Viewing page 12 of 83

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-6-
March [[strikethrough]] 6 [[/strikethrough]] 5 - Up bright and early so as not to miss the zoo director when he came to call for us. Unloading began at 6.30, and continued noisily all morning. We stayed on the upper deck, leeward mostly to avoid the coal dust, and watched our neighbors in the harbor. A swift and sturdy looking banana goat, flying the French flag, was near us, and a freshly painted Portuguese freighter gradually lost its brightness as the coal settled over it. A small Polish freighter set us all to speculating; what would be the home port of this ship-without-a-country? Greek, Italian and Belgian steamers were either riding at anchor or tied up to wharves near us. But the theme of the harbor was war, not commerce, with British airplane carriers, warships, destroyers, auxiliary [[insertion]] & French [[/insertion]], and airplanes and amphibians around and above us. The Uhenfels, once a German merchant ship, was being coaled under the British flag; it had been captured somewhere between here and South America only a few months ago. Towards noon the airplane carrier, with its wide cleared decks and top-heavy tower moved out to sea, as did other British and French boats. 
[[margin]] Troop ship packed with Senegalese in khake & red fezes. [[/margin]]
We watched our going-ashore clothes turn dark with soot; the Senegalese slung big boxes, marked "Glass: Handle With Care" into cargo nets and out of Number 2 hatch; Bernice played Circus Echoes on her portable victrola; occasionally automobiles came speeding down the wharf toward us, but never one of them contained the promised zoo director, and at one o'clock we finished unloading and moved slowly away from the wharf without ever having put foot ashore. 
"Dakar? Oh yes; that's where we anchored in the coal yard."
But Bill says it's French and to hell with it. 
Hardly were we well out to sea when the rumble of heavy guns began to shake the air. We all went up on the upper deck again, and by the air of glasses could watch what looked at first like a naval battle in progress. We could see the flash of the gunfire, and then when the shell hit the water a great red flare went up, like a column of smoke and spray. Eventually we could make out a target, a large flat square, as well as the French warship which we had seen that morning. It was only practice, but as far as we could see no direct hits were scored.