HMSS Homeric

When I found that tatty folder the other day with just three sheets of paper in it on Family History one of them was about Her Majesty's Steam Ship Homeric, one of the White Star fleet at the time. The reason that I have an interest in this is that my father travelled to New York on her in 1931. He was emigrating to America. This, of course, was years before he met my mother and before my sister and I were thought of.

My father sailed from Southampton, on his own, to face a new life the other side of the world. He was just 23 years old. It must have been a huge thing to do at that time. The reasons behind him going were pretty dire. His girlfriend was pregnant, a huge disgrace in the Welsh valleys in 1931, and her parents had taken her to America to start a new life. My father followed. Family history says his parents made him go to 'do the right thing' by her, but how true that is I do not know. He stayed in Pennsylvania for 10 years until the marriage broke down and he returned to Wales.

As a child I did not know any of this, my mother and nanny Jones made sure my sister and I were kept well away from that part of his past, but as young adults when we did know about it all, I remember him describing that voyage, the length of time it took, almost three weeks and he described the ship, resplendent in White Star livery, and his excitement at travelling.

It was rather poignant for me when my friend and I found the passenger list with his name on. It was as if I could suddenly focus on my father the man, not just an old story.

He always wanted to return to America, and did so, albeit for holidays only after the death of my mother in 1979.

The ship was coming to the end of it's life when Dad travelled on it. It was acquired by White Star line in 1922 and was taken out of service in 1936. I wish I had taken the opportunity to ask him more about his voyage, but like millions of other families all over the world, I left it too late. I know the story, I would have liked to have known more about the young man.