Alfred M. Staehle's Travelogue
of 1961 Great World Cruise

Webmaster's Introduction

I'm thrilled to present yet another social-history gem to Timeline visitors. This in the form of Alfred M. Staehle's informative diary of his once-in-a-lifetime voyage around the World. I've always been receptive of texts and stories that offer different viewpoints to my own. Alfred's texts often demonstrate how uncertain recording of the times, in political terms, were recorded back then.

While, by the start of 1961, the Vietnam War had kept U.S. Armed Forces busy for nearly 6 years, mention of the word “communism” was often more associated with the erstwhile Soviet Union. This rather than with China as we might think these days.

However, in January 1961, on the day that Caronia departed from New York to begin her Great World Cruise came a key moment in U.S. history. It was in Washington D.C., with the inauguration of one John F. Kennedy as the new President.

I've often remarked that the ship was rarely immune from events happening ashore and Alfred's writings reflect this. For him, the ship's “Ocean Bulletin” would have been an important vehicle to keep him up-to-date.

I should also draw attention to the fact that Caronia reached Long Beach the day after the failed “Bay of Pigs” invasion. Commentary from an American, as opposed to this English fellow, should give readers their bearings. As you'll read, Alfred was clearly a patriot!

My sincere thanks go to Alfred's grand-daughter, Sharon Atkins for her kind offer to share his text here.

On the Great World Cruises the “Cruise News” folder containing souvenir copies of the daily ephemera only contained a small selection of the original daily programme cards. With nearly 100 of these produced, size and storage problems meant that only thin paper facsimiles could be included in this folder.

Therefore the logo seen left has been used for linking to the daily programme reproductions placed here. The logo is unique to this cruise, featuring on the cover of the Passenger List.

All the Buttons linking to the 1961 Virtual World Cruise appear as below:

1961 World Cruise Diary

Webmaster's Note

Alfred M. Staehle travelled aboard Caronia with his wife Lois on their only Caronia voyage, the 1961 Great World Cruise, ending at New York on 03 May 1961. I'm thrilled to have made contact with his grand-daughter, Sharon Atkins who has forwarded a copy of her typewritten transcript of Al's letters home.

Right from the off, “Al” comes over as a kindly man. Throughout his writings he was very keen to maintain a balance, mitigating any adverse or critical comments with evidence that put/keep his remarks in context.

That makes the life of this Webmaster much easier, as it removes any need to go beyond the bare bones of historical context that I've already outlined. His texts make for informative reading with their own challenges, rather than as a script for a kind of slide show we'd maybe want to avoid.

It is my pleasure therefore to present to you Alfred M. Staehle's full travelogue, with few amendments to his original text. These include minor edits to rid the presentation of “widows” which makes his writing much easier to read and to (re)consider words that keep the Timeline suitable for anyone of a reading age.