VOYAGE MARKED BY ROMANCE

Southland Times, Issue 24227, 10 September 1940, Page 6

VOYAGE MARKED BY ROMANCE

BIRTH AND ELOPEMENT (Special to The Times) AUCKLAND, September 9. A birth and an. elopement romance ! distinguished the last trip of the Monterey from Australia to San Francisco. This was revealed when the Matson liner arrived in Auckland. The birth was that of a 61b son of an Australian passenger; the romance was one which developed between an American heiress and a dining room waiter on the ship. The baby boy was bom in the ship’s hospital on August 3, when the Monterey was entering the harbour at Papeete. Dr O. S. Nesting, ship’s physician, officiated at the birth, the liner providing a large wicker basket for a crib. The American Consul at Papeete issued a birth certificate. The baby is an American citizen because his father, chief engineer of the American freighter Potter, is an American. The law of the United States, according to Honolulu immigration officers, stipulates that the child must legally reside in the United States for five years to clinch his citizenship, because he entered the United States before his thirteenth birthday. Within six months after reaching the age of 21, he must take the oath of allegiance to the United States.

The elopement romance, according to officers on the Monterey, developed between Miss Amy Margaret Boyle, 25 years of age, an oil heiress from Oiltown, Philadelphia, and Kelse Ray Stapleton, who was a member of the Monterey’s stewards’ department on the south-bound voyage from Honolulu to Australia. They were married on July 22 at Sydney, rejoining the ship as passengers. A wedding party was given by the crew with the ship’s band playing the “Wedding March.” The couple left the Monterey at Papeete, where they said they would stay indefinitely.