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.