My
husband and I immigrated to
New Zealand from the States in the
summer of 1975 with our son Rob,
then only 3 years old. We chose to
travel by freighter aboard the Natko
Nodilo, a tramp freighter registered
in Communist Yugoslavia carrying
‘unpackaged’ cargo. We were told
the trip would be three and half
weeks long with two stops, Cape
Town and Perth, but found as our
adventure progressed that the ship
had no regular schedule and loaded and unloaded whenever they
were hired to do so.
Accommodation & Crew
We paid for first class accommodation but what we got was not what
we expected. The cabin was the
size of a walk-in closet, located in
the crews’ quarters and covered
with soot. It included a bunk bed,
couch, desk, sink and port hole. We
shared a bathroom and shower with
the crew but dined separately with
the other ten passengers on board.
Most days we enjoyed large sardines for breakfast and fried fish
complete with heads for lunch and
dinner. All meals were heavily loaded with garlic.
The officers and crew were from
former Yugoslavia. They were very
friendly and caring towards our
3-year old son. They played soccer
with him on the fantail, let him chip
off and repaint the deck railings.
Sailing South
After several unscheduled stops
we stopped in the port of Piraeus,
Greece where we learned we were
going to stop in Africa near Takoradi, Ghana. Luckily, I was aware
that malaria was quite prevalent in
that area and was able to purchase
Quinine in Athens, an antimalarial
drug, for my family.
When our ship crossed south of
the Equator the crew performed a
‘Cross The Line’ ceremony on Rob.
During which ‘King Neptune’ came
aboard and doused our son with
sea water and rewarded him with
a candy bar and certificate for
bravery.
Heading East
En-Route to Tasmania we received
a message that my husband’s father was dying. Once we reached
Hobart in Tasmania, my husband
decided to fly home to his father
and to meet us in Auckland after
we arrived. Fortunately, Rob and
I were able to move upstairs to a
nicer, more secure cabin with a
private bath. After loading up cargo
in Hobart, the ship headed east into
the open Indian Ocean towards our
final destination.
Crossing the Tasman Sea
Ships traveling in the Tasman Sea
of the Southern Hemisphere have
strong gale-force winds throughout