In November 1918, Ereneta signed on as a Cabin Boy/Pantry Boy in the world's first diesel powered ocean going steamer, the Danish M. S. SELANDIA. She had been chartered by the American Governor-General of the Philippine Islands, Francis Burton Harrison and his entourage for their return to the Continental United States (New York, New York) across the span of the Pacific Ocean via the Marianas Islands, Panama Canal Zone, and Kingston, Jamaica.