by Jack Lynch
When we agreed to get married, we decided to go somewhere quiet, to plan our marriage arrangements. We drove to Little Island. Neither of us had ever been on the Island before, or since for that matter. Why we picked Little Island I have not got the foggiest idea, but I was driving and the car seemed to just go there. We found a quiet spot near the water and sat down and talked, hugged, kissed, and made our plans. We decided that my sick leave period did not allow much time for the arrangements so we would have to move fast. First of all we went into Patrick’s Street, in the city, and did the rounds of the jewellery shops, looking at engagement rings and wedding rings. Molly selected a diamond cluster, which she wore with dignity and delight. After selecting the ring we then went and had a lovely meal in the Savoy. This time Molly ate with gusto, and was not embarrassed to select what she fancied. She kept looking at the ring saying, “Are you sure it’s not too expensive?”
As I had a fair amount of money saved, I assured her that whatever she wanted she could choose. Molly was so excited and showed her new ring to all her friends. It was time to see those scintillating eyes in action. Boy, did they shine and she looked so wonderful, I felt so proud of her.
We decided that September 4th, 1957, was going to be our wedding day. In all fairness, it was Molly and her family who arranged the whole wedding. I was ushered in to meet a Mr. Nathan, a tailor, to be measured and fitted for a suit. I never felt comfortable in that suit, and I didn’t wear it much after the wedding. The whole summer was passing by and I still could not come to terms with the fact that I was about to get married. I really had never planned anything and let everything happen before I acted. It was like a dream. I did not seem to have anything to do but wait for the big day in St. Patrick’s Church. I carried on as usual when I was in Cobh. The ulcer was slowly responding to treatment, I did some fishing, and went around with my friends with a notable exception; I was not meeting the trains from Cork anymore.
Molls (my pet name for Molly) and I spent a lot of time together in the run up to the wedding especially going to see films. This seemed to affect Moll’s Ma, as she and Molls were very close and it curtailed her daily cinema visits, while I was around. During my married life I was to have many disagreements with my mother-in-law.
As the wedding day drew closer I was getting nervy, and the ulcer started to act up. Anthony was to be my best man, and my parents, sisters, aunts, uncles, and friends were all making plans. I had no idea what to do, except let time go by, and on the fateful morning, got washed, shaved, dressed, and watched in a dream as my family buzzed around me.
Anthony had arrived from Portsmouth, and had travelled part of the way by motorbike. During the trip he fell asleep on the bike and crashed into somebody’s garden in Wales. He got up, dusted himself off, left the motorbike in the front garden, and got a bus to Fishguard where he boarded the Innisfallen for Cork, none the worse for his experience, except for a bruised knee and hurt pride. He arrived on time, and did not relate this episode to me until sometime later. He never went back for the bike!
Molly’s sister Doreen was to be Matron of Honour and her brother Donald was to give the bride away. Early on the morning of September 4th I got into Joe Twomey’s taxi with Anthony and my parents, and we headed for Cork. I was still in a daze and cannot remember the trip, and even when we got out of the taxi it was unreal to me. At this time the duodenal ulcer gradually began to tell on me, and I noticed myself getting more and more nervous and tense. We called to Molly’s house and were ushered into the front room, as Molly was upstairs with Doreen and Anne who were helping her get dressed. Mrs. Kiely asked me where my buttonhole was and then it dawned on me that all of us should have buttonholes and nobody did. Panic! Mrs. Kiely had only enough for her family’s side, so she had to take a flower here and there from the others to make up the extra buttonholes for me, Anthony, Mammy and Daddy. All fixed up, we headed across the road to St. Patrick’s Church, which was directly across from the house, and took up our seats.
After what appeared to be an eternity of looking around, and fidgeting, the organ started to play, ‘Here comes the Bride.’ This is when I felt it was not a dream, but reality. I glanced back and saw Molly’s eldest brother Donald leading her up the aisle. I moved from my seat to the centre of the aisle. I could not see her face, because the veil covered it. When she drew up alongside me I put my hand out, and gently squeezed her hand and smiled. She smiled back, and it seemed as if this was the most natural thing to be happening to us. My fears and doubts were gone, and I felt at ease. Even the ulcer behaved. She looked enchanting, radiant, and beautiful. The ceremony commenced, and after we had taken our vows and signed the register we went outside for more photos to be taken. We then retired to the Metropole Hotel for our wedding breakfast.
