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any flying fish. They had dark blue
bodies, 4 white, web-like wings and tail
and would be flying close to the water
and all of a sudden plunge into a crest
of another waver. They seemed to be from
4 to 8 inches in length. At 10 A.M.
the ship started to get ready to enter port.
The Captain and Executive Officer and Navigator
were all on the bridge; Lieut. Sheply was
on the forecastle with his gang of men
getting the anchor and other things ready.
Two sailors were on a platform on the port
side "flying the blue pigeon" and as the
hunk of lead flew around and around and
then went to the bottom, the one man
holding the line would sing out "by the mark
7" or "by the deep 6" meaning the water at
that place was 6 fathoms deep.
At 11 AM we were entering the breakwater
of the Canal Zone and just dead ahead
a couple of miles was the Atlantic end
of the Panama Canal and to the left
was Coco Solo, the submarine base, whence
we were bound to unload stores and
put off four Ensigns for duty there.
It was so interesing to see all of
the palm trees and red-roofed buildings
on shore. The day was bright and
the weather cool. Bill took the day's
duty at noon so I went ashore with Lt.
& Mrs. Bales of the Marine Corps, Mabeth &
Mrs. R. Took a bus and drove about
9 miles to Colon (25¢) I was so interested
in the Palm trees, banana trees and
so much other tropical foilage. The red
hibuscus were all around. The town of
Colon was something so new to me -- the
first impression was the side walks were
all under cover -- front porches of buildings
formed the cover -- suppose this was
as a protection from sun and rain. We
first went into a salon -- "The Tropicale"
and all had a drink. I took peach brandy
and slipped the glass it came in into my purse
as a souvenir. Then we hired a car and
drove all thru the streets of Colon and
Cristobal and then out to Gatun locks
of the Canal. I walked across the top of one
of the locks which was a dizzy heights of 86