SS President Polk, South Pacific

Our waiter, José, is a card. He calls me “Lt. Cmdr. Shleem” and, with the exception of a few worried days during the fall of Manila, has always been quite comical. He’s a Filipino a good intelligence and wild imagination.

Went down into the engine room in the evening. Is the most modern and cleanest that I have ever seen. Most of the equipment is automatic — salinity indicator, burners, accident shut off, etc. Shaft alley is quite long.

Russell Fette blossomed out in shorts and had to endure the howls of the Army most of the day. Intend to get some myself, first chance I get. I remember how extremely comfortable they were in Bermuda last summer.

Forgot to mention that yesterday we passed a yellow buoy, about the size of a mine, which everyone was convinced was a mine, although I know damn well it wasn’t. They shot at it with everything on the ship for about 20 minutes. The 37 millimeter cannons did quite well considering that the crews have never fired from a ship before. Despite all the lead thrown around though, it would not sink — or explode.