Mission  1927

We sailed down the St. Lawrence River, passed Quebec and on out to sea. It took about two days to reach the sea-:and the trip down the river was very enjoyable. No one' was sick and the weather was wonderful. The evening of the second day we hit the open sea and no one needed to tell us so. There was a big swell in the ocean and when you would walk on the deck, it would seem that the deck came up to meet you on every step. Most of the boy got sick (there were nine of us in the party). I remember in particular how sick Merrill Tribe got and how he could not eat or sit dawn and enjoy the trip in any way. He would just. walk the deck.

LETTERS
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(L270915) John Griffin to Mother / S.S. Montclaire

I got along fine until I decided to go down into the hold of the ship to get a package of candy and cake that mother had put in my trunk. The smell down in the hold together with the rough sea was more than I could take and I had to make a dash for the first mens room. That was the only time I was sick on the trip though, and I really had an enjoyable time. After about three days at sea you get pretty tired of seeing water in every direction. This boat took seven days to cross and by the time we sighted Ireland we were all very happy to see land. The meals on the boat were excellent but you just didn't seem to have the appetite that you did on land.

YEAR (FILE ) SUBJECT
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1927 (9025) John Griffin on Ship

We were to land at Liverpool and finally the boat stopped quite a way out from shore and a small boat came alongside. A man got off and climbed up the latter to our ship. We were informed that he was the pilot who would take the ship into the harbor. He must have been a good pilot because he took the ship into the harbor at a fast pace and turned and twisted it around other ships and through the channels like he knew what he was doing. When the tugs finally pushed us into the dock at Liverpool they told us all to go into the lounge and await the British officials. I remember that it seemed that they would never come and it was more than an hour after we docked before the custom officials had examined our baggage and checked our passports.

LETTERS
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(L270916) John Griffin to Mother / Liverpool, England

Two or three elders from the mission headquarters in Liverpool came down to the boat to meet us and took charge of everything. They were a welcome sight as we were all very much at a loss to know what to do or how to get places. Liverpool seemed very strange to me. One of the things I remember especially was the fact that everyone drove to the left instead of the right. They passed on the right side and the steering wheels were all on the right side of the cars. Another thing that I remember was the street cars. They never seemed to stop and you got on and off of them while they were on the, go. They never did go very fast and so it was not difficult to climb on and off while they were going.

(MISSIONARY JOURNAL OF JOHN GRIFFIN - page 2)

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