Saturday 31 January 1953 Lat 36°13'N. Long 75°28'W. Distance 53 mi. Steaming time 3 hr 30 min. Av. sp 15.14 K. Wind S.E. 2. Sea slight. Sailed 6:30 A.M. Dull day, rain spits. Many Bonapartes gulls & a few gannets out near pilot ship. Also a school of 30-50 porpoises. Rain squalls for rest of day. Running down to Cape Hatteras on course 170° Passed Hatteras light about 5:00 P.M. New course 217° Scattered gannets. Wrote to Hermano Daniel. Slept most of afternoon. A few more days & I will be completely relaxed. I only wish that I had insisted that K sail with me. We have several sick passengers today. Blowing up a bit but not too much motion. Food has been good but too much of it. Milk twice a day (not at night). Geoff and I are starting to ease up on meals. One of the engineers (used to work for Chrysler)--Hungarian--talked with me for an hour about communism, American factories & Papuan natives (he had pictures from Port Moresby). Studied report on Shaw Meyer's mammal collecting in N.G. Also read Cape York report. Capt. Peder Eriksen Chief mate Harlan L. Wadleigh 2nd mate James M. Walsh, Jr. Donald J. Penniail James E. Peifer Sunday 1 February 1953 Course 217° Clear beautiful day. Horizon clear to W., N, & N.E. Strato-cumulus to E, S, & S.W. A few rain squalls in sight to S.E. We are in the Gulf Stream-- patches of weed in sight. Air soft and warm. Sprinkling of white caps. Wind out of the W. A few herring gulls with ship (6-8 2nd yr; 2-3 ad). First Jaeger in sight close to ship 9:15 A.M. Followed for a few minutes, rested on water several times (with us 1/2 hr)--white streakings at base of inner l°s, wh. underpts, wh up sides of neck, black on median neck line, size 15-16"; low over waves. Very difficult to get distrib. of wh areas. No ships in sight all morning. (11 A.M. 3/M, 1 ad H. gulls). No gannets today. First flying fish at noon. (7/1 m. 1 ad. H.G.) More Jaegers in sight just at dusk soaring over ship. Wrote letters & then talked about ships, shipping & oil companies with one of the engineers until 2:30 A.M. Also looked at Koda- chromes of Brisbane & other Australian cities taken by one of radiomen; good pictures of Koalas at Lone Pine Park. 4 - 8 P.M. watch: Bill Rogerson "About 5 P.M. Florida will be 185 mi. W of ship. It may be as late as noon tomorrow when Fla. is sighted. Jupiter light (200 mi S of Jacksonville)"--per Mr. Peifer Monday 2 February 1953 Overcast. Florida in sight at 6:30 A.M. (at least). Laughing gull added to our list of ship followers; became more numerous as we closed on coast. We are running well in (less than a mile at times). 74° at 12:30. Six or more Jaegers joined