The Rajah Brooke was a sea going ship which would sail from Kuching government wharf to Singapore. It would take at least two nights for the ship to reach Singapore. The Rajah Brooke was both a cargo and passenger ship.
Most people in the 1950's used this ship and make the long journey to Singapore from where they would board other liners and travel to Australia and even the United Kingdom.
My maternal grandmother told us that this ship looked like a four storey shop house floating on water. She was very imaginative and humorous about sea travels, having come from China at the age of 10 and then making another horrendous journey back to China in 1939 just before the Second World War. War was raging already when she reached China and she could not board another ship to come back to Sarawak.
In later years she had great fears of boarding a sea going ship like the Rajah Brooke or the Audy. In her heart she was truly afraid that she could not come home to see her loved ones again. Once was enough according to her. for the rest of her life from 1946 onwards she would never travel by sea to Singapore although she took the coastal ships and planes from Sibu to Kuching, Miri, Marudi etc.
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Most Foochows would board sea going ships like the Auby at Sibu . When they travelled many would get seasick, so they stayed in their cabin most of the time. Few would venture out of their cabins. Meals were provided at specific times . It was interesting that ships in those days sold tickets for first class and second class cabins.
According to my older relatives, many women actually lost weight if they could not eat at all from Sibu to Singapore especially if they vomited a lot.
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