September 4, 1939 (Monday) At Sea aboard the S.S. Veendam
Helen’s Diary
No Entry
Ruth’s Diary
Our first real bright sunny & warm day of the whole trip. I put on my shorts and lay on the center hatch & sunned myself – read a little, wrote a little. Harold was buried deep in the Grapes of Wrath. After lunch we went on a trip to the engine room. They use fuel oil – I think 2000 gallons a trip. They need fresh water for steam so they take 13,000 tons. Each propeller shaft lasts about 10 years and weighs 25 tons. Where the propeller shaft goes outside the ship the water leaks in at one gallon a minute.
News from Europe
Britain Enforces Blockade; Newsrooms Under Censorship
British naval operations commenced a blockade of German ports; the government rolled out comprehensive censorship across telegraph, radio, and press operations. Parliament reconvened in emergency session, and reports streamed in from Newcastle, Nottingham, and London on the scale of evacuation, the mobilization of territorial and regular forces, and the first casualties among British aircrew and merchant sailors.