From the way my father is dressed in this picture, it would appear that it was taken early in the voyage, before the ship reached warmer waters.

In her memoir of the voyage, my mother wrote that she and my father were “afraid that a ship full of refugees would be a very depressing place.” In fact, the passengers on the Orduña chose to enjoy themselves for a few weeks before “having to face the reality of a new life in a strange country.” They played games, took Spanish lessons from some South Americans returning home who offered to hold classes for the refugees, and wrote letters home – mostly to relatives that they would never see again. There is information about the Orduña on the web, including small bits here and there that refer to its role in bringing European refugees to the Americas. Not all refugees were so fortunate. Several months later, the S.S. St. Louis with nearly a thousand Jewish refugees from Germany was denied entry to Cuba and returned to Europe, where many subsequently perished.