Dear Father

At this moment I am well and with a full stomach. A couple of days ago, I had doubts about the stomach, probably out of sympathy more than any thing else. In fact for about half an hour I stayed close to the rail. But the danger passed and I am storing away the food 3 times a day.

[Censored] as I have said before is a beautiful blue color regardless of its sky. The other night, or better morning when I came on shift, the moon was out lighting up a large patch of ocean. It seems that these times I am on guard I have a lot of opportunity to observe the sky and stars. Of course a ship offers a lot of hazard such as ladders that just won’t stay still so that sky gazing must be limited to times of emotion.

Yesterday I took my first shower aboard ship. This old business of pumping the seawater in with out heating. It is rough. For a few minutes I figured that maybe I was back in [censored] or a similar New England resort north of Cape Cod. Regardless of the cold chill it did the job of getting the dirt off. Shaving was a problem during the early stage but now with Mennen n’ Burshler shaving cream, the whiskers come off as though I put cream on and turned the family cat loose to lap them off. Speaking of shaving reminds me that the razor I am using should by the time I pass it down to my offspring, if any, have quite a story to tell. It has seen the Western Front in the last war, various camp and station both thanks to you and me, now the [censored] started in Boston, South Boston ? bus but oh how it has traveled since.

From time to time I will write although these letters probably wont get mailed until we reach our destination.

John