BRIGG SAILOR VISITS JAPAN AND CHINA

Raised and educated in Brigg, Cliff Turner, now 91 and living in New Zealand, recalls a Merchant Navy voyage to the Far East in 1950...

Now came my first visit to Japan: Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagoya. From Yokohama I went by train to Tokyo which was still largely in ruins from the war but I saw the emperor's palace which appeared to be unscathed. At one place I bought Nana a pair of locally made vases; the last time I saw them they were in my Auntie Flo's house at Barnetby. She acquired them when Nana died. 
Sitting here years later I am finding it strange that I recall so little about Japan. One memory is of seeing a black American soldier with his wife and two little girls at the Yokohama railway station; Japan still had American occupation troops present. Another is of being in a bar and hearing the song Mona Lisa with the words "Are you warm, are you real Mona Lisa, or are you just a lovely work of art".
On one of the two occasions on which I went to Japan we also went to a port in north-east China to load liquid eggs, but I have no recollection of the name of the port or how the liquid eggs were handled. By this time the Communist government of Mao Zedong ruled all China; there were armed guards near the ship and we were not allowed ashore. Chan, our Cantonese helper, would sometimes say "By and by Chiang Kai-shek come back" but Chan and Chiang were both doomed to be disappointed. 
I did two voyages in the Peleus. On both trips we called at a European port on the way home but I cannot remember in which order. Going to Genoa we passed through the Straits of Messina which separate Sicily from mainland Italy and there was something of a panic as we got to close to a ferry but all ended well. The docks in Genoa were close to lots of bars and although it was quite late when we berthed several of us went ashore to be introduced to new names in the drinks line. Marsala all'uovo was a sweet wine with eggs somehow incorporated and another tipple I tried was lacrima Christi, tears of Christ.  I went ashore next day and heard a man singing for money in the street; perhaps only in Italy would one be likely to hear a busker sing Che gelida manina (Your tiny hand is frozen) from Puccini's opera La Boheme. 
To reach Marseilles we passed through the Strait of Bonifacio between Corsica and Sardinia, so I had a glimpse of the island where Napoleon was born. I had one run ashore in Marseilles but remember little of the town.
My first trip in the Peleus ended in Liverpool on 17 December 1950; the return trip to Japan had taken just over three months. 

More memories from Cliff to come on Brigg Blog...