Pilling Family Stories #3 - Sailing to England on the Duchess of Atholl

In the middle of Doral Pilling's account of working towards his oil interests, there is a pause in the story for a conversation about love and courting.  We get several pages of Doral telling about his early encounters with Wyora Scoville, and the long and winding path that led to their marriage.  It is a tale worth reading (see pages 75-81).  

Part of what 'entertained me' was seeing how the quest for capital was picked up shortly after the wedding and honeymoon.  Doral tells us that they were married in January of 1939, and that three months later, his dad (RW Pilling) had suggested that Doral head off to England to see if he could raise capital there, so they could proceed to drilling on Moose Dome.  And so, on April Fool's Day, he told Wyora to pack her suitcase for a trip to England.   

Off they went, taking the train across Canada, to Quebec, where they boarded "The Duchess of Atholl" and travelled first class across the sea.   Doral recounts the adventures of their time on the ship (which includes all the food, and entertainment, and the challenges of keeping food down on stormy seas).

As I was reading his account, I found myself thinking of the Doral and Wyora on the ship, particularly given how much time Arta, Wyona, Moiya and Glen have spent travelling the seas in this way over the past two decades.  As I was thinking also about how much I have heard the aunts and uncles talking about specific boats, I got to wondering about the Duchess of Atholl, so I went out to gather a bit more information.

As I read, I was reminded that  one aspect of of ocean liner travel, especially in the early years, was also about drawing immigrants from Europe to start a new life in Canada.  And indeed, one of my searches on the Canadian Pacific line and the Duchess of Atholl took me to this Norway Heritage site, which documents immigrant travels. I found myself thinking about the film Titanic, and how it documents the two sides of ocean travel: the first-class luxury on the upper decks, and the crowded spaces of immigrant transit on the bottom.  The Titanic sunk in 1912. But by the late 1920s, the ships were starting to upscale - a focus on "Cabin and Tourist Class" passengers, with less space dedicated to 'steerage or third class' or immigrant travel.  

https://www.ggarchives.com/OceanTravel/ImmigrantShips/DuchessOfAtholl.html#google_vignette

And so, the Duchess of Atholl is part of this shift.  The ship was built in Scotland for the Canadian Pacific Line in 1928.  While at first this made me raise an eyebrow (a ship for a train line?!), I found myself remembering that those great hotels of the early century (The Empress, the Banff Springs, the Chateau Laurier, etc) were also CP Hotels, part of a network of encouraging folks to travel across the county.  So, it made some sense. It was interesting to look at some of the promotional materials:  "39% less ocean!"  This is not the ship for a 4 month luxury cruise, but is rather one which gives a feeling of luxury for those having access to greater travel.

Duchess of Atholl
National Portrait Gallery collection
photo by Walter Stoneman, 1925

My next question was about the name on the ship itself.  Not uncommon for ships to be named after women, so... who was this Duchess of Atholl? Her name was Katharine Marjory Stewart Murray (1874-1960).  In 1923, she was the first woman elected to the Scottish Parliament.  Interesting, since she had been the Vice-President of the Anti-Suffrage League in 1913.  Well, votes for women did arrive in 1918, so I guess she had time to change her mind! :-).  

She also starting making moves to the 'left' in terms of increasing activism against fascism, such that she was referred to as The Red Duchess.  She finally was in a conflict with Chamberlain over his belief that he could negotiate peacefully with Hitler (she had read Mein Kampf in the original German rather than in the watered down English, and predicted trouble ahead). Both she and Winston Churchill resigned their posts in protest over this in 1938.  Her predictions unfortunately played out.

In December of 1938, The Duchess of Atholl was unsuccessful in her bid for re-election as an independent.  At about the same time, Wyora and Doral were getting married.   About 4 months later, in April of 1939, Wyora and Doral travelled across the ocean to Britain.  Anyways, a very interesting story!   

War was declared in September of 1939.  

But back to the boat itself.   On December 30 of 1939, The Duchess of Atholl was requisitioned for trooping duties.  I found myself wondering if Steve's dad Len Carter had travelled across the ocean in 1940 to England on this very boat?  

The boat finally found its end on October 10 of 1942, when it was torpedoed by a german U-Boat off the coast of Acension Island. Most of the people on board were saved.  Here is a link to an account by a telegraphist who heard the SOS call from the sinking boat:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/30/a2987030.shtml

Other funny links?  I found one person's story of coming as a refugee from England to Canada in 1940 on the Duchess of Atholl, and settling in Salmon arm: James Lang, "Evacuation to Canada" (25 July 2005)