BARBADOS-ANTIGUA EXPEDITION 251 
was no confusion and I am satisfied that there would have been 
very little had we been really attacked. 
Of course, after the indolent American fashion, we will for- 
get all of this now that the war is over. The life-boat drill will 
be regarded as a nuisance by the officers of passenger vessels 
and will be gradually relegated to the realm of good intentions 
and forgotten until some new disaster will call it to mind and 
we will pass laws to be enforced until the excitement is over 
and then forget again ad infinitum. If we only could learn 
by experience! But we can’t. At least history shows that we 
don’t. 
That evening we made Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, just 
after sundown and spent the evening in the quiet harbor en- 
cireled by the lights of the town; more lights, by the way, than 
we had seen at any one time since leaving New York. Here 
also we were refused permission to go ashore, although we would 
have been glad to visit Dr. Nies, he of the picturesque Blue- 
beard Tower, and our old friend, Dr. Butler. Passengers who 
came aboard brought news of the renewal of the U-boat raids off 
the Atlantic coast, which did not add to the pleasure with which 
we contemplated an approach to the city of New York. At the 
same time, however, we heard good news of a successful drive 
of the Allies and Americans in France which helped our feel- 
ings very materially. 
The next morning found us steaming along the northern 
coast of Porto Rica, having had orders to eall at San Juan for 
as much sugar as the vessel could carry. Of course we welcomed 
this variation in our schedule that would enable us to visit one 
of the larger West Indian islands and one as different as could 
be imagined from those of the Lesser Antilles. We were told, 
however, that in all probability we would not be allowed to go 
ashore and our experience in the American possessions just vis- 
ited was far from reassuring on that point. 
The morning was bright and the sea smooth as we neared the 
approaches to San Juan Harbor and there was every sign of 
the environs of a first-class city as viewed from the sea. With 
a background of a serrated mountain chain and a foreground 
of deep blue sea, the setting of San Juan is ideal from an artis- 
tic standpoint. As we approached the harbor encampments of 
