Bartholomeus and Hendrika Boxem

After 2 years of waiting and preparation, my parents had packed their remaining belongings, 2 small children and $60.00 Cdn cash, and were at the port of Rotterdam, boarding the ship "Groote Beer."

They had chosen Canada as their destination because it was the Canadian army troops who had marched into Holland in order to liberate their country. The young Canadians were exhausted by their efforts and longed to go back home after the war, but managed to generously share a few sweets with the people who greeted them. As trucks and tanks entered the towns and villages, they were quickly surrounded by jubilant throngs of Dutch citizens, relieved to finally be free of the Nazi tyranny. Many friendships blossomed in those days and indeed, many Canadian soldiers returned home with Dutch brides.

Rebuilding Holland (similar to other European countries) was a slow process. There was little money for construction of houses that had been destroyed by bombs during the war years. My parents lived in a room with my Grandmother. The house was cramped as each room now housed another couple of relatives. There was little choice. When a child came along .... and then another, there was no separate bedroom to house the new additions to the family.

My father had already anticipated this when he asked for my mother's hand in marriage. He was a police officer in the city of Haarlem which was considered a respectable career. In his research of the Canadian job market, he noted that machinists and farmers were needed, and decided that his hobby of repairing small motors might develop into a useful career. He enrolled in a college program and after 2 years, received a diploma qualifying him as a machinist.

When the young couple heard about friends who had also immigrated to Canada (Toronto) they decided to apply and embark on this adventure. They were not encouraged by any relatives as family ties were close, and Canada was too far away. Parents and siblings advised against the long and potentially dangerous journey across the ocean.

By the time I was 3, my brother was born, and the letter accepting my parents as immigrants to Canada had just arrived. Naively, both my mother and father had heard that jobs and housing was plentiful. They had only to land in that far away country, and job offers and lodgings would be waiting. They had sold everything they owned except for clothes, bedding and a few necessities including a Singer sewing machine, 2 small paintings and cooking utensils. Enough to fit into the required 6' x3' x3' sized trunk. They had only enough money for their passage and the $60.00 Cdn. suggested by the immigration authorities.

For young people who had just gone through the terror of war, this was anticipated as a pleasant adventure. They would have enough food to eat, sleeping quarters, and a trip away from home, suggesting more like a vacation that neither one had ever taken before. From the time they left their waving, tearful relatives at the docks of Rotterdam, the trip was nothing like they had ever imagined.

The Groote Beer was never used as a passenger cruise ship. It was a freighter that was quickly converted into an immigrant passenger vessel in order to profit from the new surge of immigrants moving to North America. Cabins were divided, not for comfort but only to fit as many passengers as possible into small spaces. My father was allocated into a room with other married men, while my mother "roomed" with other women and children. Large dormitories for single people were situated below deck in the bowels of the ship. No sooner had they left port when there was an announcement that the laundry washing and drying machines on board had broken down. This was not good news for mothers with diapers to wash. Every clothing item would have to be washed in sea water by hand, rung out, and then hung up in cabins or dormitories.

The dining arrangements were less than ideal too. All adults would eat at the same time in a large hall, while all the children except babies, were taken away to a small area where a nurse oversaw their care and feeding. One day my parents had finished their dinner and came to fetch me from the "children's" dining facility as was the routine. Only this time I wasn't there. Someone had walked out with their children, and I had just followed them through the door. No one had checked or even noticed the extra child leaving. At 3 years old, I was already quite independent and looking at the ship alone seemed like a wonderful adventure. I had no idea that my panic stricken parents had organized a search of the ship and were frantically running up and down various decks in search of their small wandering daughter. It was my father who spotted me standing between the life boats looking out over the ocean waves, barely inches from the edge. It was ironically the only area that did not have a railing. He stealthily came up behind me, grabbing me before the next lurch of the ship tossed me over the edge. That was the end of my visit to the children's dining room. I enjoyed the company of the adults-only hall thereafter. Not that many people actually enjoyed the dining hall that much.

No sooner had the freighter passed into the English Channel, then the calm waters of the Atlantic were transformed into a raging sea. Huge waves tossed the ship and turned the stomachs of the passengers. Most people were sea sick for at least part of the 8 day voyage. It was a leaner group of travelers that arrived in Halifax in 1952.

The processing took time after the ship docked. Immigration clerks were compassionate and appreciated the fact that the Dutch passengers had made efforts to learn English and could speak that language reasonably well.

The train ride to Montreal, and then on to Toronto, was another exciting trip filled with the wonder of scenery never before viewed. Houses were surprisingly topped with colorful asphalt material and not red clay tiles. Vast expanses of farmland and forests appeared not devastated by bombs, but green and endless. It would be the beginning of a new life, not without some great challenges and disappointments, but also a wonderful, ultimately successful settling for a young family.

Proud Canadians!!

Marion Bartlett (Boxem)