Saturday, August 28, 1915

I turned in at 2:30 and turned out at 5:30 to scrub decks. Those were three wonderful hours of sleep indeed. We had Captain's inspection and locker inspection. The skipper made a specialty of spotting dirty hats - he's a queer fellow. From 11 to 12 I corked under the fo'c'stle[forecastle] awning with Frank and Mack. After dinner Charley and I had an after dinner - not mint! Home and Sep leave were, as usual, the favorite topics. We talk of home, think of home and dream of home alone, nowadays. These next two weeks threaten to be a month long at least. A year ago today I was already on my way home - and here we are, on the other side of the Continent. It has been warm and sunny all day. We passed close by a spouting whale early in the afternoon. Turtles by scores have floated past us all day. The only watch I had was one 8 - 12 at the breakdown flag, and then I was relieved for half an hour by Fully, who didn't want to do to guard mount, and was relieved again by a jackie who took the watch from 9:15 to 10 while I went to quarters. Provisions ran low, but after begging a 'pipeful' from several different fellows we managed to get enuf for the 'gang' and we had our usual evening meeting on the dog house before we turned in at about nine.