Unfortunately for Molly and me, the Heffernan Travel agents had not brought our travel tickets and we wondered if we were going to miss our planned honeymoon; Konigswinter, on the Rhine in Germany. At the Metropole Hotel an agent arrived as we sat down for breakfast. This left little time for us to sit down at the table and enjoy our meal. It only gave us 1 hour to eat, get ready and go to the station for our train. We ate nothing due to excitement and the poor arrangements. When the speeches were quickly finished we headed for Cork Railway station, to catch the train for Dublin and make our ongoing connections. We were bitterly disappointed with Heffernan Travel agency for making such poor arrangements, but nothing could be done at this stage. We had been chasing them for the tickets and were in fact fearful they would not arrive at all in time for us on the day. It was ironic and heartbreaking that on our wedding day the tickets arrived and Molly and I had to bid farewell to our guests far too early, we were later told they had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed themselves with lots of songs and craic.
Molly and I got to the railway station in time, and here began the most tiring and frustrating part of what was to be our most enjoyable experience. I was the first to start this off by going to the Kiosk for something for us to eat, as we had little food since the evening before. We had to leave without our own wedding breakfast. To my utter shame and thoughtlessness, I bought a sixpence bag of Bon-bons. I returned to Molly in the carriage and sat directly opposite her at a window seat. There was nobody else in the carriage at the time. I took out the bag of Bon-bons and asked Molly if she would like one. I got a fiercely disbelieving look and a frosty reception; as only Molly could give, and a blunt, “No.”
She told me later she was starving and was waiting for me to come back with a box of chocolates, or something nice, but a white paper bag of Bon-bons. It beggars belief. To this day I smile when I think of how naïve I was then, and wish I could have turned the clock back. We said very little on the way to Dublin, and only when we had a meal later that day did things return to normal, and after I apologised, and we hugged and kissed, we were fine again. However, she never let me forget her first meal on her wedding day!
After waiting hours for a flight, we now had to fly to Brussels in Belgium and arrived there totally exhausted. Worse was to come. There had been very bad weather over Brussels. All helicopters were grounded for the previous twenty-four hours. This was a surprise bit of news to us as nobody had told us we were to fly by helicopter to Cologne. Neither of us was ever in a helicopter before and we were both apprehensive at the thought of it. Molly was more frightened than I was but we had to face up to it. When we eventually went to the helicopter pad we were told we were the first flight up for twenty-four hours. This did not instil much confidence as there was still a wind blowing as we got aboard the Sabena chopper. As the time for takeoff approached, I looked around at this small craft. There were seats for three people facing another three seats, and there was only one other seat occupied by an elderly man.
The chopper engine started up, the rotors began to whirl, and the chopper started to shudder as it began to lift off the pad, swaying and jolting. I did not like the sensation one bit, and Molly kept coming closer to me whispering how afraid
she was. I tried to console her and gradually the chopper levelled off, and after some time we thankfully arrived safely in Cologne. All this time I had my ulcer for company!
Our next problem was how to find our way to Konigswinter. As we could not speak German we were having difficulty making ourselves understood. As usual Molly left me with the problem of trying to explain where we wanted to go.
“You ask,” was the usual request, or was it a command?
Anyway, we found our way to the Cologne railway station after much difficulty. Heffernan Travel Agency had told us we’d be met there by their representative. No such person was there, or if there was, they did not make themselves known to us. As we did not have a phone number or address to contact we now had to figure it out ourselves and make the best of it. Molly, by this time was getting very upset with me because I was not resolving the situation, and she was very tired. Neither of us had a wink of sleep for over thirty hours, and we were just about ready to snap each other’s heads off. Some start to our honeymoon!
