In my previous post we
mentioned we’d elaborate on the question someone asked about “How I became a
member of the international Circumnavigators Club?” We need to set the clock back to 1975, aboard
the “Royal Viking Sea”.. I was Guest Artist & Lecturer, just as I
had been the previous year in 1974 aboard sister ship “Royal Viking Sky”.
Henri with Antique Figurehead from Bow of Ship
Magnificent vessels. Both voyages
were inaugural around-the-world cruises. THE
“Crown Jewel” of travel. Because of the success of our program in 1974 we
were invited to participate the following year. Total number of passengers for each voyage
was 325. Total crew: 175.
Teaching art on board ships was unheard
of those days. Now, under the banner of Enrichment Programs, most cruise lines
have incorporated it. I literally dreamed the whole thing up. On a cold and miserable November day in
Toronto, when I had just been rejected for a Canada Council grant. Out of the blue I had a vision of us
aboard a ship in sunny, tropical waters where I was teaching art in a floating art studio. The moment I told Natasha about my vision, she
put together an impressive program proposal with my CV written in her
calligraphy, with photos of my artwork, which we mailed to all the
major cruise lines. The first to respond was Italian Line, offering a 30-day Mediterranean cruise. But that meant we’d be back in cold Toronto
mid-winter. So (if you can imagine), we
turned it down. We didn’t hear from the other liners.
Then
one Sunday afternoon Natasha’s father,
who every weekend bought the Sunday New
York Times, telephoned. He’d just seen an ad from a company called “Royal
Viking Line”, for a world cruise. “Did you send them a proposal?” he asked. We
had never heard of Royal Viking Line. But on Monday morning we express mailed a
package to their head office in San Francisco.
And the rest is history. It was
a “dream come true”. Best of all, they
agreed to my proposal: the time-honoured
barter system, i.e. in exchange for
my expertise and qualifications as an artist and lecturer, and my experience as
a first class steward o/b Holland America ships in the late 1940’s and
early 1950’s, we received full, first-class passenger status. Also, Royal
Viking Line agreed to provide all the art supplies for a 4 ½ month voyage
which involved creative exploration in five
different media. Plus our airfare. What more could you ask for?
Towards the end
of the cruise, we held an exhibition of the passengers’ artwork. Some of the students had never painted before
and did nice work. The Norwegian captain proclaimed it a magnificent show and “A
job well done”. Approach by Circumnavigator Club members. Now, let’s fast-forward
to the second around-the-world cruise in 1975 aboard sister ship “Royal Viking Sea”. We were invited back
because of the success of our earlier voyage in 1974. Aboard ship were a few
members of the Circumnavigators Club, amongst them the Past-President. Three days before arriving in New York at the
very end of the cruise, we were approached by these Club members. They said I qualified for membership (at that
time there were no women members so Natasha couldn’t join), now that we’d done
a complete circumnavigation, crossing
every meridian longitude in one direction. (They didn’t know about our circumnavigation
the year before, so by this time I was “doubly-qualified”.) I was given an
application form and the Past-President said, “Henri, think it over. We’ll
be glad to propose and second your application, should you decide to join us.” My application was accepted.
Less than one month later, we received in our mailbox a handsome certificate, signed
and dated May 22, 1975, complete with gold seal, black and green ribbons.
And
that’s how I became a member of the illustrious Circumnavigators Club – all
because of a dream that became reality from a combination of a grant rejection,
a cold Toronto November, and my vision.We
termed our program enrichment for the passengers and ourselves. Nowadays, all
cruise lines have Enrichment Programs with guest speakers on any subject
imaginable. There are now agents
handling for a fee the placement of entertainers, lecturers and art
instructors. Gone is the good old
“barter system” we experienced so many years ago on two world cruises – ‘The Crown Jewel of Travel’.
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