page 57 



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PROBLEM FOR OLD SALTS. In ten seconds esti- 

 mate the number of ships visible in this picture. 

 The correct answer is 50? 100? 200? During 

 June, July, and August Bikini was anything but 

 quiescent. In among the target vessels and ships 

 of the supporting fleet innumerable puny boats 

 ploughed the water from dawn to dusk in their 

 endless ferrying of men and equipment from ship 

 to ship and from ship to beach. Water taxis were 

 in particularly great demand for ferrying VIP's 

 and scientists to conferences and for taking tech- 

 nicians to the sites of their apparatus. Many of 

 the delicate instruments used required repeated 

 adjustment and checking; conditions of starting 

 switches, batteries, and recording mechanisms 

 were constant sources of concern. In the late 

 afternoon the water gap between fleet and shore 

 was interlaced with the wakes of boats carrying 

 roughly 10,000 men to the shore, then rushing 

 them back to their floating homes for chow and 

 the invariable post-chow movie. OPPOSITE. Sup- 

 plies come aboard. For the 42,000 men of JTF- 1 

 daily requirements were: 70,000 candy bars, 30,- 

 000 cigarettes, 40,000 pounds of meat, 89,000 

 pounds of vegetables, 4,000 pounds of coffee, 38,- 

 000 pounds of fruit. 



