Arriving in the Zone

The last thing I did in New Zealand was to act as best man at the marriage of my good friend Theo Gibbs. Since the wedding took place in Wellington , my mother accompanied me. I embarked on the “Corinthic” that evening, was given shots’ for almost everything by a brilliant young doctor friend , and said goodbye to my mother. The “Corinthic” sailed at daybreak next day. It must have been about the third week of June. The young doctor was Bramwell Cook, who was later to become my brother in law.












I was a wretched sailor at that time and fully lived up to my reputation on this voyage. I reacted most violently to the small pox vaccination, and was unable to leave my bunk for the first ten days. The only person I knew on the ship was a Miss Laurie Perkins, also of Christchurch, was travelling to Valparaiso to be married. Had it not been for her kind attention during these miserable days, I do not know what I would have done. Strange to say, after this terrible bout of sea sickness I seemed to get this trouble completely out of my system and was able to enjoy the rest of my time on board.

However a further trial awaited me. This occurred at Cristobal, in the Canal Zone. I stayed at the YMCA there and carefully followed all the instructions I had received about abstaining from native delicacies and beverages. There was a special tea a the ‘Y’ that Sunday evening for service men in the Canal Zone, after which I was asked to speak to them. Everything was served up in strict accordance with American standards of hygiene but that did not prevent me from becoming violently ill during the night with vomiting and diarrhoea. By midnight I thought my end had come. In the early hours of the morning I was taken to the Samaritan Hospital, where I spent a couple of days. This was my first introduction to a very common experience among new arrivals. In Peru this trouble is commonly called “turista”, because of its prevalence among new arrivals from the States and Europe. The treatment was simple. No food until I showed signs of improvement. Since I usually have a good appetite, I soon recovered.