The “Steam Queens”
This actual month, history was made! It was my first at sea, when as a lad recently out of 6th-form, I joined the RMS Transvaal Castle as a “callender boy” in her laundry. It's apt that one of the last page headers that I need to fill to complete the Timeline relates to my first job at sea.
On the Union Castle ships the laundry was entirely staffed by men and boy ratings. On board Caronia, usually on cruises, the laundry was mostly staffed by women. I was reminded in a recent email that the lasses who worked in the laundry were colloquially known as the “Steam Queens”.
Tucked away at the stern, with their accommodation close-by, we never often got to see these ladies. With the strict demarcation; that is stricter than the crew / passenger demarcation on board Caronia(!), it was quite a thrill to meet the female crew at events like the crew film shows (movie-nights).
Throughout the 20 years of building this site I had hoped to hear from at least one former Steam Queen so she could tell us more about what it was like to work there. Sadly, that was not to be.
[Item: George Bigelow Collection]
However, one really unexpected “prize” was to find a laundry chit saved among a former passenger's cruise souvenirs. Probably the least valuable, but definitely the best survivor!
[Left:] Laundry Receipt
My rarest piece of ephemera? A laundry receipt issued to Mr. George Bigelow, a passenger in
cabin M20. So his suit was ready for the Farewell Dinner and Ball.
Building the Timeline has been a voyage of many reminders and there's probably many more that I'm not aware of. There's still plenty of history in the page headers ahead, but I hope that you can allow me to wallow in this little bit of nostalgia.
If you can contribute any information, do please get in touch…
