T 79 
September 7 - - -l^^^^ii^B^fiM- ■ ^^^^^f^^^PI^^^^^^IS^^^i!! 
Our first day in the Mediterranean * bright, sunny, a fresh 
breeze, everything fine except for the ominous lowering of life 
boats, and the conspicuous British flags flying, to remind us that 
we pre now going through a war zone. All boats are swung out on 
davits, and a big British ensign is printed on the canvas awning 
of the boat deck. Several British merchantmen have been sunk this 
week off the coast of Spain, the theory being that the Italians 
have mistaken them for Russian ships carrying supplies to the 
Loyalists* 
The giraffe we got in Port Sudan are doing well, except that 
the littlest one refuses to drink tinned milk . I suggested today 
using Lactol, and to our great delight he drank he Lactol. T T e 
have enough for about four more feedings, and perhaps by that time 
he will have forgotten the taste of fresh milk and be willing to 
drink one of the several brands of canned milk that we have aboard. 
The shoebills are doing well on alternate days, which is 
about as well as could be expected. One day one of them eats four 
fish, the other one; next day the one that wouldn f t eat yesterday 
eats four fish, and the well-fed one has merely one. They are fine 
big spedifflfens. ' ■ p '^ : d^^^^$M^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B^m II i r SS 
September 8 - 
The little gibbon that has lived on air for so long, finally 
died. I don T t know how he survived this long. He always seemed 
so interested in everyt ing that went on, was always ready to play, 
and was so affectionate. But at the mere sight of food he would 
turn away in revulsion, and for weeks now has had nothing more 
substantial than a fe# drops of Lactol, or a sip of tea. ■ 
September 9 - 
As we approach Malta, the Captain radios to the Admiralty 
for instructions, as per his orders from N$w York. Nothing happens, 
and we plow along through cool and slightly rolling seas. 
September 10 - 
The Captain got an answer to his wireless, which was ?t No 
special instructions. Keep ten miles off the Spanish Coast, and 
look out for floating mines. v Later in the morning he got a 
radio message from a French ship that a mine had been sighted by 
them, and the Silverash altered its course accordingly. 
Conversation at meal times is all of war, and what America 
and Britain ought to do, and what they would have done in Nelson 1 s 
day, and so forth. Everyone hangs over the radio news in the 
evening. And I want to know what mines and torpedoes and. submarines 
really look like, and how big is a bomb, and what effect all these 
war-like implements have when dropped on a merchant ship in peace- 
time. None of the answers are at all encouraging. But the coast 
of Tunis, which is close this afternoon, looks peaceful, and except 
for a few sailing vessels, we have seen no one - friend or enemy. 
r 
