Thomas Jefferson (APA 30) - Naval Cruise Book

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I TRY CARTER'S LITTLE LIVER PILLS, MISTER OUT SHOPPING

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MEMORIALS TO THE DEPARTED 33

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UHNINB SHADUW3 nn the FA TAIL Q On the large square-looking maps that hang in schoolhouses all over America, the shortest dis- tance between Saipan and San Francisco looks like a straight line running a little north of due east. But on the charts of the Tlzrmzux leflcrsozz, the Navigator plotted a long sweeping curve, bulging upward toward the north. Tlzziv is actually the shortest distance, the Great Circle route, and on Sunday morning, October 28, the ship glided out of Saipan Harbor, through the well marked but narrow channel, through the torpedo nets, and began slowly to crawl along the Navigator's track. We had been in Saipan less than a day after hav- ing come down from Sasebo to pick up homeward bound Army troops, but no one was sorry to see the land fade away in the hotness of the morning. On easterly courses, there are early morning shadows on the fantail. The sun rises ahead of the F t X 5. :seam .ink ...... . ,M ship. Un this trip, after sweepers had been piped in the afternoon, some of the crew sat around and smoked, watching the sun set into the leisurely miles of blue water. The voyage home was uneventful, except for a severe storm which tossed the ship around north of Midway. It began to get cold, and the watch wore foul weather gear most of the time. The morning before dawn of November 11 was clear and cold. As cold as the morning four months before when the Captain had the orderly bring Spurrier a foul weather jacket, and as clear as a frosty night in March. The half moon hung in the sky surrounded by a dozen of the bright stars of the East, and underneath, glittering in the early morning chill, lying clearly before us like diamonds on a distant carpet . . . was San Francisco. l 35