We have nothing from the after-the-trip letter this time, as we are back at sea. Lots is happening though.

For context, we have just left Mombasa and we’re headed east and a little bit north to Colombo in what was then known as Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka.

Day to Day Journal

Tue. Dec. 28: 

[Present location:] Lat. 2° 35' S; Long. 49° 54" E; Dist. 383 mi.; Av. Speed 16.23 mph. 

Went topside to study, but was sidetracked writing up the past few days. 

After lunch called on the invalids, Bath who has a touch of the sun, Jim who has an infected foot. 

Evening with Shag. 

Capt. bot finches in Lourenco Marques and Mozambique for an official of the Co. who is a fancier in San Francisco. Twitter, twitter, they are pretty little things, but the mortality is high. 

Lourenco Marques 100 Centavos = 1 Escudo; 5 Escudos = 1 Shilling 

Side note: On a ship with no medic, I wonder if the remedy for the sun-touched and the extremity-infected was whiskey.

I just learned that if the Mozambican finches were young and made it through the voyage, they could live another 15-20 years, which leaves plenty of time for twittering!

Centavos and escudos sound of Latin origin, but shilling, that’s very Anglo-Saxon-y sounding, no? Oh, maybe she’s talking exchange rates? Can you exchange between and among these ports in Colonial times? Like between the Dutch and British?

ChatGTP says sometimes yes, sometimes no. So there you have it.

Wed. Dec. 29: 

[Present location:] Lat. 1° 46' S; Long. 55° 52" E; Dist. 356 mi.; Av. Speed 15.00 mph. 

Lecture on magnets. Ship has magnetism lying in field in which boat was built. Very strong when boat is sailing in that direction, partially overcome when sailing another direction several days - varies with every change of course. 

The ship's compass is corrected by vertical and horizontal magnets to overcome magnetism of the ship and by balls on either side which gather oblique magnetic paths so they will flow straight thru the center of [the] magnet. A piece of soft steel forward the compass overcomes magnetism of ships funnel which changes from + to - as the ship crosses from N to S hemisphere. A new ship is swung on the points of the compass and its deviation noted and its compass set. This changes with the change of course, cargo - may be affected by any metal - a knife, bucket, chipping hammer near the compass, the list of the boat. 

Shag, Jim and I read "The Nile" in p.m., chewed the rag in the evening.

Side note: Doesn’t a magnetism analogy work here? Helen might be more right brained, Shag more left…their path might have been oblique, but their connection is magnetic. Get it??

And my goodness the amount of science in those paragraphs. Like a semester of it. I do recognize those words above individually, but certainly not strung together.

Thru. Dec. 30: 

[Present location:] Lat. 0" 55' S; Long. 62° 12" E; Dist. 383 mi.; Av. Speed 16.33 mph. 

Satisfied with a good morning's work. Worked 15 problems on setting courses (true to compass) from the Masters and Mates' book, and no mistakes. 

At noon Capt. gave me the sextant (1st time since Capetown) and I didn't even know where to look for the sun. Found it and derived a latitude, to Capt.'s surprise and my own, it was identical with the one on the bridge! 
Visited the chartroom, couldn't find Koilthotham, bottle of Lion's. 

Crossed the equator about 11 p.m. a lovely balmy black night with myriads of stars.

Side note: Remember last time when she crossed the equator, two of the crew had her pulled in two directions so she could be in both at once? Just a mere five weeks before. The atmosphere is still novel and frisky now, but in different ways.

Fri. Dec. 31: 

[Present location:] Lat. 0° 21' N; Long. 68° 18" E; Dist. 374 mi.; Av. Speed 15.85 mph 

Many more problems with no mistakes - so pleased. Found a Lat. Again -1 min. off. 

Finished reading "The Nile". 

Saw the New Year in with Shag on the boat deck. Ships bell rang 16 time, 8 for the old year, 8 for the new. 

The horn bleated once - that was all.

Side Note: “Saw the new year in with Shag on the boat deck,” sounds like a fine ole’ time. Bleat bleat!

Sat. Jan. 1: [Present location:] Lat. 1° 35' N; Long. 73° 36" E; Dist. 327 mi.; Av. Speed 13.83 mph. 

Happy New Year. Wrote Mary. Slept most of the afternoon. Good dinner. Aft with S.

Side note: Mary, remember, was Helen’s baby sister, eight years her junior. Mary was also my grandmother (and namesake). On January 1, 1938, Mary was three months pregnant with my mother, who would, some 23 years later, go to visit Helen. And then stay… for 15 or so years. During which, voila… me!

But back on January 1, 1938… there was much more about magnetism to learn, in the literal and figurative sense(s).

Sun. Jan. 2: [Present location:] Lat. 3° 16' N; Long. 77° 55" E; Dist. 341 mi.; Av. Speed 14.38 mph 

Spent a very busy morning working on my notebook and just at lunch time Capt. Started me on "Day's Work" (i.e., dead reckoning courses). So interesting I went back up after lunch and worked another couple of hours. 

Aft with Shag in the p.m. Sat on the new deck paint with disastrous results. 

Aft until 10.

Side note: Sitting around with paint on their afts!

Dropped anchor at Colombo at 11:00 p.m. Brightly lighted P&O boat passed. Bright lights. All of our lights on, so light I had to go in to get any sleep. Today to learn there's a lookout on the fo'castle head all night, standing 2 hour watch, he rings the hour bell and 1 bell for a light on port bow, 2 bells for light on starboard, 3 for light dead ahead, 4 if any of the ship's navigating lights is out. He reports to Mate on watch before he goes forward. The 16 sailors rotate the watch.

Side note: I am surprised she hadn’t been up there ringing bells all this time.