((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.