Rhodes Arrival

T.R.S…
Ship tenders were alongside early to take sightseers ashore but a raw North East wind put a damper on the spirits of most, including myself, who stayed aboard ship. A fine panoramic view of the city and harbour can be had from the ship.

The port is almost devoid of water craft. The ancient forts with marks from cannon fire are plainly visible, as are also the church steeples and the white round domes of the mosques. Long Colonnades of pillars and arches mark a culture and artistry of long ago.

The harbour entrance is the site of one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World - The Colossus of Rhodes, which, according to legend, was a giant bronze figure of a Greek god with widespread legs spanning the gateway and feet standing on its opposite shores.

It is said to have been destroyed by an earthquake about 300 B.C. If true, this indicates that a highly skilled people inhabited this island more than 2,200 years ago and marks it as one of the early outposts of civilisation.

Today Rhodes is of strategic military value, blocking the approach to the Dardanelles and the whole Middle East.

Creature Comforts

T.R.S…
Some 50 Caronia passengers elected to take a plane trip from Haifa to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron and Damascus and several other points famous in Biblical history, to rejoin the ship at Istanbul, five days hence, but the rest of us preferred to sail through the Dodecanese Islands in the comfort of our vessel.

Food, hotel facilities and modern plumbing assume a new importance in this ancient territory where the primitive habits of many generations still prevail and are no substitute for what we enjoy aboard ship. The rest rooms in my cattle-feeding barns are better than the average accommodations to be found in the downtown buildings of these Middle East cities.

As the ship plies its way through the Greek archipelago, we see plenty of cheap real estate - barren islands rising sheer from the sea to snow-capped peaks. Just how many are inhabited can't be determined from shipboard. Each island and reef probably has a name, but only a few names are charted on our small-scale maps.

During the night we pass through the Dardanelles, a narrow channel which is the boundary between Europe and Asia and connects the Aegean and Marmora seas in Turkish territory. Hidden in the cliffs on each side are heavy fortifications which stood off a strong Allied offensive during World War I with a frightful 250,000 casualties on each side.

Even with modern air support, I can't see how any naval expedition could force its way through this channel, which narrows down at one place to a mere 1,200 feet - a veritable meat-chopper in time of war.

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