August 6 - 
Til© voyage across has been uneventful except for Bill * s 
continued ill health* We had one day of rough weather* and 
many days of a heavy swell that kept the West Irmo rocking from 
side to side in a tiresome way* Everybody blamed it on the way 
the ship was loaded, with a great deal of manganese ore in the 
bottom* It should have been counter-balanced by the heavy ma- 
hogany logs on deck, but apparently wasn't. Pickles, sauce and 
iam slid regularly from the center of the dining table into our 
laps* The food has been nothing to brag about; the bread tastes 
of slightly moldy flour; the butter is a little rancid; the meat 
is stale and tough; the only fresh vegetables are Potatoes and 
onions, and canned vegetables are running low; for tne last three 
days there have been no eggs for breakfast; one s choice o 
vegetables for lunch or dinner is usually "potatoes, beans or 
spaghetti". 
The Murdochs have been swell company, and Mr* Havey and 
Gus Gustafson have kept us well amused with their comments on 
life on the West Coast* Everybody is anxious to get home, and 
the high point of the day comes shortly after twelve noon when ^ ^ 
Smitty comes and posts the day's run - average, two hundred miles* 
The colored passengers have kept pretty much to themselves, 
except Jo Walker, who is a very nice, well-brought-up, well 
educated boy, with a good sense of humor. The Reverends are 
chiefly noted for their enormous appetities; Rev. Peacock eats 
cake all through dinner, with salad, meat and dessert. Rev* Ricks 
gets up at 2 in the morning and eats sandwiches in the dining room 
in solitary gams mxk gourmandcy • 
Bill had no complaint against the food until after we left 
Dakar. Then he had a spell of dysentery, which ^e dosed with 
yatren, and has felt badly after since, with very li^le ^ppetite 
and for the last three days considerable nausea. ^Is morning 
he woke up with a violent pain his stomach, and we spent a worried 
aSd ISlous day. About noon I asked the Captain what chance there 
was of getting a doctor out to the ship when we enter ' 
tonight, and he said It would be too late, and it meant toomuch 
red tape to get ahold of the proper authorities* Bill 
steadily worfe aE day, however, and finally, when the p ilot came 
aboard at nine o’clock, a letter was sent over to the pilot ship 
asking them to get word ashore. It was an hour and a hai fro. 
there to quarantine, and when we dropped . ancnor we 
shore anxiously for signs of a lunch coming out the ship. A 
little after eleven we saw lights coming out toward s, - doctor?" 
launch drew closer the Fourth Officer haled ^ 8 * was the quaran- 
fl-nd f-hfi comforting reply came back that it was* He was tne quarau 
Sne doctorf Sd he SSndled Bill off in a Coast Guard Cutter to the 
Marine Hospital* 
August 7 - 
We docked at eight this morning, and never has the United 
States looked quite so good, so comforting and ® af ® * s J? 
today. The Davis and Shippens were on the dock, and as soon as 
thev were within speaking distance they called po^giderct 
v. Q nv finst he had gone ashore, which puzzled them consiciera 
filv* Not until they were on boarti did I tell them that Bill was 
’ " * 4 •— / r " 
