30 January 1989
Dear Wynne,
Margaret and I thank you for your greetings, and wish you every possible blessing in 1989. We hope that you have been able to enjoy this mild weather, and have been keeping reasonably. We have, though I am at present under the doctor for a chest infection. I am still very feeble after my pneumonia 18 months ago; but can drive much better than I can walk, and so am able to take my share of driving on long journeys. So we should he able to come and see you, when the days get a bit longer.
Meanwhile, I hope that you will be interested in my father's synopsis of 'Atlantic Ferry' which I have been typing out with an interest enhanced by my reading of the Cunard history, and other MacIver pieces that I have seen in the past forty years. ( I think it was quite a feat for him to have made such a lively and clear account after only one viewing!) I should like you, if possible, to tell me which parts are wholly fictional! Was there ever a 'Gigantic'? Was David run down in the tender that went out to meet 'Britannia' on her triumphant return? Did a Mr Donaldson play a large part in the initial financing? Did Marianne make that madcap trip to Boston? I should be delighted if you could find it possible to write a short piece for the Dodo (I am not now the Editor but am sure that Alastair would be very pleased to make room for this to go with a reprint of my father's synopsis).
In any case, Margaret and I would be most interested to hear what you can recall of the working out and making of the film. There must be many points that could not be put into writing! And, in particular, we should like to hear more about Marianne. My only notice of her in print is a passage in my Granny Maclver's memoirs, when she says how kind Marianne was to her, in spite of the long-standing coolness between David and his father, when the little family visited her in Malta in the course of that memorable maiden voyage to Bombay!
Thank you again for all that you did for 'Atlantic Ferry'. It is a great shame that it seems not to be available!