Victoria Docks, London

The Royal Victoria Dock is the largest of three docks in the Royal Docks of east London, now part of the redeveloped Docklands. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry arrived back at the Victoria Dock, London on 26th September 1927 after his voyage to the Far East aboard the Blue Funnel ship Pyrrhus.

Lowry refers to his return to England in 1927 in Chapter 6 of his novel Under The Volcano; "Hugh hadn't waited to discover whether the journalist who came aboard at Silvertown liked to play his songs in his spare time. He'd almost thrown him bodily off the ship." (Pg.172). Hugh's memory is probably based on Lowry's own experiences of returning to London after his Far East Voyage in 1927 when he arrived at Victoria Docks in Silvertown.

Harry Weldon

Lowry refers to Harry Weldon in his novel Ultramarine; "My missus’s tightly bound, she’s all tightly bound. Harry Weldon in 1925 singing that at the Derby Castle, Douglas, his audience bringing him back for his curtain over and over again." (Pg. 116).

The above song is an unidentified one performed by Harry Weldon at the Derby Castle theatre in Douglas on the Isle of Man. This reference probably relates to a Lowry family holiday made in 1923 to the island.

Harry Weldon was a big star in music hall and variety, and first appeared in London in 1900, coining the catchphrase ‘S’No Use!’ and creating a popular song from it. Weldon initially rose to fame as a member of Fred Karno’s company when he played opposite Charlie Chaplin in the sketch ‘The Football Match’. Weldon then used the character of Stiffy, the goalkeeper, as the mainstay of his solo act, and developed other characters, including his boxing skit ‘The White Hope’ Apparently he cut a very strange figure with his centre-parted wig, eccentric clothes, eyes that always seemed to be shut and a voice of whistling sibilance. He had a unique style, and frequently used the conductor of the orchestra as an extra part in his performance. Harry Weldon’s conversational style and his use of the absurd may have appealed to the young Lowry. He worked until he died in 1930 aged 49. Read more

Lowry’s early letters have several references to music hall stars such as Stanley Lupino and Milton Hayes. We can only presume from the detail of the letters that Lowry was aware of these stars because he had seen them either on trips to local theatres or when he was on holiday on the Isle of Man or in Devon. He mentions in his works several local theatres with music hall traditions, including the Argyle and Hippodrome theatres in Birkenhead and the Olympia in Liverpool.

The use of these popular musical references demonstrates Lowry’s awareness of the music hall tradition. He uses them to underpin the authenticity of the ‘working-class’ roots of the sailors’ language in the Ultramarine, though they are often based on his own experiences. Commentators on Lowry have often overstated his middle-class origins, forgetting that his parents’ and brothers’ tastes were ‘lowbrow’, an indication of the family’s working-class roots on Merseyside. Lowry may have been an ‘outsider’ on board the Pyrrhus, undergoing an awkward transition from public schoolboy to university student. However, on his nights out with Janet to the cinema and the theatre he had enjoyed the same forms of popular entertainment familiar to the rest of the crew.

Board of Trade Lime Juice

Lowry refers to Board of Trade lime juice in his novel Ultramarine when Dana is cleaning floor of the messroom on board the Oedipus Tyrannus; "Here you are then. If you put some Board of Trade lime juice in that it'll come as white as a lamb's arse..." and "In the bucket is a mixture of soda and hot water. To this he adds three drops of lime juice, Board of Trade bottle, price 15s." - a task probably reflecting Lowry's time on the Pyrrhus. There are references that it made a good cleaning substance (See Ships Nostalgia)

All the ships were equipped with a medical locker which was stocked to the instructions as laid down by the Board of Trade which included Board of Trade lime juice, it was concentrated, very strong and it prevented scurvy, just as in the days of sail.  In later years the practice was discontinued as a result of better diet and food being better preserved with the benefit of ships fridges. The regulations were laid out in the Merchant Shipping Act 1894:

The anti-scorbutics to be furnished shall be lime or lemon juice, or such other anti-scorbutics (if any) of such quality, and composed of such materials, and packed and kept in such manner as Her Majesty by Order in Council may direct.

(2), No lime or lemon juice shall be deemed fit and proper to be taken on board ship, for the use of the crew or passengers thereof, unless it has been obtained from n bonded warehouse for and to be shipped as stores.

