South Africa is both a destination on the Peggy Sue’s route and one of Michael’s most vivid memories of the voyage. The family’s stay in Cape Town brings the promise of seeing elephants and lions in the wild, but its significance also lies in Michael’s view of his parents: away from their former life, he sees them laughing together and smiling at one another in a way he had not known at home.

Cape Town and the voyage

After crossing the South Atlantic, the family prepared in Rio de Janeiro for the passage to South Africa. They scrubbed the Peggy Sue inside and out, loaded supplies and water, and followed Michael’s mother’s advice to remain south and within the west-to-east South Atlantic current. The family had considered whether it could afford a stop; once the decision was made, they planned to stay in Cape Town for a couple of weeks or perhaps longer.

The landfall altered the rhythm of the voyage. Michael had already thought of Africa as somewhere the family had sailed past, but now the ship would stop and the family could visit the country. The prospect of seeing elephants and lions made the plan feel extraordinary to him, and he records that his parents were as delighted as he was when they told him.

Family life and illness

Michael’s account of Cape Town gives the stop a domestic significance as well as a geographical one. He notices his parents laughing together and says that they had not been like that at home. Their smiles suggest how the voyage has changed the atmosphere between them: the family is living and travelling closely together, and Michael sees a new ease in their relationship.

The stop also brings the mother’s continuing abdominal trouble into view. She experiences stomach cramps, and Michael’s father wants her to see a doctor in Cape Town, but she refuses. Michael guesses that the baked beans are responsible; this is his own explanation, not a confirmed diagnosis. His account therefore holds the excitement of the African stop alongside an unresolved concern about his mother’s health.

Memories of the country

Long after the family has sailed on, South Africa remains present in Michael’s memory. He recalls the elephants as slow and thoughtful, remembers their eyes, and evokes the giraffes looking down at him and a lion cub sleeping with its mother’s tail in its mouth. He made drawings of what he saw and continues to look at them as reminders of the visit. The sun, remembered as large and red, gives the recollection a distinct visual image without displacing the animals at its centre.

These memories accompany the family’s onward plans: Australia is next, and Michael looks forward to encountering its wildlife and meeting his distant uncle in Perth. In the sequence of the voyage, South Africa is thus a substantial stop rather than a passing point on the map. It gives Michael experiences he keeps returning to, while the decision to stop and the family’s changing mood make the route part of their shared life, not merely a record of miles travelled.