Chapter 16

The trip did not start out well at all. I had paid for a single berth. When I got aboard the ship, I found myself in a double cabin, with another bachelor. I complained to my steward. I waited over an hour, and nothing happened. I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I left my cabin where I had been waiting for resolution of this problem, and made my way to the pursers office. He was not in. I asked how long we were to remain at the dock, and was told the ship would depart on time in two more hours. I thanked the gentleman for his kindness, and made my way to the deck with the gangplank.

As I was getting ready to leave, I was asked if I were a passenger. I replied that I was indeed a passenger. I was told it was not a good idea to leave the ship so close to departure time. I told the man I had to contact my attorney in order to sue this shipping line, and I would not be held prisoner.

I was asked what the problem was, and I explained that I had spent 115 dollars for a single first class berth. I said I was told I was going to be in a double, after I got on the ship. I said that I had complained to my steward, that nothing had happened, and it had been well over an hour.

He asked if I would allow him to look into the matter, that it should only take a few minutes. I said certainly, as I was not going to be robbed by anyone, for any reason. I was asked to show my ticket. I showed him what I had bought. He tried to take it from me, but I refused to let it go.

"Look, you can see it says right here, single first class berth. Is this line in a habit of selling first class births to people, then putting them in second class accommodations?" I asked in an aggravated tone of voice.

"I understand, Sir. Let me check with the purser. I am sure we can straighten this out," the man at the boarding gate told me.

Within a very short time, I was escorted to the purser and explaining myself once again. I presented my ticket to him, explained I was in a double accommodation, that I had complained to the steward well over an hour ago, and no action had resulted from my complaint.

He apologized and said that the first class berths had been over-booked, and that the double was the best he could do. I told him that my attorney would give me satisfaction if the line didn't. I would appreciate the single berth I had paid for, now, not whenever he got around to it.

He asked me to wait one moment. He picked up a ships phone and spoke very rapidly to someone in German (Well, it was a German ship, after all. Wilhelm The Great, was the ship I had booked passage on, and it was 1895).

I waited. After a couple of minutes, he turned his attention back to me.

"I am sorry, but there are no first class berths free. You will have to go with the one you are now assigned, or you can depart the ship," he said, not sounding sorry at all.

"I see. Well, in that case, let me tell you what I am going to do. I am going to the New York Times, and buying a full page advertisement in their paper. In it, I will outline the outrageous way you have treated me.

"I also stand to loose a lot of money, since you're telling me to depart your ship, which I will do. I will be going directly to my attorney's offices, to file fraud charges against your shipping line. I am going to sue your line for at least one hundred thousand dollars, to recover the losses I will incur for not completing my trip, and not being able to conduct my business. Of course, I will also sue for the one hundred and fifteen dollars you fraudulently took from me, when you sold me a berth you advertised as a single first class berth," I finished grimly.

I turned on my heel, and with only a couple missteps, made it back to the cabin where I had left my trunk. It was gone, and a new steward was waiting for me.

"Herr Wilshire? I am your new steward. I am here to bring you to your new cabin. If you will follow me? The captain sends his compliments and regrets, for any inconvenience that you may have suffered. We are putting you into a private suite to make amends, if that is acceptable," he said, with only a slight accent.

We walked down several narrows halls, and over to an elevator. We entered it, and rode it one deck up. This was definitely a 'better neighborhood', already! The hall or gangways were wider, and the doors larger, and everything here was more ornate!

"Surely this is not a luxury suite?" I asked.

"No, Sir. Those are located elsewhere. This is a section of private suites for the more affluent passengers, but not for luxury passengers. The captain made it quite clear to us that you were to be treated as such. No extra charges will be incurred for this move," the steward replied.

I was surprised that the captain had gotten involved. I wondered if it was really someone a bit higher up the food chain than the purser, but lower than the captain. We arrived at my cabin, and entered the room. I had a receiving, or sitting room, which had my trunk sitting in the middle of it. Off to the left was a bedroom with a full sized bed, dresser, mirror, your basic full bedroom, really. A bathroom was connected to that. With a full bath, no less!

"Again, our apologies for any inconveniences. We hope your trip is an enjoyable one. Please note the seating chart for your meal, and your table assignment. They are located on your bedroom desk. To operate the phone, simply pick it up, and an operator will answer and connect you to whomever you wish to speak to," he said as he started to leave.

I told him wait, dug out a silver dollar, and tipped him with thanks. He bowed even deeper to me. After he was gone, I wondered if I had over tipped him.

The voyage, while interesting, was boring to me. There was no television, no movies to watch, not even radio to listen to. I will give this to the shipping company, though. They made sure you had as much to do as you could possibly fit into a day. There were games to play, lessons in dance (which I took), and shops of all sorts and types. There was even a library. All in all, they had myriad ways of parting you from the money in your pocket. They even had gambling, if you were into that sort of thing.

Meals were an interesting affair. I was seated at a table that sat six. The dining room was huge! Waiters seemed to be almost as thick as the passengers. While it seemed as if there was one waiter per table, I didn't think that was possible.

Meals were excellent. I was sort of adopted by an elderly lady and her family. She was taking her son, daughter in law, and grandchild to see their relatives in England. Considering how much this trip must be costing her, she must be very well off indeed. I made all the appropriate comments. When asked; I said I was going to England, to do a bit of business, but mostly was just traveling.

The other man seated with us was a small nervous man who contributed hardly anything to the conversation and usually ate as quickly as possible and would disappear as soon as he was done.

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