kissed as we had seen done in the movies. It was well pastmidnight when we returned below deck. Romance hadblossomed. In the lounge we found our two mothers,distraught. “For heaven's sake, where have you been? We’vebeen looking for you everywhere! We were about to tell theCaptain. What if you had fallen overboard?” Crestfallen wereturned to our respective cabins like two naughty children.A man did fall overboard during the voyage. One morning I wason the bridge where first class passengers were allowed. TheCaptain was standing in the doorway of the navigation roomnot far away. Suddenly, I heard the repeated hoot of the ship’ssirens. “What's happening?”“It’s the man overboard signal,”someone said.“How can that be? The sea is so calm today!”Looking astern I saw that someone had thrown two life buoysoverboard. Calmly, the Captain looked through his binocularsand said a few words to the helmsman. He didn’t seem at allsurprised. I had the distinct feeling he had almost beenexpecting the incident.Now we’ll turn around, I thought. Finally, I noticed the ship’swake commence a huge semicircle. To the far left, passengerspointed out something that looked very much like a black ballbobbing on the water, appearing and disappearing betweenthe waves. The ship had slowed down and the black ball hadnow become a human head. We were approaching it veryslowly. A lifeboat containing eight crewmen was lowered andbegan rowing in the direction of the bobbing head. By now, allthe decks were crowded with passengers anxious not to missthe rescue operation and to give advice. “Straight ahead, to theright, no, to the left, to the left!” the self-appointed expertscalled out.Eventually, the lifeboat returned with a figure wrapped in ablanket seated astern. We were later informed that the rescueoperation had taken forty minutes. It had been a youngEnglishman from second class who had foolishly decided to givesome girls a demonstration of his prowess at gymnastics,dangling overboard from a rope at the bows and balancing hisfeet on the anchor. A sudden jolt had forced him lose his gripand he had fallen into the sea. Rumour had it that the Captainhad been ready to receive him with a couple of slaps across theface, however, when he noticed that there were lacerations onthe young man’s chest and legs, he just gave him a severereprimand and had him taken down to the first aid room. Hehad been lucky, we were told, as sharks infested the area.That evening, the Captain and officers were late for dinner.When they eventually took their seats, everyone at the Englishtable stood up and spontaneously started clapping. The othersin the dining room followed suit, all up on their feet, joining in awarm, appreciative applause for the Captain. He smiled andsignalled us to sit down.From then to the end of the trip we heard very few complaints.Everyone had realized that, despite any discontent, whatcounted most was the competence of the Captain and crew ina crisis on the high seas; such competence had been brilliantlydemonstrated. In the days that followed, many Englishpassengers declared to Mother that they now had completeconfidence in the captain of m/n Napoli and her crew. “Wehave even got to like risotto,” they conceded.The voyage was coming to an end. Every day, Motheraccompanied Mrs. Accolti-Gil to check the progress of the shipagainst a map hanging on one of the covered decks. Oneevening the Captain told her, “Tomorrow at dawn we’ll bereaching your country, signora. Soon you’ll be home.” We roseearly to see the arrival. We sighted the low-lying coast ofWestern Australia, flat with no relief. We entered the SwanRiver and were moored at the wharf in Fremantle where westayed until evening. Childhood friends of Mother’s came tomeet us and take us for a tour of Perth and the suburbs.Everything was very beautiful, especially the lights along theriver in the evening. We reboarded at midnight.Fig 6. Mother and myself. Image courtesy of John Maneschi.The five days that followed were lively due to the severe rollingand pitching of the ship across the Bight. Furniture movedaround and the grand piano slid from one corner of the loungeto the other. The Captain and all the officers had changed backinto their winter uniforms. Passengers were starting to say theirgood byes. Many, like us, were disembarking in Melbournewhile others continued on to Sydney. A feeling of sadness cameover me when I realized that the fabulous month was about tocome to an end and another chapter of my life was about tobegin. Suzanne and her mother would be dismounting inSydney. Suzanne had a distant look in her eyes as if to say,shortly it will be all over.The day before arriving in Melbourne there was a great deal todo. The purser, who held our passports in the ship’s safe,handed them back in exchange for payment of any additionalexpenses such as extras passengers had consumed at the bar.He was very busy. Despite the notice on the door of his officethat only payments in Italian lira, pounds sterling or U.S. dollarswould be accepted, many arrived with paper money from othercountries. Very long queues had developed and there was a lotof arguing.32 | IHSJ ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL VOLUME 18 <strong>2010</strong>
We arrived in Port Phillip Bay at eleven o’clock in the morning. Itwas a grey, humid and blustery day. As the ship sailed up theYarra to its docking at Port Melbourne, we could see that thewharf was crowded. There was great excitement on board.Mother soon saw her brother, sister-in-law and two curlyheadedlittle girls. “Look, there are your little cousins!” Theywere looking up but they hadn’t seen us. Mother broke out intoa loud Cooee. Her brother saw her and answered back. The girlslooked up but were obviously stunned by the chaos of peopleyelling, waving hats and weeping. Next to us were the twoproxy brides, holding photographs and anxiously scanning thewharf for their new husbands. “There he is, there he is!” one ofthem yelled. “But where's mine?” asked the other one. “Therehe is, it must be him, he's shaved off his beard!”The Merry Widow had sighted her husband, the Australiansoldier, in uniform. The two blew kisses to each other.Announcements were broadcast from the ship’s loudspeakersbut no one was paying attention as they crowded around thedisembarkation gangway. Finally we got to it and went downthe steps, carrying our bags and suitcases. The purser thrust anote in Mother’s hand. “Good bye, good bye,” I heard a voiceabove us. It was Oscar, our friendly barman, making hisfarewells. I felt pangs of regret and unease. Now we had arrivedin Australia, the spectre of Australian school rose before me.What next? Where was papà?As we reached the wharf, Mother looked at the note. It was aradio-telegram just received from papà, addressed to myselfand Andrea. Another one of his Dantesque outbursts:“Coraggio, ragazzi – qui comincia la Vita Nuova!” 2 2 “Take heart, boys – here begins the New Life”, Vita Nuova beingDante’s story of his infatuation with Beatrice. Papà once againmanipulating his beloved Dante to our situation!IHSJ ITALIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL VOLUME 18 <strong>2010</strong> | 33
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