USS Cambria (LPA 36) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 67 text:

TRANSFER AT SEA r T , HE SEKGEANT fits himself on the board seat . . . takes a range and bearing on the rainbow-shot frazzle of foam below. With hands locked close under the snatch block he is hoisted clear of the rail — then hauled away — and across I Upon arrival, the young quartermaster logs transferred with records and cour- age in hand, and another transfer by breeches buoy is completed.

Page 66 text:

Completely civilized . . . but not completely ' westernized. ' Open air rcslaur-ant. Temple of Mysteries. Mayor of Athens conies to grips with the Navy.

Page 68 text:

SYRACUSE TTisroiiY tells that Syracuse was once a ranking Mediter- ranean power. This is where history comes in handy. Left to our own imaginations we never would have guessed. Founded hy Phoenicia as a strategic •northern ' port, en- larged upon under Greek rule to become a rich Athenian grain source, Syracuse was a prosperous city when the Romans arrived. When they left — at the cold suggestion of Saracen scimitars — Syracuse faded from the scope. Today much of Syracuse has turned back to the sea. A battered fishing armada rides in the basins along the water- front — its main goal: sardines. Squiggling netfuls of pros- pective sandwiches sit on the cracked decks, trembling silvery tidbits awaiting canned deportation. The most interesting place most of us found was the Orecchio di Dionisio . . . The Big Ear. A huge, man-made hillside cleft with rare acoustic properties. Originally a marble quarry it later became a slave barracks. The owner, Dionysius, built his home-on top to overhear any mutinous talk from below. Even now, one flat spot near the entrance renders a 4-part harmonic echo while the tearing of a single paper sounds like the ripping of a yard of cloth. When it was time to go — we went. Syracuse, when last seen, was still making love to a marble memory.