Southampton – May 1956
From tropical green, across the vast blue to brutal industrial grey. He was an incomer to a town of incomers, an outsider amongst many, from within the British Isles and without, he came to earn, to live
and to leave.He had been taught that ‘to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive’.
He had travelled hopeful of the opportunity to work hard, to earn enough money to return home in glory and to enhance his standing in life. Now he was upon dry land, where the sun stayed hidden and the cold chilled his bones.
He had arrived.
Events that may seem incidental in the book are very often based on fact. In Chapter 5, Tio is recovering from a severe cut above the thumb on his left hand. In the photo of the two passengers, look closely and you'll see the left hand of the man on the left is bandaged. That's my father, Max LeBlanc, who did indeed injure his hand before he embarked on the SS Auriga, which arrived in Southampton on Sunday 13th May 1956.
The average temperature on the month of his arrival was 13 degrees Celsius, same temperature as it is here today in January. Just as Tio's name was misspelled on the passenger manifest, my father's name was also - he was entered as Marc LeBlanc rather than Max. Mention in Chapter 4 of passengers being told they would have to swim home if they didn't want to work was based on a real notice posted not on the Auriga, but on the Empire Windrush a few years earlier.
Just as in the book, fish and chips was almost the sole culinary offering - odd for an Italian crewed ship. It did indeed make my father feel nauseous for most of the journey. It gave hime a strong aversion to the dish for many years to come. Despite the boredom, the seasickness, the occasional conflict from passengers losing more money than they could afford in card and domino games, the prevailing mood was still optimism.
Contrary to popular belief, most immigrants to the UK did not think they were about to walk streets paved with gold. In most cases, their intention was to earn, to live and to leave.