(3)Lime or lemon juice shall not be so obtained or delivered from a warehouse as aforesaid, unless—

(a)it is shown, by a certificate under the hand of an inspector appointed by the Board of Trade, to be proper for use on board ship, the certificate to be given upon inspection of a sample, after deposit of the lime or lemon juice in the warehouse; and

(b)it contains fifteen per cent. of proper and palatable proof spirit, to be approved by the inspector or by the proper officer of customs, and to be added before or immediately after the inspection thereof ; and

(c)it is packed in such bottles at such time and in Such manner and is labelled in such manner as the Commissioners of Customs may-direct.

There was even a folk song about the Act:

Now, if you want a merchant ship to sail the sea at large

We'll not have any trouble if ye have a good discharge,

Signed by the Board o' Trade an' ev'rything exact,

For there's nothin' done on a Limejuice ship contrary to the Act. (Read more)

Stan Hugill wrote:

The Merchant Shipping Act came out in the year 1894, and in it was laid down the amount of food, water, etc., Sailor John was allowed when on shipboard. This doling out of rations was known to John as "Pound and Pint". The Act also covered fines and punishments for delinquent mariners, such as "For concealing Knuckledusters, Slung-shot, sword-stick, etc. 5s. for each day of concealment', and many commandments and regulations in similar strain. But the item around which the sarcastic song was built was also the origin of the Yanks calling English sailors "Limejuicers." This was the daily issuing of limejuice to British crews when they had been a certain number of days at sea. Shanties from the Seven Seas 1994

Star Brush Company

Lowry refers to the famous brush making company, which was based in Eden Grove, Holloway, London in the 1920s, in his novel Ultramarine when Dana is cleaning floor of the messroom on board the Oedipus Tyrannus: "He then gets his scrubber - Star Brush Company - and his wad ...... and goes down upon his knees under the messroom table." (Pg. 50) - a task probably reflecting Lowry's time on the Pyrrhus.

Tsingtao

Former western postal name of Qingdao, China a major seaport, naval base, and industrial centre on the Shandong Peninsula on the Yellow Sea. China conceded the area to Germany in 1898, and the Kiautschou Bay concession, as it became known, existed from 1898 to 1914.

After a minor British naval attack on the German colony in 1914, Japan occupied the city and the surrounding province during the Siege of Tsingtao after Japan's declaration of war on Germany in accordance with the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. The failure of the Allied powers to restore Chinese rule to Shandong after the war triggered the May Fourth Movement. The city reverted to Chinese rule in December, 1922, under control of the Republic of China. The city became a direct-controlled municipality of the Chinese Government in 1929. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry visited the port between July 29th and 1st August 1927 on his voyage to the Far East aboard the Pyrrhus. Lowry arrived from Dairen before sailing onto Keelung.

Lowry refers to the port in his novel Ultramarine; "He was thinking of the first time he had seen Andy in the booth, where he had been talking about a girl at Tsintao, on the bathing beach there." (Pg. 25); "A white motor boat came curtsying out of the harbour, rolling nearer and nearer: as she rounded the stern of the Oedipus Tyrannus her name was visible, Mabel-Tsintao." (Pg. 28); "In Tsintao I defrauded a Chinaman of a bottle of Batavian arak, weeping afterwards, when he refused publicly, to shake hands with me." (Pg. 93/94) and " 'Aw, you mean Tsintao, boy' ' No, I don't mean Tsintao' 'E means Tsintao all the bloody same.' (Pg. 161).

Stan Hugill in his book recalls the sailortown area of Tsingtao:

Tsingtao, in China, having been taken over by the Japanese after the First world war, was in these days very Japanese in character, although the imprint of its previous owner, Germany- with a dash of Russian, and a bottom layer of China - was also present. In the early thirties it was quite a busy port and consequently had many drinking dives fro seamen. The first one, outside the dock gates, was the Port Lunch. Up the Kuan Hsieh and Liao Cheng Roads stood many more , with brothels in Lin Hsing Road. Here we give some of the better known of these joints: cafe Ginza, the Korean Bar, Sapporo Cabaret, Slick's Bar, Jimmy's Bar, Bright Eyes, Kismet, the St. France, the Kiharu Baru, and the New Bluejacket Bar.

