were horrified to discover that it was my father in the dark and not the seaman they sought to kill.  Not that their guilt and apologies could change that the fact that father had taken multiple blows from a sap to the face.

The British sailors surrendered themselves to the captain, whom in turn, turned them over to the Indian police.  Father had to be rushed to a hospital for what was to become a six month ordeal of facial reconstruction.  And the ship left him in India as it went on its way around the Pacific delivering goods.

Back in India, father had time to think and wrote several letters to his mother.  In return, he found out about having a new brother and sister, even sending the sister a basket of seashells from India for her seventh birthday.  But, this was the last she was ever to hear from him.  Interestingly, she still has to this day that basket of shells, kept on her dresser to remind her of the brother she never knew.

By now father was healing well, however, a large blood clot sat behind his sinuses and there was nothing the doctors of that day could do about this.  A British surgeon commented to father that if he could go deep enough underwater, that the clot might be crushed and come out naturally.  So, father tried it.  There was a steel netted swim area, due to the local shark population, near by and perfect for what father needed.

It worked very well.  Father said there was this 'thunk' inside his head and then blood everywhere.  Also, there was in the same instance, a tiger shark trying to chew his way through the steel net to get at him!  His description of what followed may have been the only time he ever walked on water, as he fled back to shore!

For this entire incident, father was compensated several tens of thousands of Marks in fines to the British sailors, from the Seaman's Union and from the shipping company, all added to his bank account back home.  The British sailors were sent back to England in chains - for they had attacked an officer.  And father was to continue to recover until the SS Riviera returned from the US with a load of wheat.  With not much to do, father spent a great deal of time swimming (behind the nets!) and talking with those around the harbor.

His conversations were to land everyone in hot water, as you will learn.