The holds full, and we are carrying so much deck cargo in the shape of salt for Cooktown, and fresh fruit and vegetables for Thursday Island, that there is not much room to move about. Smith is not on the ship this trip. He is on board the pearling schooner "Darnley", about to leave Cairns to salvage the wrecked pearler "Darwin", which ran on a reef north of Cooktown when we were on Bellenden-Ker. In charge as skipper-engineer is Bill Wallace, a blonde young American from Portland, Oregon, who was working in Tucson when we were there in 1940, knew Rogers and Barrinks, and later worked for Consolidated. As mate we have an Englishman, a qualified navigator, who came aboard in coat and tie, very drunk, and was put out of the wheelhouse by the skipper. As cook we have a harum-scarum, tattooed young Can- adian who was barman in the T.I. Bloodhouse when I stayed there. The one native in the crew, Koko, a Torres Strait Islander, came on board in tipsy condition, offering everyone drinks from a bottle of "Plantation" rum. Finalizing everything in Cairns in three days was strenuous going for all of us. We have more than ample equipment and are well supplied with stores, although items such as onions and dried fruits are as yet unobtainable in Cairns owing to the recent strike. It is good to be on the move. We are nearly 5 weeks behind schedule and the dry season will be well advanced by the time we get through with our planned work. Friday, April 16 Terry's clatter and chatter in the galley woke me about sunrise, when we were off Mossman and on a course set to take us close to Snapper Island. The cool blue, cloud-capped mass of the Mt. Spurgeon - Mt. Armit complex, rising to over 4000 ft., looked most impressive, and to me a most inviting area to explore. Mt. Finnegan, passed later in the morning, had its head hidden in the same stratum of white cum- ulus. This mountain, Thornton Peak, and Mt. Spurgeon, are the dominating peaks of somewhat separated mountain areas in the rain-forested rangy country between Cairns and Cooktown. Archer Point marks approximately the northern limit of the continuous rain-forest below Cooktown. Terry is living up to his reputation as a "champion ear basher" (i.e. talker), but he is feeding us like fighting cocks and his lusty servings are a change from the rather too genteel helpings of Hides Hotel. Great plates of ham and eggs, garnished with sliced tomatoes for breakfast. Baked ham, mashed potatoes, cucumber and tomato salad, and fruit salad of pineapples, oranges and papayas for lunch. Fried fish, fresh from the towline, and apple pie for dinner. All well cooked and attractively served. As a special treat at dinner, we had small bowls of _______, a raw fish dish popular with the Thursday Id. pearlers and said to be Japanese in origin. The fish is sliced thin, stepped in vinegar for some hours, and is eaten with fresh sliced onions. About 6 P.M. we reached Cooktown and tied up to unload salt and ice. Our arrival was honored by one of the three hotels opening a "nine" (gallon steel container) of beer. This was the undoing of our motley crew. Returning to the ship at 10 o'clock from an evening with Dr. and Mrs. Kestevan at the hospital, we found the deck littered with a wild jumble of smashed cases of fruit and eggs, and the hands wrestling drunkenly with heavy sacks of salt. It was 11:30 before we got settled, with only the skipper and a deckhand, Bluey, sober. The Englishman and another crew member were left behind. The Englishman having a master's ticket for small vessels, was carried only to satisfy the navigation laws, and was quite useless as far as duties were concerned.