In the Lin Hsing Road were the 'cages' with Japanese joro gazing outwards while they knitted, embroidered, or chatted to each other. Korean kisnangs or Geisha, all of whom, unlike Japanese Geisha, were harlots, were also to be found in houses in this street. (Sailortown Pg.332).

Foochow

Former name of Fuzhou the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Fuzhou became one of the five Chinese treaty ports following the 1842 peace treaty which concluded the First Opium War, becoming completely open to Western merchants and missionaries. It declined in importance due to the sand bars and shallows in the Min River delta on which it is built. However, it was still an important regional port until World War II. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry visited the port between 6th August and 7th August 1927 on his voyage to the Far East aboard the Pyrrhus. Lowry arrived from Keelung before sailing onto Manila. Lowry made no reference to the port in his works or letters.

S.S. Achilles (3)

Achilles (3) was built in 1920 by Scotts' Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. at Greenock with a tonnage of 11426grt, a length of 507ft 4in, a beam of 63ft 2in and a service speed of 12 knots. Laid down in 1916 on the slipway vacated by the Tyndareus she was eventually launched on 8th January 1920 for the Ocean Steam Ship Co. at a cost of £545,000 and placed on the Far East to U. S. A. service. In December 1926 she was requisitioned and used to transport 1000 horses and men during the 'China Affair' steaming at full speed directly to Shanghai. She was sold to the Admiralty in August 1940 and converted into a destroyer depot ship. As there was already an HMS Achilles, a cruiser which came to prominence during the Battle of the River Plate, she was renamed HMS Blenheim. After the war, in 1948, she was sold for breaking up at Barrow-in-Furness.
 

Lowry refers to the Achilles in the 1940 Under the Volcano when Hugh talks about his time on a ship sailing past Sokotra; "It was an English ship, the Helen. Before that, out of Frisco over to Japan I'd been on its sister ship, that was the Achilles. When I was on the Achilles I one saw the Helen coming out of Kelung, Formosa, with the Menelaus after her. The Minnylaws, as the limeys call her."(Pgs. 60-61). Lowry refers to 2 other Blue Funnel Line ships accurately but for the sake of symmetry changes the name of Helenus to Helen which was a name not used by the Blue Funnel Line.

Lowry never sailed on any of the ships nor is it possible to ascertain whether 3 Blue Funnel Line ships would all be in Keelung at the same time though Lowry did sail to the port on board the Pyrrhus in 1927. The symmetry of the 3 ships appears to fit in with Lowry playing with characters from Homer's Odyssey to underpin the drama of the novel.

Later in  the 1940 Under the Volcano, Lowry refers again to the Achilles;  "I was on two ships, " he said, "Helen and Achilles. Blue-pipers. Sweatrags and hard work..." (Pg. 62-63).

Lowry also makes mention of Achilles in Under The Volcano; "The Consul was talking, like Sir Thomas Browne, of Archimedes, Moses, Achilles, Methuselah, Charles V and Pontius Pilate." Chris Ackerley has identified that the Consul's list is from Sir Thomas Browne's Hydriotaphia, or Urne Burial (1658) Chapter 5, which is a profound and moving meditation upon the power of death and time to obliviate all fame.

Achilles - son of Peleus and Thetis, the bravest of the Greeks during the Trojan war. In his infancy he had been dipped in the Styx and was invulnerable except for his heel. To prevent his going to Troy, Thetis disguised him in female dress, but Odysseus found him out and brought him to Troy. Achilles, disputing with Agamemnon retired to his tent, and remained there until the death of Patroclus recalled him to action, whereupon he slew Hector. He was later wounded in the heel by Paris and died. Browne comments, in context of "the necessity of oblivion": "What Song the Syrens sang, or what name Achilles assumed when he hid himself among women, though puzling Questions, are not beyond all Conjecture." Malcolm Lowry Project 307.14

We must assume that Hugh's reference to S.S. Achilles is linked in Lowry's mind to Sir Thomas Browne's meditation and the legend of the Achilles.

