April 20, 1904 E.V.
The Crowleys leaving Egypt in April 1904 E.V. after the Cairo Working
ISIS – HIMALAYA – HIMALAYA – OSIRIS
Detailed research, with many sources, shows the following in relation to the Crowleys honeymoon in Egypt and on Ceylon:
• It seems that Rose and Aleister Crowley departed from Brindisi, Nov. 9, 1903, and arrived at Port Said with the P. & O, S.S. Isis, Nov. 11. Their night together in the Great Pyramid took therefore place on their twelfth day in Egypt, Nov. 22.
• It also seems that they left Egypt again with the P. & O. S.S. Himalaya, Nov. 25, and arrived at Colombo on Ceylon, Dec. 6, 1903.
• The Crowleys left Colombo again for Port Said, Jan. 29, 1904, again with the Himalaya, and arrived at Port Said, Feb. 8, 1904.
• After the Cairo Working the Crowleys left Port Said with the P. & O. S.S. Osiris, April 20, 1904 E.V., and they arrived, not at Brindisi, but at Messina on Sicily, April 22, and went to Paris where they dined with the British author Arnold Bennett, April 26. The Osiris was sailing between Port Said and Brindisi in Italy, however, April 20 it went to Messina instead!
A very important thing, not mentioned by Aleister Crowley later, or by persons writing about the above, is, as I discovered, that the Russo-Japanese War broke out on the very day that the Crowleys arrived at Port Said, February 8, 1904, and lasted during their visit and departure. It gave problems for worried tourists, the ships were crowded, some were boarded by Russian warships, and their Japanese mails were confiscated – why?, because the British Empire was allied with Japan! It is thought provoking that Aleister Crowley never mentioned all this!
The war ended on September 5, 1905 E.V., with the surprising victory of Japan over the huge Russian Empire.
Messina or Brindisi?
Aleister Crowley mentioned that their departure ship was the S.S. Osiris, however, he did not mention where Rose and he landed. It was wartime in April 1904 E.V., and we cannot rule out that the Crowleys perhaps – together with other passengers – had wished to land in Brindisi, instead of Messina, on their way to Paris. Therefore, when passing close to Brindisi on the headland a smaller boat from Brindisi could easily have picked up travellers (and mails!) onboard the Osiris, sailing them to Brindisi, where the ship normally would have landed. Annie Besant was apparently on her way to Rome, and perhaps a landing in Brindisi would have suited her better?
Below: ‘The Russo-Japanese War – Russian Warship stopping a British Merchant Steamer’. 1900s postcard marked Raphael Tuck & Sons.
── Note the PDF file/ebook below! ──
• The P. & O. steamer S.S. Osiris anchored in Port Said. Author's collection.
• Section from a 1900s map showing Messina, the largest city in north-eastern Sicily.
• On what date onboard the P. & O. steamer S.S. Osiris did Rose and Aleister Crowley leave Egypt in April 1904 E.V., and where did they land in Europe on their way to Paris?
Aleister Crowley later mentioned in an undated letter to the British social reformer and theosophist Annie Besant (1847-1933), whom he happened to meet on the return ship, that the ship was “the “Osiris” in April 1904 e.v.”
The date of their departure together with where they landed in Europe, have been unknown until now! – Read online or download this PDF file/ebook (42 pp.) containing an extract from FOR THE THELEMITES. [May need further proof reading]
(In connection with this extract, see also the extracts “Cairo Apartment” and “General Dickson”!)
Corrected version with many illustrations added. Read online or download (256-bit AES):
• Rose and Aleister Crowley – Ouarda and Perdurabo. Aleister Crowley wrote in Confessions: “For the purposes of the Cairo working, Ouarda and I had bought two abbai; one, scarlet, for me; one, blue, for her.”
• The P. & O. steamer S.S. Isis, the sistership of the Osiris. Author's collection.