Haft Kel Anglo-Persian Oil Company Complex 1936

Nancie travels to Persia in 1936

Her is the actual pass provided for one of  her trips on shore as a 'crew member'! After leaving Antwerp they spent two days in Rotterdam and then continued to Dunkirk where Nancie, Mrs Rodgers and Ann went ashore to do some shipping. Nancie, being a fluent French speaker after so many years living in France acted as interpreter.
By this time the weather had calmed down and they had a good sail along the English Channel. When they reached the Bay of Biscay there was 'a bit of a swell' but Nancie would later report proudly that she only missed one meal!
She must have found the 'No smoking on board' rule quite difficult. As children we remember her telling us how careful they all had to be on board the oil tanker as even a spark from metal on  a shoe sole could cause a disaster.
The journey took 6 weeks in all. As they sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar they were 'shadowed' by fighter planes with machine guns aimed at them. From there they had a lovely sail across the Mediterranean to Port Said in Egypt where, in beautiful weather, the ladies went ashore to shop and Nancie went off on her own in a 'gharri' (horse-drawn cab) to explore the Arab and Egyptian quarters  and saw much more of the area than the others.
The British Commodore then sailed down the Suez Canal and round the Arabian Peninsula, up to Abadan in the Persian Gulf.

Nancie goes to Haft Kel, on the Persian Gulf in 1936

Nancie's next job, in 1936, was with an English family called Rodgers. She went out with Mrs Rodgers and her young daughter Ann, to live on a complex on the Anglo-Iranian oilfields, at Haft Kel, on the Persian Gulf.
They travelled out on the British Commodore, one of the fleet of oil tankers belonging to the company. Sailing from Newcastle they got caught in a terrific storm. There were four other passengers, in addition to Nancie, Ann and Mrs Rodgers. The boat got as far as Deal, Kent and had to anchor off shore as the weather was too bad to risk the crossing to Antwerp. Nancie's Mother was going frantic, at home in Scotland, ringing the Anglo-Persian Oil Company for news. Apparently
ships were sinking all over the English Channel.
In her memoirs Nancie said that the Goodwin Lightship overturned , not far from where they were but I can find no evidence of this. There was, however a German lightship that overturned at that time in  the mouth of the River Elbe, with the loss of 25 of her crew in what was described as a 'hurricane'.
Eventually the British Commodore made it across to Antwerp where Nancie went ashore as 'one of the crew' with the First officer, the Radio Officer and another crew member. She introduced them to Pernod, which they had never heard of, with 'disastrous' results. They probably wanted to celebrate having ridden out the storm safely. Back at home, Nancie's Mother was mightily relieved to hear that they were still afloat!