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 -