Oct. 31, 1912

The good weather we had from

London to Colombo has left us.

It has been dull and gray for

the last week. Was raining this

morning a heavy mist and by

afternoon it was a steady down-

pour with high wind. Everybody is

inside with doors and port holes 

shut. Mrs. Wall amused the child-

ren in the music room by playing

 for them while they sang. I took C.

down and gave her a bath before I

dressed for dinner. Enjoyed my

dinner even if we did roll around

a bit. It was foggy after dark and 

the fog horn was blowing all evening.

Oct. 30, 1912

Sea still rough and every body

feeling mean. Jean Reid and

Catherine are getting rather tired.

Catherine got her book of fairy

tales out of her trunk today and I

read to them for a long time.

Baby is well and so good. Annie

rather unsettled by the rough 

weather. My head aches most of the

time and I do very little reading but

still have a good appetite.

Oct 29, 1912

Rotten weather ever since we left

Colombo. The boat rolls and pitches

all the time. Its still quite warm 

and muggy. Took a last long look

at the "Dipper" and "North Star" and

from this on we will centered with

the " Southern Cross ". Crossed the 
line sometime the night of 28th and 
hope to have it cooler soon.

A Ship's Log?

     I was hoping to find a ship's log for the SS Mongolia online.  Something about Georgie's timeline just doesn't seem quite right.  Leaves Aden on Oct. 21, passes Socotra on the 24th (her second entry for the 24th), and gets to Colombo by Oct. 26th?? I did find a passenger's list at www.findmypast.co.uk. It is 19 pages long - and cost about $6 per page to see a transcript. So I started at page 8, hoping entries would be alphabetical, and I would be looking for F and M.  My lucky day!  Miss McGillivray and Mrs. Fraser, infant and child were listed on page 8, all contracted to land at Hobart.  Interestingly, there was no note by Georgie's name, but by the Frasers, it said "see Alien Sheet."  Since this was a British Passenger list, Georgie must have still been a British subject in 1912, but Annie must have already become an American citizen.

Also helpful were names of other passengers on the list who have been mentioned in Georgie's entries.  The list is similar to a census form, listing landing port, occupation, marital status, age, country of last permanent residence, and future permanent residence.

Minimum "pay as you go" on the findmypast website was $12.00.  I'm satisfied I got my money's worth.  I still have $6 credit to do some checking on JWF's voyage when I have time!

Oct. 28, 1912

Left Colombo at noon. Quite

a crowd of passengers left the

Mongolia at Colombo trans -

shipping for China. Mr. and Mrs.

Howell and Mrs. Donner we

miss very much. So much

cargo was put off at Colombo that

we will mind rough weather very

much. The boat seems very empty

now but we have all our table companions

still.

Oct. 27, 1912

Sunday morning and very quiet. Colombo

looks so pretty from the water. It is

raining so no one thought of going on

shore. The natives came to the boat

with ornaments to sell. They are

such odd looking mortals. The

men have long black hair which

they were in a coil and have a 

funny looking comb stuck in it.

They wear very narrow skirts and

loose white coats. The harbour

is dotted with odd looking little

boats.

Oct. 26, 1912

Reached Colombo about six P. M.

Had not intended going on shore but

Miss Leishman, our stewardess insisted

on taking care of the children for us

so we decided to go. It was very beaut-

iful as we were going into Colombo.

The sun was just setting and the 

lights certainly were gorgeous. We

would not have enjoyed them so mcuh

had we known it meant bad weather.

Quite a crowd of us went on shore together.

Went in a launch and had dinner

at the G. O. Hotel. The dinner was

all right but we were not used to

the cooking and were afraid to

eat the highly seasoned stuff. After

dinner Mr. Cornel who was paying

for the evening suggested a rickshaw

ride, and it was too funny for any

thing to see the whole crowd of us start

off for our ride. First we went to the

Post Office as Annie and Mrs. Parker

were sending cables. Then we had another

ride and ended up in the shopping

 districts.It was lots of fun to shop.

Got beautiful hand made linen lace.

Annie got two little books  Jim wanted 

some little baskets for souvenirs and

had such a good time. Walked back

to the wharf and went in a rowboat

to the boat. They were coaling when 

we got back. Every door and port hole

was closed and it was so stifling

hot. We all went to the dining

room and had Ginger Ale and

sandwiches. It was so close that 

we did not sleep much. I fanned 

the kiddies nearly all night.