Henry J. Neils’
Travelogue of 1959 Great World Cruise
Henry J. Neils was a businessman from Minneapolis. He wrote a daily diary of his voyage on the 1959 Great World cruise. Presumably, the 30 faded typewritten sheets had been duplicated for distribution to his employees.
The transcribed document now forms 25 pages of the Timeline, accessible from links on the January, February, March and April 1959 month pages. This was the first special feature to be added to the Timeline as it entered its 2nd year of being on-line.
Henry's quoted text throughout the site start with this indicator: H.J.N.…
Henry J Neils’ Travelogue 28 February 1959
Port Victoria, Seychelles Islands
H.J.N.…
At 6.30am Saturday, 28 February, we were greeted by a beautiful sunrise. We had breakfast and were soon aboard the
ship's launch to take us to shore, which took twenty minutes. Took a taxi to the botanical garden, a pretty spot with
a granite outcrop in the background.
The Seychelles are the home of the “Coco-de-Mar” palms that grow double cocoa-nuts. Other produce are bananas and nutmeg. The main island is forty square miles and supports a population of 40,000. That figures 1,000 per square mile. The inhabitants cover the island like ants. The white population in Port Victoria is of French descent.
H.J.N.…
The history of this out-of-the-way group of islands is fascinating. They are a British Colony ruled by a governor and
have a legislative assembly for making laws. This city is small, but kept nice and clean.
Products of the soil are coconuts, spices, vegetables and flowers. The natives do handicraft work of many kinds. Tortoise shell is used for many souvenir products. The tortoises are tremendous in size.
We only had a few hours in this port and promptly at 12.00 noon, we sailed for Bombay, India, 1,752 miles distant. The temperature is approximately 100°F. in the shade. We are following the Equator, but will be crossing it in a few hours, heading North East.