On Jan. 2nd 1949 Antonio Bevacqua his wife, Rosa Maria who was 8 months pregnant along with their 3 young sons Guiseppe (Joseph) 6, Domenico (Dominic) 4 and Costantino (Tino) 2 boarded a ship named Sobieski to immigrate to Canada the ship stopped at many other European ports to pick up immigrants. One stop was Spain. It was a very rough crossing and Rosa was very seasick. The women & children slept in separate quarters from the men. It was so rough the little family only went on deck the First day. Guiseppe & Domenico went with ther father in the daytime. Guiseppe played cards with the men and became acquainted with a Doctor who he remembers coming to get him in the AM to play cards. At night Guiseppe returned to his mother's sleeping place where he slept on the rop bunk. Domenico would not leave his father so he slept with him. Rosa and baby Costantino slept in the lower bunk. Rosa was so sick she couldn't eat for days bt for the good of the child she was carrying she decided to try some white rice. She ate some and was sick again but went back and ate some more because she knew the baby need nourishment and was able to keep that down.
This ship landed at Pier 21 in Halifax Jan. 17, 1949. They were all taken to a large room where they waited to be processed. It took a very long time. Then they were loaded onto cattle cars that were converted with benches to accommdate passengers. I took 1 day to get to Montreal. There they were taken to a large room with facilities to bath it was beautiful and very clean & warm. One more day on the train they arrived in Windsor Ontario and were greeted by Rosa's family who sponsored them. Rosa's baby was a girl born March 3rd and 2 years later, they completed their family with the youngest son Mario.
As told by Rosa to her daughter-in-law.