Baltimore (CA 68) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 73 text:

in fr v y Ready for mspechon' everyone could Tell his daily sTory and cry in his beer. The ship's soTTloall Team gained nine vicTories wiTh no deTeaTs To begin The season. Behind good piTching and greaT Tielding supporT, The boys appeared headed Tor The SixTh FleeT championship Tor The second year in The Med- iTerranean. Our opporTuniTies Tor relaxaTion and recreaTion added a cerTain enioymenT To The cruise. While we worked hard Trom day To day, There was sTill Time To Thinlc aloouT ho-me and ask The Tollcs Tor The laTesT news. Those happy hours

Page 72 text:

Training . . . And prayers Our five weelcs of Jfraining and drills weren'+ all worlc. We had our leisure rnomenls. when we could wrile leldlers home, +o Jrell The liollcs whal we were doing and how we were en- joying lhe warm sunshine, Many a man relurned wilh G sunlan, and became The envy of his friends al home. We had loeach parlies on Sunday allernoons and liberly call each night During The noon hours a+ sea. we relaxed on lhe lanlail and soaked up all Jrhe sun we wanled. Aller- noons and evenings were spenl al Jrhe Enlisled lvlen's Club a+ Guanlanarno Bay, our icavorile meeling spol Whefe Pause fhai- refreshes

Page 74 text:

The Palace of The Preside'nT l T Af, fx li -,, T i l l i l ATTer The long weeks aT C5iTmo, PorT-au-Prince seemed like a Tropical Paradise, As we slipped inTo The harbor, beTween high green hills sparkling wiTh Tlowers, we were greeTed by hundreds oT Tiny, whiTe-sailed naTive craTT. We had hardly dropped anchor beTore The ship was surrounded by skiTTs, manned by local children. Born To The waTer, These I liTTle Tellows were excellenT swimmers, They dove experTly Tor The coins we Tossed, bodies Tlashing in The blue 4 waTer like so many porpoisel Ashore, we visiTed The shOpS where The world-Tamous l-laiTian mahogany ware is made. and reTurned loaded To The gunnels wiTh The beauTiTul hand- CFGTT. We waTched The cockTighTs, naTional pasTime oTTl16 island, and saT enTranced by The earThy grace oT The halT- 3 savage dance-remnanT oT a bygone age. And we relaxed. Tor l-laiTi, Though The signs oT a mechanized civilizaTion are T now appearing, sTill reTains much oT iTs old characTer . . . The Tall palms waving in a warm blue sky, The whiTe sand gleaming in The sun . . . These Things gave us Tor a Tew shorf days The True peace oT The Caribbean. .I N .4562-.N ,-f 'il - 6-'Zz' -an-x-df... X. 5 I 4, , i-fieeif Q . , Y C ,bg il - i-f I 39-in