out that
that entitled her to a chair in the salon. Others sat on the deck on
the floor. The decks were crowded with Turkish men who were traveling
from one small port to the next along the east. Each night they
brought out their small prayer rugs and turning towards the setting
sun, prayed kneeling in rows on deck.

Once aboard, Nelka also found out that first class tickets did not
include meals. Having very little money with her, she found that she
was not able to afford to buy much. She had a bag of apples with her.
Not having anyone to leave Djedda with, Nelka took her along and
carried her under her arm all the time. While they did not feed
Nelka, the steward was very kind and Djedda was fed. And so they
traveled.

I, in the meantime, was desperately trying to find a way to contact
Nelka on the San Georgio. The admiral and the Embassy were very
cooperative and the admiral issued orders to all the destroyers to
keep an eye for the San Georgio and intercept her if spotted.

Having traveled most of the length of the southern coast of the Black
Sea, the Italian captain announced that he was going into Batum.
Batum in the meantime had been occupied by the Bolshevik forces and
therefore Nelka's position became very precarious. She argued with
the captain but he said he had a cargo to pick up and that he was
going in. The first thing Nelka did was to hide her identification
papers, her passport and visas. Better to have nothing than to be
found out as a White Russian. She remained in the cabin while in
Batum. On the second morning a bunch of Bolshevik soldiers arrived
and announced that they were going to search the ship. This was a
very dangerous situation for Nelka. However after a while, and while
they had been half through the boat, another party arrived and
started an argument with the first bunch as to who had the right to
make this search. They pretty nearly came to blows in this argument,
but finally still arguing all left without finishing the search. This
was a close call for Nelka. Next morning the San Georgio pulled out
on her way back to Constantinople. She was grateful, but by now was
becoming pretty hungry and what food she managed to get was very
scarce.

A few days later, just as they were pulling into Samsun, the American
destroyer John D. Edwards spotted the San Georgio, hailed her and
inquired about Nelka. When told that she was aboard, they lowered a
boat and came to fetch her, and took her and