Chapter 2

Part 1: Arriving

Amelia arrived in Britain in the Spring of 1902. The first piece of correspondence from her is a copy of the letter sent shortly after she arrived by airship at the new flying field south of London.

Imperial Airships: International Air Letter Post
Croydon International Aviodrome
Purley
Surrey
13/4/1902

Dearest Mama,

I am writing, as I promised, just as I have landed in England. I hope you will excuse it if I write in English, but I need to practice the language of my new home. (I only hope that I can live up to the aspirations of Frau Hech. I know she felt I was not the most diligent of pupils when it came to her English conversation classes, but I shall do the best I can.)

So, the adventure has started.

I cannot pretend that I view the coming times with anything other than trepidation – this country will be so different to my home - but I know that you only have my well-being at heart and it is my full intention to make the most of the future, whatever it may bring. I trust your judgement in this.

I know that I have often railed against the strictures of our own society and said I would not be married to a man of Papa’s choosing. I am sad that he could not accept my views and I know he must have been pained when I said that things should be different. I hope he will come to accept this compromise as I have done.

If what I hear of England is true, I shall have the opportunity to experience something very different from our home life in De Helder. It may not be easy to learn how things are managed here. I shall discover how well I can cope with it.

Still, enough of such concerns. I know you only intend the best for me with what you have arranged and I must try to justify your faith in my ability to adapt to my new surroundings. At least the family will no longer have the embarrassment of what my father referred to as “an ageing spinster” at home.

The journey was most extraordinary. First the train – smoky and noisy - to Amsterdam and then the steam bus – noisy and very uncomfortable - to the flying field. The flight by dirigible was quite in contrast. The enormous craft pushed along by steam power slides as smoothly through the sky as a skater on the ice of the De Helder canal in winter. It was an astonishing sensation that none could have imagined a few years ago and something I had never expected to experience.

It seems amazing that the North Sea was only first crossed by a dirigible while I was a child and that now the experience is anything but pioneering. The comfort far exceeded any form of transport that I have ever experienced. British Imperial Airships deserve to congratulated.

I took my seat in the spacious gondola, close to one of the large viewing windows. Below, the ground crew beavered away like insects, with the craft’s mooring lines. It was fascinating to watch the team at work with the ropes and hawsers; their actions choreographed like some spider’s ballet. But soon they were done. The craft set off sedately, exactly on time.

The passenger accommodations allow those on board to walk around and admire the world beneath through large viewing panels. There is even a bar where you can stand and chat with your fellow passengers as you sip cocktails in the clouds. I will confess to toasting my new found independence with one of the ship’s specialities; but do not worry Mama, it was only the one!

The crew were most attentive. One or other of them would ask if there was anything I needed at almost every opportunity.

Through the viewing panel I could see the countryside sliding away beneath me and I must confess that it felt as if my old life was slipping away too. It was impossible not to be moved by the sight of the landscape passing slowly beneath. It seemed as though the polders and canals I have known since my youth were disappearing, perhaps for ever.

Because of that sense of sadness, I could not enjoy the spectacle as much as I would have wished. As the flight went on, I fear that the relentless throbbing of the airship’s engines and the mesmeric, passage of field, forest and waves beneath only served to intensify my anxieties about the new life that I am embarking on. I suppose it might just have been the effect of the motion but I felt tense in the very core of my being. Even though I had steeled myself to it, the prospect of travelling across the seas to marry a man that I have not met, in a culture so very different from that of my childhood, was never going to make for a sanguine journey.

Regarding the future, I drew some comfort from the captain of our craft. She was a ferocious woman, barely two thirds of my own height (accommodations within the ship’s control cabin are so restricted as to make it necessary for the crew to be of small stature). She commanded her crew with such authority as to give me confidence that if she could command respect of a bunch of men, I would surely cope with one, whatever awaits me. They were not cowed but happy to follow her directions. I shall be more than content if I can emulate her in my marriage.