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[Page 39]
& we had a great trip, the country abut [about] was very pretty & heavily vegetated, the road was shaded all the way by trees – mostly coco-nut palms. Another night a mate & I took a run in a catamaran or canoe. We were getting along fine, I in pyjamas & he in dungarees when the outrigger broke & the bally tub upset. We got ashore with our old buss after about ¾ hours swim & got back in time for roll call.
Our next port was Colon where we stayed fourteen hours. We did not stop at Panama but ran straight through to Colon. The Canal was a great sight & is a wonderful work. It seemed hard to realise - looking up the sides of the cuttings in places towering high above our masts – that we were 85 ft. above sea level. The locks rose us as much as 29' & in 3 minutes. At Cristobel (Colon) we coaled in 14 hours the huge plant is run almost throughout by electricity, electric cars are fitted by a huge claw like crane which fills a truck at two goes – about 15-20 tons.
Our next port was N.Y. where we put in 8 days. For 2 days we lay out in Brooklyn harbour, the third day we put into one of the Brooklyn wharves & were granted 25% leave. I was one of the unlucky ones & had to wait to get off till the