Lat 28° 55'N; Long 91° 51' W. Dist 133 mi. St. T. 8 hrs 25 min; Av Sp 15.79 K Wind NW 2. Sea slight-N Sunday 8 February 1953 In Beaumont. Docked at 12:30 A.M. A narrow squeeze between a Lykes freighter and a lighter. Pilot, Avice, Midge and I were invited to Captain's quarters for a sherry. Capt Erikson has furnished his sitting room very tastefully: sectional couch, tooled leather (Lima, Peru) coffee table and curtains. Unmarried, makes ship his home. Talked in Jim's cabin (chief mate) until 2:00 A.M. Ship's heat turned on--cabin was hot as an oven. Felt like a baked Pompano this A.M. Drank a qt of milk and glasses of fruit juice. Walked to town (½ Mile) (Phoned Kay at 10:00 A.M. No answer; found her in at 4:00 P.M. She had Mother with her - dinner at M.G.C. Good connection) Had a good orange juice. Sat in sun with gang from ship. Went back for more orange juice & wrote a few post cards. To ship for lunch. Wrote to Mr. Milne about investing pesos in Cia Col de Tab. Up town to mail letters & phone Key. Met Chief Engineer & we had an orange juice. To ship for dinner. Bow-on picture of S.S. P. Glen. Midge, Avice and I walked over to Norwegian freighter "Tasco" (all ships' names start with "T")-- run between Mexico, gulf ports & Norway. Knocked on captain's door & he very graciously showed us about ship: 12 passengers; quarters much more comfortable than ours & tastefully decorated; but officers eat and live separately from passengers. Ship immaculate. We are due to sail for Houston at 8:00 P.M. Oil smell pervades ship and town. Loaded 2355 drums of lubricating oil for Free mantle. Monday 9 February 1953 8:15 A.M. Course 317° N.W. Running along coast from Beaumont to Houston. In narrow dredged channel, miles of shallow water on all sides, in sight of land. Many Laughing Gulls--nearly all with dark breeding season heads; a few H. Gulls; 1 Cormorant. An occasional oil-well rig in water. 8:45 A.M. Course 330° Meeting outgoing tankers, passing very close ! (at full speed) one fishing smack cut across bows and we had to reduce speed--the bridge was mad. Just passed sand bar with 200+ white pelicans, 15-20 brown. Get into air very easily. 10:00 A.M. Passing old battleship "Texas" and San Jacinto monument. Approaching Shell refinery--smells like a burned breakfast. Another 100 + white pelicans on a bar. Pintails and other ducks in air. Tuesday 10 February 1953 In Houston Wednesday 11 February 1953 At Houston Thursday 12 February 1953 At Houston. Clear and cold. Finished loading. Uptown to visit Zoo and Natural History Museum. Primate house is a beauty. I arrived at 9:30 but one of keepers let me in and showed me around. Good assortment of baboons; 2 good chimps. Automatic heat control--natural gas. Air conditioning in summer. Bonnet monkey impressive. Zoo in large park area to West of Houston (Herman Park, 15 min. by bus from center). Good seal pool. Several bird inclosures with cypress trees (and knees). Park is in pine. Robins in large flocks. N.H.Museum is old one level building filled with junk.