I eventually figured out where to get the train to Konigswinter and we dragged our bags into the carriage. The journey took about thirty-five minutes, and we arrived too tired to notice the Rhine or anywhere else. All we wanted to do was to get our heads down and grab some sleep.
At the Hotel Loreley, in Konigswinter on the banks of the Rhine, we booked into room No. 50 on the second floor. There were no lifts and nobody was available to bring our suitcases upstairs. All the steps were white marble with no carpets and this was a killer on the feet. After we unpacked our cases we fell on the bed and went straight to sleep. It was hours later when we woke up. This sleep did not help too much because of wedding night nerves, tiredness and hunger. It was all too much for Molly and she got up, looking very upset and said; “I want to go home to Mam.”I too was very tired and fed up and said, “OK, go home, and stay with your Mam.”
“Where’s my passport?” Molly asked.
“Where you put it,” I replied and turned on my side on the bed, still tired. Molly went out the door with her passport. With the light outside, and the gap under the door, I could see her standing just outside the door. I thought to myself, ‘Where does she think she’s going without tickets, baggage, or knowledge of the place.’ After about ten minutes she appeared back inside the door and I pretended to be asleep. She came over, stood at the bedside, and looked down at me. She whispered, “Jack, I’m sorry, I’m tired and hungry.”
I felt a deep sense of love for her at that moment and stood up, and put my arms around her, and told her I loved her very, very much. She immediately relaxed and both of us, feeling much better decided to go out to get something to eat.
The hotel was more or less closed for the night so we had to go to the shops. We ended up with a bottle of Mosel wine, crusty rolls, butter and cheese. We rushed back to the hotel and I started drinking wine for the first time in my life. This was not on the menu for my ulcer but what the hell! See what a woman can do to you! We grew to like Mosel wine, but it was the first time we had seen blue cheese and it gave us a jolt. When we opened it and smelled it, we thought it was gone off so we threw it out.
Each morning in the hotel we usually had a continental type breakfast, but at lunch we got fed up with the same dessert every day- stewed apple and custard. It got to the stage that we refused to take it and the poor waiter got very upset. He couldn’t understand why we did not like stewed apple and custard and we couldn’t explain to him that we did not travel to Germany to get what we already were used to getting in Ireland.
We thoroughly enjoyed exploring Konigswinter and the surrounding cities for the two weeks of our honeymoon. We took lots of photos in Konigswinter, which was small town. It was very close to Drachenfels, which was very high up overlooking the Rhine, and from here we got great views. There was a miniature zoo there, and I nearly lost an eye while visiting this zoo. In a cage there were some monkeys, and I did not know how dangerous it was to go too close to the bars of the cage. As I approached, to get a closer look at the inmates, one jumped down close to me, and with a scream he pushed his paw through the bars and cut my nose just close to the eye. There was small cut and I was worried I might get some infection. As it happened, there was a small stream close by and I bathed my wound there to my great relief. Molly was concerned, as she thought he had injured my eye. Apparently, it was a male monkey protecting his female friends. That’s what you get if you poke your nose where it’s not wanted. I was much more careful after that escapade.
We visited the Hotel Petersberg, which was close by and overlooking Konigswinter. This is a magnificent hotel, and very posh. The grounds were beautifully manicured, and we spent hours walking around, looking at the views of the Rhine. Apparently, Adolf Hitler and his top brass used to meet here quite often during the war. When we went in for a look, Molly said she would like a cup of coffee. We ordered two coffees and got a shock when we were charged fifty pence (it was usually twelve pence back at home) No more high-flying for us in the Hotel Petersberg. The experience was worth it for Molly but I thought it was extravagant.
Bonn was a beautiful city and we found it was easy to get there. We went there a number of times and took the cruiser-boat Siebengebirge up the Rhine, from Konigswinter to Bonn. It was terrific to see all the different cruise boats, barges and ships moving up and down the river. Other times, for a change, we went by the train. We also went into Cologne by train and visited its cathedral. This was a beautiful cathedral, but had been damaged during the war. The 4711 Eau de Cologne shop fascinated Molly, and we strolled around and returned there on a number of occasions.
