Some Impressions Of The Cruise

I began the cruise with a [mingled?] feeling of disappointment, passive concern and expectancy - disappointment because of the trouble that had sprung up and that for a time threatened the good name of our Academy, and because of the delay of a month that threatened to - and as it has turned out, did deprive us of a week of Sep leave for which there could be no compensation; passive concern for the work that as before us which threatened to be in some measure disagreeable, not because of the work itself so much as the way in which we expected it would be thrust upon us; expectancy, because of the cruise thru the canal and to the West Coast, which promised to be better in a way that our cruise of last year to Europe, in that we would get to see that great engineering work that had just been opened, would be the first battleships to pass thru the Canal, in fact and would see California, that much-talked of and supposedly glorious land of sunshine.

Part of the disappointment I felt has been turned into restored confidence - no not that, for I had never lost my confidence in the fundamental soundness of our moral standard - rather a quiet joy that the men who studied the trouble found that we were worthy of none of the accusations heaped upon us. But the other matter that threatened disappointment has become a reality, harder and more cruel than realities are usually pictured, for we have lost twelve days of Sep leave, twelve days of home and friends that mean so much to us who are away from home for so long. And the hardest part is that the Admiral did nothing - and he could have done much - to give us even one day more at home. It seemed to us that he even did his best to delay us where he could.

Our work during the cruise has been hard - and it has been of the nature to make one want to shirk. When we haven't had engineering, and except for the time that I spent on the 'black gang', it has been nothing but scrub decks, shine brightwork - for the youngsters - spread awnings, stand watches and drill. We coaled ship five times, putting on 1500 tons once, 1300 another time and between 500 and 1000 tons the other three times - all of which meant good hard work. Each of these coalings was followed by two field days - dirty, tiring work - and scrubbing hammocks, which I did but once. The junior officers have realized all of this, and have given us as much time for ourselves as they possibly could - and we appreciated that. There has been no incentive to hard work cheerfully done, no indications that the work we did was appreciated - except by the Captain -

Not Finished...

This is not finished - not by a few days - but it is well that it is so; our intense eagerness to be home; the Admiral's apparent wish to keep us away; promises made and seldom kept; all these served to keep us on edge, and until we disembarked on September 8, 1915, at 3:30 in the afternoon we have had no time for 'Logs' - and no desire to write more.

Sunday, September 5, 1915

I had the 2-4 watch in the steering engine room. I turned in again at 4:15 and slept until 6:30. We had nothing to do until quarters at 9:15 and after that we loafed around until chapel at 10:30.

Saturday, September 4, 1915

I was too sleepy to scrub decks when I turned out at 5:30 this morning, so I loafed around until that was over. We had Captain's inspection - the last one - and after that, locker inspection. The ship was rolling and as the skipper got in front of the man next to me at inspection he lurched forward with the ship and went kerplunk into Geok. He almost had a fit - so did we. Charley, Oley, and I had our usual 'after dinner' in the alley. We sighted Haiti in the morning, and at noon were abreast of it, and only about 5 miles off the island. The average speed of the day was 13 knots. There was a strong wind all day, mostly ahead. The sun was extremely hot, and the gun deck was very close, for, because of the high sea that had been running all night and coming thru the gun ports, the port shutters had been put up. We sighted Cuba at five o'clock and reached Cape Maysi at eight. The Ohio, which had gone ahead at Colon to coal at Guantanamo, was streaming slowly off the cape waiting for us. It was about 9 o;clock when she fell in line behind us. The night was clear and cool, and the 'gang' enjoyed another pleasant evening on the dog house.

Friday, September 3, 1915

We turned out on the topside at 2:30 in a shower and came below as fast as we could, turning in in our hammocks until 5:30. We had another field day, but worked only until noon. After lunch Charley and I had our 'after dinner' in the alley. We drew our monthly money - $2. In the afternoon we scrubbed hammocks - I didn't tho, but I did scrub a pair of kaki[khaki] trous and a belt. We increased our speed to 70 turns. We had several showers during the day - but they failed to cool us off; the showers continued thru the night. The 'gang' was surprised when Nick and Doug came up to us on the doghouse and asked for a light. The each had a full skag[cigarette, in 1915]! We left when a wave came over the side and gave us an unwelcome bath.

Thursday, September 2, 1915

At seven we turned out, and after breakfast we turned to on the ship - general field day. Our division had the quarter deck. We worked all day until about four o'clock. I had the 2 - 4 steering engine room watch. I turned in on deck about nine, sleeping on a sheet and several blankets. The night was cool and clear, the sky was brilliant with stars. We could see just the handle of the great dipper.

Wednesday, September 1, 1915

At 4:30 we turned out, but we had not yet reached the coaling dock so we had nothing to do but crawl into our coaling clothes and wait. I had only two left shoes, so one of them had to go on my right foot. We got to the warehouse dock at about 6; we moored alongside where I was in charge of the squad that tended the hawsers. After breakfast we turned to on the coal. It was fine coal and damp, so it was easy shoveling. It came in cars and was dumped in place, making our work easy - as shoveling coal can be easy. We marked until noon, stopping once for sandwiches and coffee. At one we turned to again. About three we had a rain storm that lasted for over an hour. It was fun for us. About five a bunch - or rather a bunch of bunches - of bananas were unloaded near us. We thot they were for us so we made a dive for them. It wasn't long until we mad a hole in the bananas pile - and then Turner saw us. He flew off the handle, threatened us with a general court martial and cussed us out for not working. But the bananas were down - and felt good where they were - and I saw him laughing later on when he told Farber about it, so I guess it was all right anyway. After supper we turned to until about 9. We had put on over 1300 tons. After our bath Fully and I slept on a sheet and a blanket on the quarter deck where a good breeze could strike us.