Any journey involving Continental Europe should be looked at
in the context of a brewing war.
In the same year, and also in 1937, Peter Dibdin and
a friend David Muir toured Europe.

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According to a receipt, on the 9^th September, Colin, Mary and Paul Rowntree set sail from London on a short cruise to Glasgow via Rotterdam.

The cost of the journey was about £22 with an additional 4 guineas for transporting the car. The receipt shows only three people however, it should be noted that Michael was on the cruise as well, but perhaps being 4 years older than Paul, who was 16 years old at the time, he may have paid and travelled separately.

The exact point of embarkation seems to be King George V dock judging from the photograph of the car being loaded. The final destination of the ship is uncertain however research indicates that although the Rowntree family went only to Glasgow the ship may have carried on from there to the Far East.

The items collected and the documents indicate extreme attention to detail both from the cruise ship staff and from Colin in collecting all the little bits of detail. Included is a detailed plan of the passenger quarters of the ship.

An attempt has been made to collate the story of this cruise from the items and documents and from the numerous photographs of the trip.

The boat that they travelled on was the T.S.S. Antenor, one of the Blue Funnel Fleet and it must be assumed that the trip entailed a route round the north of Scotland.

S.S.Antenor, a twin screw steamer, had a length of 487ft 8in, a beam of 62ft 2in and a service speed of 15.5 knots and was normally on the Eastern run until 1939, when she served as an armed merchant cruiser, HMS Antenor during the Second World War.

Amongst Colin pack of material from the trip, there are two breakfast menus for the 13^th and 14^th September that not only gives the details of an extensive range of choice but also the times for pass various place along the West Coast of Scotland.

Another quaint item is the beautifully printed full passenger list, bound with a cord and including the names of the senior crew. When looking at such items from 1936 it has to be remembered that there were no computers, photocopiers and yet everything was printed precisely and up to date.

For a 5 day cruise a lot was packed in. Presumably there was time spent at Rotterdam with trip and judging from the map and timetables in Colin’s pack the opportunity to travel round Rotterdam on a tram. There were on board sports, a treasure hunt and finally on the last night a farewell dinner for the passengers.

The most fascinating aspect of the cruise is that they took a car with them. This was loaded on the boat in London and unloaded in Glasgow and indeed was an interesting way of getting the car up there. The fact that it is listed on the receipt as Mary’s car is interesting.