Mark, Edna and Keith Brain

BRAIN, Keith - Immigration Story
Written by father Mark Brain

Mark, Edna and Keith Brain’s Journey to Canada

November 8, 1948. My wife Edna and I and our eleven months old son, Keith, left the mining village of Wheatley Hill, Durham and travelled by train to Southampton where we were to board the Aquitania to sail to Halifax, Canada. Seven hours later when we arrived at the docks, our hearts sank as we discovered a very long queue. Keith, who had been very good, was by this time very tired and very upset and was almost hysterical.

A short time later a man came along telling people with babies to go to the head of the queue. We almost had to fight our way down. A stewardess held Keith while Edna and I saw to our travel documents, passport, etc. Edna and Keith were ensconced in a large cabin along with seven other women and their children. I shared a cabin with another man and his son.

The Aquitania sailed from Southampton on November 9. After we got over being seasick we began enjoying our journey. What we remember most was the lovely meals. We were served bacon and eggs for breakfast every morning. Soup, chicken, vegetables, sweet and ice cream for lunch. For dinner, we were served turkey, vegetables, sweet and ice cream. The next day we had soup, Pork and stuffing, apple sauce, a sweet and ice cream for lunch and roast beef and Yorkshire puddings etc. for dinner. Oranges and apples were on the table at every meal. Keith really tucked into the apples and oranges. We hadn’t seen an orange or ice cream for eight years and apples were very scarce. We were delighted to be allowed to buy two bars of Cadbury’s Milk Chocolate and a box of Cadbury’s Milk Tray as we had been rationed to twelve ounces of sweets every four weeks.

This was quite a treat after nine years of food rationing for Edna and five and a half of those years of Air Force food for me, we were lucky if we had meat twice a week and bacon and eggs once. When we left England everyone was still on rationing. Edna couldn’t resist buying a pair of very fine nylons that she couldn’t get in England. She would have liked more but after paying 40 pounds each boat fare and 26 pounds each train fare, we had very little money to spare for luxuries.

We remember braving the bitter November winds to walk around the deck almost every day with Keith toddling between us. We had a miss one day of promenading because of a storm when they had to batten down all hatches. We also remember hearing the announcement of the birth of Prince Charles on November 14.

Our sea journey was only supposed to be for five days but it was extended to eight days because ships were being diverted from New York Harbour to Halifax due to a longshoremen’s strike at the docks of New York. When we docked at Halifax November 17th, we went through immigration, received our Landed Immigrant Cards, and proceeded to the railway platform where our luggage was piled. We had to stand by our luggage until a customs officer checked them and then we boarded the train for a five-day journey across Canada to Victoria, B.C.

One of the cars on the train was used as a little shop and Edna asked the man in charge if she was allowed to buy a packet of Apple Blossom biscuits. We weren’t used to being able to just buy food and candies.

We had a five hour stop in Winnipeg and we went into town. We walked into a shop and couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw an enormous bunch of bananas hanging form the ceiling. We hadn’t seen a banana since before the war. When we asked if we were allowed to buy some, the shopkeeper told us we could buy the whole bunch if we had the money.

It was quite an experience traveling five days by train across Canada. All we could see while crossing the prairies was miles and miles of snow. However, the scenery was beautiful going through the Rockies.

After arriving in Vancouver we boarded one of the Princess Vessels which plied to and from Vancouver Island, in five-hour journeys. Again we saw beautiful scenery as the ship navigated its passage through the islands. We were really impressed as we sailed past Victoria and into the Inner Harbour.

We made the decision to come to Canada because there were so few career opportunities in the village where we lived, as the only industry at the time was coal mining. We have been very successful and have had a very good life. I trained and worked as a shipwright for 28 years for the Department of National Defence shipyard in Esquimalt, B.C. Edna worked in the libraries of the elementary schools. We are both retired now. Keith is a personnel officer at the lumber mill. Our daughter Patti, who was born in Canada, works at a local telephone company.

The Aquitania only made one more sailing to Canada, then she was sold for scrap.