Two other towns we went to see were Bad Godesberg and Bad Honnef. In Bad Godesberg, the day we were there was pre election day, and the cars were decked out in flowers and had loud hailers. Something similar to Ireland, in the old days!
In all these cities and towns, we found the people very friendly and helpful. We visited lots of cafes, and drank lots of coffee and Mosel wine, and generally had a wonderful honeymoon. We got to know each other’s little failings, and began to forgive more easily, instead of jumping off the deep end when we felt we were being wrongly accused of some trivial absurd failing.
The time came to return back to Cologne airport, to board our helicopter again for the return to Brussels. This time we were much happier and not concerned as the weather was fine and the journey went without a hitch. We boarded our aircraft and took to the sky. The next stop was London. From Heathrow Airport we went to central London, where we booked into the Regent Palace Hotel. We stayed there two days and went around London sightseeing. We went to ‘Madame Two Sods,’ as I called it. Molly kept correcting me about the pronunciation. Eventually, it was time to head for home. We returned to Cork, via Paddington and Fishguard. In Fishguard we boarded the Innisfallen, to cross the Irish Sea to Cork. How lovely it was to come in past Roche’s Point lighthouse and then the Spit lighthouse. I could see my family waving from the house as we passed up the river Lee to Cork. It was a great thrill to see most of the people of Harbour Row waving to the boat. The people did this every voyage, as the Innisfallen was a focal point for the people. In Cork, Ma and Donald met us as we disembarked from the boat. The family home was only five minutes’ walk from the berth where the Innisfallen docked.
As I was still on leave and we and did not intend to buy or rent a place until after I retired from sea, got a shore job and we got settled, Molly suggested that she would stay with her family. When we got to the house Molly had to give a detailed run down on our trip and honeymoon, but of course was very discreet about our private lives. Ma would have liked to hear more of this side, I could tell by the probing questions she asked. Later, she referred to me as a Stallion and her other son-in-law as an Aberdeen Angus. I could feel it was going to be embarrassing for Molly and me, on our first night in bed together in the house. This was the beginning of a strained relationship between my mother-in-law and me, which lasted for quite a number of years.
It wasn’t long before I was required to rejoin my ship, and the day arrived too soon for us. I had decided I would stay at sea a little longer before I was ready to finally ‘swallow the hook’ and retire to land life. This was a difficult decision as I wanted to save more money and it was with a heavy heart I said my goodbyes to Molly and headed off to join my ship in Rotterdam, Holland. It was October 1957, six weeks after I was married and I was to leave my new bride for who knew how long.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
When I rejoined the Albert G. Brown, unhappily so, as I found leaving Molly much harder than I expected, but had no idea that we would be reunited sooner than I could have imagined.
This time on the AGB I had a different Captain. He was the Captain of another of the Company’s ships, Kiora, which was laid up in Houston, Texas. He was acting as relief for Captain Vice. I had not previously met him but I liked him immediately. He was a Dutch/American man whose passion was for music, especially classical, which he played at every opportunity. He was excellent at Mathematics and asked me if I would like to take up higher mathematics, which he would teach me. I declined, and to this day regret I did not take him up on his offer. The trip was easy enough and mercifully quick. We did another trip to Cuba and Jacksonville, Florida and returned to Rotterdam around December.
Molly and I, missing each other a lot, made plans for her to come and meet me in Rotterdam when the ship docked. I was so proud of her and organising ability in sorting out the travel arrangements and her bravery on coming over alone to meet me. It was her first trip abroad alone and it took some deep courage in those days when people did not have the comforts they have today with modern travel facilities. When I wrote to her outlining what she would need to do to meet the ship in Rotterdam, she followed my instructions faithfully, and for someone who had never travelled much on her own, I did not realise what I expected of her. She had to arrange her tickets and times for the trip, by boat and plane, from Cork to Rotterdam. She had to change money in the bank, make all the bookings and organise all the paperwork. It took her a day of travelling to get to me.