SS Helenus (I)

Helenus (1) was built in 1913 by Scott's Ship Building & Engineering Co. at Greenock with a tonnage of 7555grt, a length of 455ft 4in, a beam of 56ft 4in and a service speed of 11 knots. Sister of the Lycaon she was completed for the Ocean Steam Ship Co. During 1917-18 she was requisitioned as an Expeditionary Force Transport and used to transport Portuguese troops. On 1st December 1917 she was hit by a torpedo from U-53 in the English Channel and had to be towed into port. In the following year, on 30th June, she was missed by a torpedo in the North Sea. On 22nd August 1918 she was pursued by U-90 and attacked by gunfire but she retaliated and managed to outpace her attacker. She was finally sunk when torpedoed by U-68 (FregattenKapitan Karl-Friedrich Merten - Knights Cross with Oakleaves) off Freetown, Sierra Leone (6.01N 12 02W) on 3rd March 1942, with the loss of 5 lives, during a voyage from Penang to the Mersey via Table Bay and Freetown. Eighty six survivors were picked up during the same evening by the Beaconsfield.

Lowry refers to the Helenus in the 1940 Under the Volcano when Hugh talks about his time on a ship sailing past Sokotra; "It was an English ship, the Helen. Before that, out of Frisco over to Japan I'd been on its sister ship, that was the Achilles. When I was on the Achilles I one saw the Helen coming out of Kelung, Formosa, with the Menelaus after her. The Minnylaws, as the limeys call her."(Pgs. 60-61). Lowry refers to 2 other Blue Funnel Line ships accurately but for the sake of symmetry changes the name of Helenus to Helen which was a name not used by the Blue Funnel Line.

Lowry never sailed on any of the ships nor is it possible to ascertain whether 3 Blue Funnel Line ships would all be in Keelung at the same time though Lowry did sail to the port on board the Pyrrhus in 1927. The symmetry of the 3 ships appears to fit in with Lowry playing with characters from Homer's Odyssey to underpin the drama of the novel.

Lowry also refers to the ship in his poem 'The Lighthouse Invites The Storm'; "Reclaims dividendless Homeric errors: A rusted Helen rotting in Kow-loon" (Collected Poetry Pg. 85). Chris Ackerley has identified that Lowry's poem may be an ironic imitation of John Masefield's 'Ships'. (Pg.262).

Later in  the 1940 Under the Volcano, Lowry refers again to the Helen;  "I was on two ships, " he said, "Helen and Achilles. Blue-pipers. Sweatrags and hard work..." (Pg. 62-63).

Lowry also evokes the the myth of Helen of Troy in Under The Volcano; "the face that launched five hundred ships." Chris Ackerely notes the allusion; "Mephistophilis in Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus evokes the vision of Helen of Troy:

Was this the face that launched a thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of llium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.

Like Helen, who betrayed her country by going with Paris to Troy, Doña Marina, or Malinche, the Indian maiden who became the mistress of Cortés, betrayed her people by revealing to Cortés Moctezuma's plans for murdering the Spaniards in Cholula before he had even reached Tenochtitlán.  Malinche's treacherous beauty, the Consul implies, like Helen's, launched the ships of the Spanish conquistadors, and by her act of betrayal to her people she brought into being the worship of Christ in the New World. Cervantes, being Tlaxcalan, is likewise a betrayer of his people" Malcolm Lowry Project 268.8

The Anchor, Cathcart Street, Birkenhead

The Anchor Inn was located at 77, 79, and 81 Cathcart Street, Birkenhead. The landlady in 1927 was Mrs Elizabeth Annie Davies.

Lowry refers to the pub in his novel Ultramarine as Dana is preparing to go to sea on the Oedipus Tyrannus; "A pale-faced fireman told him where he could get his clothes, and the two of them whiled away an hour lounging against the swimming bar of the Anchor." (Pg. 19)

We must assume that Lowry drank at the pub before his voyage to the Far East in 1927. The pub is about 400m from the berth in Birkenhead from which Lowry sailed aboard the Blue Funnel Line ship Pyrrhus in 1927. This may have been after Lowry got kitted out for the voyage at the Mutual Aid Society Booth also in Cathcart Street.

The pub no longer exists having been demolished in the 1970s and replaced by public housing.

Keelung, Taiwan

Keelung City (also Jilong or Chilung) is a major port city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan formerly Formosa in the 1920s. A systematic city development started during the Japanese Era, after the 8 May 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki, which handed all Taiwan over to Japan, went into force. A five-phase construction of Keelung Harbour was initiated, and in by 1916 trade volume had exceeded even those of Tamsui and Kaohsiung Harbours to become one of the major commercial harbors of Taiwan. Read more on Wikipedia 

Lowry visited the port on the inward bound voyage of Pyrrhus arriving August 4th and departing the next day for Foochow.

