U. S. S. BRAZOS rr;;/fe 
Passage Pearl Harbor, T.H. 
To San Pedro, California, 
May 4, 1941. 
Dr . Waldo L . Schmitt , 
Smithsonian Institute, 
Washington, D. C. 
Dear Waldo :- 
At present I have command of the Brazos and 
shortly will leave for a trip to Alaska and Aleutian 
Islands. Of course while there I will do as much fishing 
as possible. If there is anything I can do for you or any 
specimens which you would like to have that I might be able 
to get, please let me know by return mail. On my return I 
could have the specimens shipped to you by express. 
When Admiral Kimmel was selected to be the 
Commander in Chief, I could have gone along with him but 
would have been an assistant to an assistant which is not 
very much fun. When I told him that I would rather be ex- 
cused, he very kindly offered me a command and so here I am 
enjoying my duty and very happy. 
Fishing around the Hawaiian Islands is very poor. 
In the first place our ships do not operate in the good fish- 
ing areas and in the second place commercial fishermen have 
followed the very unsound policy of killing all the small fish 
and as a result there are no large fish in that area because 
there are no small ones to feed from, 
I am now on my fourth year of sea duty and am 
passed due for shore duty. However, I am going to stay at 
sea just as long as possible, at least during this emergency, 
and I don’t think it will end in less than five years. This 
war is going to complete exhaustion of one side or the other. 
Of course I personally think that we are in the war as much 
as if we had declared it. 
I sincerely hope you and your family are all 
well and happy and that you are enjoying life and your work 
as much as you did in the past. 
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