This is the story of a young man and his two friends who sailed to England in 1967 to see the world. Aerogrammes. letters, diaries and postcards help to tell the adventures of “Will” and his friends in this A to Z.

“World”   Bee Gees   •   1967
Now, I found that the world is round
And of course it rains everyday
Living tomorrow, where in the world will I be tomorrow?
How far am I able to see?
Or am I needed here?

Fairsea, Colombo, Wednesday, 25^th January 1967

I am now seated on the fore lounge, and we are 100 miles South East of Ceylon at 12 noon.  We will arrive in Colombo at 5 am where this letter will be posted.  We have a conducted tour arranged for $3 and should get a good chance to see the place.  

Since I last wrote we have been to Singapore.  Although life on board is tremendous, excitement was running high as we entered Singapore Straits with our first chance to walk ashore in a fortnight.  We were running a day behind schedule due to gale force headwinds and engine trouble and as we entered the harbour at 5 pm Saturday the rain was teeming down in a typical afternoon tropical storm.  But it cleared quickly and we had a good view of the harbour, the world’s 4^th largest – ships everywhere.  We docked at 6.30 pm and walked ashore at 7 pm.

Taj, our Malaysian mate, had a guide arranged and six of us boarded a Chev Impala for a good look at Singapore.  What a fascinating place! We could have spent a couple of weeks there! Two million people are living on an island 285 square miles in size. The atmosphere is so exciting and it is different to anything we have ever experienced. The people are about 76% Chinese, 20% Malay and 3% Indian. 

We went shopping and you, Mum, would love it. The bargaining is hectic. You tell them you’ll take about half their price and even a third in some things.  I bought a National 10 radio (bigger and better model than I had) for $10, a watch, Swiss brand Titus for $5, an Instamatic 104 Camera (they didn’t have any 304s) for $11.00, Sunaroid sunglasses for $2. We were shown through many sights and ate at the food stalls where food is cooked in the streets.  There were sautés and cuttlefish, chop suey and sweet and sour pork. Delicious.  People everywhere kept trying to sell us everything and are they persistent!  “You want to see blue movie?”  

We were taken for a tour of the red-light area.  There are dozens in Singapore but don’t worry we didn’t go in.  We saw a short performance of Chinese Opera and then moved on to a cabaret where Archipelago beer was a $1 a bottle.  What you could do in Singapore with $500 to spend!  Everything is generally very cheap and apart from the goods I bought it only cost $5 for the car, the food and the beer. 

Keith and Phil both bought Canonet cameras for $26 each.  I’m clicking away while they are still reading the instructions.  We returned to the ship at 4 am.  Singapore was still seething with life.  The ship sailed at 6 am and since then the weather has been fabulous.  

Will seated next to Phil who is trying out his new camera

We could see Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula as we passed through the Malacca Straits with hundreds of ships going by. We saw our first Chinese junk under full sail and lots of fishing boats quite close, visited the bridge and have put the camera to good use. 

On my radio yesterday I heard “Over the Rainbow” sung in Chinese!  The ship is now making excellent time.  Yesterday we had a run of 407 miles and 405 miles today which is the best yet.  The sun is still warm to hot even considering it’s winter in the Northern Hemisphere. We are meeting lots of people on board and now I have a girlfriend from Tasmania who is a French teacher (Michelle).  Will close hoping you are all well and will hear from you at Naples if not before.  All the best.  Having a ball.

Monday, 30^th January, 1967, Arabian Sea

Hello again!  I hope you are getting all my mail and I am looking forward to seeing a letter from home sometime (Naples or Southampton or Overseas Visitors Club, 180 Earls Court Road, London).  This letter will be posted tomorrow night in Aden, South Arabia.  There is a 7 pm curfew there because of all the people getting killed in the streets with grenades etc. so we won’t be allowed off the ship as we arrive at 8 pm.  A bit of bad luck but I’d rather be alive than see Aden.  All the cheap buys will be available however as the boats come out to the ship and the bargaining is on again.  I intend to buy a chess set with case (magnetised) for $3 or less but that’s all. 

Ship life is as good as ever with lots of food, sleep, beer, parties, entertainment, girls, sport, table tennis, swimming, water polo, deck tennis and the sun has us all very tanned.  Today the rest of the cabin is flaked at 3 pm (although we got up for lunch at 11.30 am) after a hectic “Roaring Twenties Night” in which six of us played Can-Can girls and really brought the house down. The ship shouted us free beer afterwards.

Since I last wrote, the day before Colombo, Ceylon, we have visited our second foreign port.  The ship moved in the harbour at 5 am and I was up to see her tie up. After 6 am breakfast we headed ashore at 7.30 am by launch and to a bus for a conducted tour of Colombo.  The streets were swarming with people wearing not so clean saris (including the men). Colombo is very poor with old buildings and very smelly. It was completely different to Singapore, much poorer with fewer cars and fewer good buildings.  Red London buses are jammed with people who wait patiently in long queues. There were a lot of ox-carts around.  

We visited a Buddhist temple, removed our shoes and took some photos.  We visited a museum and since it was Australia Day we raced over to the Embassy and shouted “Cooee Cobber”. Two girls (Australian) came out and said it was good to hear Australian accents again.  They were having a party with 700 guests to celebrate the occasion but we were leaving so we couldn’t go. I took a photo of a snake charmer with a live cobra in the streets.  

The bus took us to Mount Lavinia where there is a grand English hotel. I ate hot, hot curry and rice and pineapple etc plus beer.  The pineapples are very juicy and very sweet.  It was the only thing that put out the heat of the curry.  Souvenirs were mostly quite expensive except for jewellery for which Ceylon is quite famous. Michelle bought a cat’s eye moonstone for £10 sterling.  Boats were alongside the ship selling all sorts of artefacts like bongo drums and carved elephants and one even wanted to swap my Singapore sunglasses for one.  “No dice”, said I.  I spent very little here (a change after Singapore) but lost a little money changing into rupees as the people wanted Australian money.

We passed the Cannibal Islands (off the coast of India) a few days ago where 3,500 people live. There is a leper settlement one mile from the town. 

Today is Resignation Day.  We officially are unemployed schoolies at 12 pm.  Tonight, is another party.  It was the fastest six-week holiday I ever had.  Glad there’s no school for us tomorrow.

Last night a baby boy (Adam) was born in the ship’s hospital.

(Editors note: This baby and the ship’s captain were photographed on arrival in Southampton and appeared on the front page of a London newspaper.)