Diary pages from this date

((Dates approximate))

We passed through the Sundra Straits ((the Sunda Strait)), a narrow channel between Sumatra and Java and a disastrous area for the retreating Dutch at the beginning of the war. For the next 12 days we sailed across the Indian Ocean below the tip of India and Ceylon.

During this time we were given the opportunity of signing notes and receiving up to $100 for things which could be purchased on the ship, an arrangement worked out between our government and the Swiss.  Our family was allotted $500 but we only drew $50.

Joseph Alsop, the correspondent, had plans of leaving the ship and getting back into China where he had some connections with the Flying Tigers and needed extra money for sending cables to Washington, especially to Eleanor Roosevelt. I drew $100 for him; later on in the States his father sent me a check for $110.

After Oriana's funeral, wrote poem:-

'I have seen the anxious and fearful eyes
Of a wife who knows that her husband lies.
I have heard the hopeless moan of despair
Of a woman whose man is no longer there.
I have stood by the open grave of a child
Whose mother stood by while the earth was piled.

Faithlessness, death – all the risks that attend 
Attachments on which we would grow to depend;
I wonder, would this make me hesitate
Though all other voices say 'Marry thy mate' ?

They say we are going through some dangerous waters. The ship has slowed down and moves carefully. Everyone talks of the volcano and tries to figure out just where it ought to be. Passing through the Straits is quite an interesting experience. The scenery is grand.

((The volcano is probably the famous Krakatoa volcano. Then "the Straits" means the Sunda Strait between the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java. Krakatoa is located in the Sunda Strait.))

Strong gale early A.M.

No. 5 signal up.

Mrs Ashby brought in some news & she tells us that US planes were over Kowloon on Wed.

Started in our own kitchen P.M.

Rain & wind.

Several bus loads of Chinese, men women & children arrived & entered gaol today. Food rioters?

No.5 typhoon signal hoisted.