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.