Lowry refers to Keelung in his novel Ultramarine; "Now ... I once pinched a five-pound packet of what I thought was Formosa tea from Kelung, only it turned out to be camphor!" (Pg.178).

Later in The 1940 Under The Volcano; "When I was on the Achilles I once saw the Helen coming out of Kelung, Formosa, with the Menelaus after her. The Minnylaws, as the limeys call her. But that's by way" (Pg. 61).

Lowry also wrote to David Markson in a letter dated 10th Setember 1951; "...(Though I've been to Ceylon, Likewise Formosa. Likewise China & Japan. Also Dollarton). (Collected Letters Vol 2 Pg. 433).

Images courtesy of Taipics

Matsuye Maru

Matsuye Maru was built 1921 in Yokohama 7061 grt. for Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), Tokyo. Torpedoed and sunk by the U.S. submarine USS Harder on April 17th, 1944, 350 miles S.W. of Guam Island.

Lowry refers to the ship in Chapter 3 of his novel Ultramarine; "A stern rose up above us: Matsuye Maru - Osaka. It was an old passenger steamer with raking masts and one black smokestack with an O on it in white." (Pg. 83).

The Strait Times June 11th 1927 confirms that Pyrrhus and Matsuye Maru were in port together as seen in the shipping announcements for that day:

To date no photograph of the ship is available. Below is a postcard issued by Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) of their ship Atsuta Maru - a ship of similar size and vintage as Matsuye Maru:

Board of Trade Mercantile Marine Office

The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions. In the 19th century the board had an advisory function on economic activity in the UK and its empire including merchant shipping.

In 1927 when Lowry sailed to the Far East, Board of Trade Mercantile Marine Office had several offices on Merseyside due to the size of the port and the Port of Garston had a separate office. The main office was in Canning Place in the Custom House Building in Liverpool. The Chief Superintendent and Registrar RNR was Commander P.O. Griffiths; Superintendent, Paymaster Commander E.A. Taffs and Assistant Superintendent   and Cashier H.F.W. Reynolds. There was an office in Birkenhead Docks with W. Lewis Owen as Superintendent and a further office in Garston Docks with F.F. Revell.

The duties of the office are set out in the Merchant Shipping Act 1894:

to afford facilities for engaging seamen by keeping registries of their names and characters :
to superintend and facilitate the engagement and discharge of seamen in manner in this Act provided:
to provide means for securing the presence on board at the proper times of the seamen who are so engaged:
to facilitate the making of apprenticeships to the sea service: and
to perform such other duties relating to seamen, apprentices, and merchant ships as are by or in pursuance of this Act, or any Act relating to merchant shipping, committed to them.

Lowry would have been required to register with the Board of Trade Mercantile Marine Office. He mostly likely registered in Birkenhead as he sailed from there on S.S. Pyrrhus in May 1927. He refers to registering in his novel Ultramarine;  "....but he could not get a clearer vision of anyone..than of the clerk in the Board of Trade Office, and of the desk at which the signing on had taken place." (Pg.18) and "When we signed on it was at the Board of Trade Office in Birkenhead, the fellow behind the counter says, 'Do you wish to make an allotment?' ...I was just in front of him. 'An allotment?' he says, surprised like. 'Why,oh, I see this must be your first voyage.'" (Pg. 64); " Do you know what the Board of Trade  man said  - wouldn't go across the dock in her." (Pg. 142); "Ah, God might cunt all his children, but he didn't count firemen, he left that to the Board of Trade." (Pg.159). In Under The Volcano, Lowry has Hugh signing on in Garston; "and when that day he had presented himself at the Marine Superintendent's office in Garston - Garston because Hugh's aunt moved from London north to Oswaldtwistle in the spring - to sign on board the S.S. Philocetes..." (Pg 161)

Penang

Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis.

Lowry visited the island on his 1927 voyage to the Far East. Lowry arrived on board the Blue Funnel ship Pyrrhus on 9th June 1927 and departed the next day for Port Swettenham. Lowry returned on the homeward leg of his voyage from Port Swettenham arriving 25th August and leaving for Colombo on the 26th August 1927.

In the short story 'On Board West Hardaway', Lowry set scenes in the port centred around the death of the pigeon adopted by Norman, a crew member; "The West Hardaway reached the Straits Settlements and unloaded some of her cargo in Penang, leaning with a quiet gratitude against the wharf, sea-weary after her long journey." (Pg. 29).

