We boarded the ship at Southampton on Sunday, Teves 17, 5719 (December 28, 1958). Roselyn's mother, Mrs, Gittle Rosenthal, our children Avrohom and Hindy, and a few friends came especially to Southampton to wish us “bon voyage” (and also to see around and examine this magnificent and luxurious ship). We also found waiting for us three bouquets of flowers, three baskets of fruit and innumerable telegrams and cards from family and friends, from the synagogue and from many organizations - real VIP treatment.

The ship was almost empty (it was mid-winter). There were only ninety passengers in first class, which had accommodations for seven hundred.

The first night the ship pitched and tossed continuously. I did manage to get up at 11:30 the next morning in order to daven, but then I stayed in bed all afternoon. I was not really sick, just uncomfortable. Roselyn, too, felt a little dizziness. Boat drill was at noon - neither Roselyn nor I were present. Lunchtime was at 1:00; both Roselyn and I were conspicuous by our absence.

By the following morning, the ship had stopped tossing, but it was still pitching. I had enjoyed a good night‘s sleep and was also getting used to the ship‘s roll. I felt much better. I walked to the shul which was actually situated in the bow of the ship. The Aron Hakodesh was built and fixed permanently right in the front, so when we journeyed to New York we davened towards the West. (Being that the earth is round, we faced Jerusalem from the other side.)

In shul I met the Bobover Rebbe with seven of his talmidim or chassidim. We had a good nucleus for a minyan, and we only needed one more person. We arranged to daven mincha at 5:00. At 5:45 we were still one short. In the end we managed mincha and maariv at 5:50.

Shacharis was at 8:00. The Bobo (as Roselyn nicknamed him) went with his chassidim to the mikvah, otherwise known as the “first-class swimming pool,” at 7:00 in the morning.

That night we met... a hurricane. I thought that the ship was going to “turn turtle.” I nearly fell out of bed on a number of occasions. Oddments and books were sliding from one side of the stateroom to the other. However, we did have a minyan for Shacharis and “No tachnun is said when one is travelling,” ruled the Bobover. That suited me quite (s)well.

The Queen Mary was due to dock at New York 10:00 a.m., on Friday, Teves 22 (January 2) so we davened earlier - at 7:00. However, by 7:30 the ship stopped. We discovered that we were enveloped in thick fog. At 9:30 the “Mary” was still anchored alongside the Ambrose Lightship at the entrance to the New York Channel. We were getting a little worried about Shabbos. We still had about five hours to spare - sorry, four now - so I was hoping for the best. Roselyn said, “Do not worry, what the Bobover does, so do we.”

At 11:30 the fog had cleared and we were on our way. Now we were expected to dock at 2:30 and Shabbos came in at 4:22. Rabbi Shemtov‘s son, Avrohom, had just phoned us (to the ship) that we should get everything prepared so that there would be no delay when we docked.

We disembarked at 2:45. After the customs agents had strewn all our baggage over the dirty dock floor, we hurriedly repacked all our belongings and at 3:30 emerged into the USA. Avrohom Shemtov was waiting for us. He had brought all the Shabbos meals with him and had reserved hotels along the route to Brooklyn just in case. We staggered into Sarah and Mendel Shemtov‘s home two minutes before Shabbos.