Her passengers were all middle-aged Germans, unbelieavbly ugly but dressed with courage and enterprise

Evelyn Waugh, When the Going Was Good. An account of travels between 1929-1935, destinations including Brazil, South Africa, British Guiana, the Mediterranean and Abyssinia.

A greater frankness in discussing national traits than we are accustomed to today.

We ran into the bay early on Sunday morning, and moored alongside the quay. There was a German-owned tourist ship in the harbour, which we were to see several times during the next few weeks, as she was following practically the same lines as the Stella, but the officers spoke contemptuously of her seaworthiness. She had capsized, they said, on the day she was launched, and was now ballasted with concrete. She carried a small black aeroplane on her deck, and the passengers paid about five guineas a time to fly over the harbour. At night her name appeared on the boat deck in illuminated letters. She had two bands which played almost incessantly. Her passengers were all middle-aged Germans, unbelievably ugly but dressed with courage and enterprise. One man wore a morning coat, white trousers, and a beret. Everyone in the Stella felt great contempt for this vulgar ship.