Lowry refers to the island in his first novel Ultramarine based on the voyage; "I am on a ship, I am going to Japan - or aren't I?" then he lists all the places he is due to visit including Penang.(Pg. 18); "And I went ashore with Joe in Penang."(Pg. 58), "Why! I went ashore in Penang."(Pg. 58); "I played billiards in Penang with Joe Ward, in the Chinese quarter. (Pg. 58) and "I went ashore with Joe in Penang." (Pg. 73).

Penang Road Penang

Lowry also referred to the port in his later fiction including Chapter 6 of Under The Volcano; 'A curly-headed boy stood on the fo'c'sle head of the Philoctetes as she docked in Penang strumming his latest composition on the ukelele.' (Pg.167); and in the short story 'Elephant and Colosseum'; "Since but for his duty to Rosemary he would have transferred in those days to a sister ship at Penang."  (Pg. 170).

Campbell Street Penang

Stan Hugill describes the port of Penang as follows:

Not far from Singapore lies Penang, a port known to eastern traders since the days of the tea clipper. In modern times sailors ashore would visit the Fun and Frolic, a rather popular amusement park, after the style of the New World in Singapore. Here were Chinese theatres, bars, gambling and dance-halls with Eurasian and Chineses hostesses, and Malay 'ronggeng' sections - where a member of the crowd would endeavour to out-dance a Malay girl, usually a hopeless task. Prostitutes frequented these Malayan amusement parks in large numbers, but in Penang also there was a regular quarter in Campbell Street containing several Chinese bordels. One sailor-frequented pub was the Can-do, and others were the Prince of Wales Bar, the Hong Kong Bar, and Penang Bar. Sailortown Pg. 325

Falmouth

Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England. Falmouth is famous for its harbour. Together with Carrick Roads, it forms the third deepest natural harbour in the world, and the deepest in Western Europe. Read more on Wikpedia

There is no documentary evidence that Lowry ever visited Falmouth though he may have visited the port on a family holiday to Looe, Cornwall in the early 1920's. Lowry refers to the port in his first novel Ultramarine when Nikolai, one of the crew of Oedipus Tyrannus, relates that he caught venereal disease in the port; “In Falmouth I make a fire to my my pipe, knaw, and I stood listening to the children playing - laughing same troubles as Norwegian children. But Falmouth left me a souvenir of my wisit (sic) , he added laughingly, 'the third time I have had a souvenir in England”. (Pgs. 19-20). Lowry is probably referring to the fact that Pyrrhus - the ship he sailed on to the Far East in 1927 - arrived in Falmouth on 24th April 1927 and went into dry dock in Falmouth the next day until May 1st 1927 when she sailed to Swansea.

Port Said

Port Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 kilometres (19 mi) along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal. The city was established in 1859 during the building of the Suez Canal.

Lowry visited the port on the outward bound voyage of Pyrrhus arriving and departing on May 24th. Lowry returned to the port on the inward bound voyage arriving and departing on September 14th 1927.

Lowry refers to the port in his first novel Ultramarine based on the voyage; "I am on a ship, I am going to Japan - or aren't I?" then he lists all the ports he is due to visit including Port Said and ""One of the elephants for Rome, we get her off at Port Said." (Pg. 142). In an untitled poem "I shall watch them sail; to Saigon the Equator or Port Said"(Collected Poetry Pg. 111). He later referred to the port in the short story 'Elephant and Colosseum'; "Since the ship didn't dock in Rome the beast was to be transferred to an Italian vessel at Port Said. But the ship very nearly didn't get to Port Said, or finally, anywhere else" ('Elephant and Colosseum' Pg.219 ) ; " was this very incident of the elephant's departure  from them at Port Said.('Elephant and Colosseum' Pg.219)"; and "The elephant - harnessed like an infant and, alas, squealing like one, she had been lowered into a lighter opposite the Casino Palace Hotel, while behind her in the wicked city of Port Said the advertisements for the The Lipton winked on and off…" ('Elephant and Colosseum' Pg.220 ). Lowry also had another reference to Port Said in a draft version of Ultramarine in the Conrad Aiken's archives; "Port Side = Port Said = the Dutchman's breeches." (Huntington Library Pg.23).