Dakar 2/10/1937
Dear friends,
Yes, you must excuse the late answer – but it’s a difficult existence to be “Circumnavigator” in the harbor, it goes like crazy with visitors on land, dinners with Aperitifs and strong drinks so when you finally have a peaceful hour the head is not in such good shape as is necessary to put 3 words together, but today I have pulled myself together, got up early at 6.30 and am now sitting in the nicest sunshine while the other 3 are sleeping it off. Yesterday we were to dinner by the commander of the marine here, we have decided to cultivate the shiny buttons (like a name in a little thin Port Etienne turned out to be a little pearl between our uncountable harbors, a little exceptionally good sheltered natural harbor, no laying alongside a dock, only a beach, not even a dinghy dock to come on shore we had to pull it up on the sand. There was nothing except sand, sand, sand, a lot of fish, and 40 Frenchmen who made life especially comfortable, all that grew was a few cabbage heads in boxes with dirt from the Canary Islands, and they watered them with water from France. Every cabbage head costs 15 francs before it could be eaten but it was the military so it was the state who paid. The first time we walked ashore there stood a uniformed man on the beach. we showed him our papers and asked where we could buy bread. He thought for a while and said: “Come along”. And we got loaded into his car and then off we went to the barracks. He turned out to be the commanding captain of the place. We were treated with Tuborg beer and a black – all black – bread. There was no baker there, but the captain brought us bread every morning and one of the cabbage heads included. The next day we got invited for dinner and by the aperitif he told es with a twinkle in the eyes that there had been a pig slaughter so we should have “Schweinefleisch” (pork meat), he Knew 2 German words. The pig was delicious. We got a piece along home. The following day we were dining by the engineer and we also got “Schweinefleisch” and they told us that there had been a pig slaughter in the barracks, and exactly the same was repeated on the 3rd day by the doctor. when we arrived here we had found the harbor the most dirty we had ever seen and with the good memories of the French officers in the pocket Peter wrote to the marines who owned the only clean steps and asked for permission to go ashore there, then follow the big permission for the whole family to be on the terrain, there is a nice little beach. Visit of all the officers on “Restmore”, luckily the doctor’s wife in Port Etienne had been so farsighted that she sent 3 bottles of Vermouth and 3 bottles of Muscatel on board before we sailed so we could greet then, without putting our big Danneborgs flag to shame. And now we are busy here with car trips and dinners. It’s carnival on Thursday and the Officers Club has arranged a children’s party, we are guests, only our dear countrymen – here are about a dozen – have no time for us, they are so busy earning money. Our Danish cons has – so they say – scraped over a million together with the little oil seed peanuts which are everywhere. Last Sunday there were 13 Scandinavian ships in the harbor and I guess now it is time to tell that we received the last writings of 4 DS with 1000 in and thank for it, also for the “Sail Sport”. The regatta in England would surely have been worth being along even if only as spectators, for the 3000 pounds I guess is not put out for the fastest snail sped in which we maybe also could be in but the road to Bricksham is long we were in Brigsham harbor once. We can easily understand that one of our letters from Las Palmas was opened. Conditions there were anything but normal but on account of eventual censor we didn’t write anything. It was not permitted to go on steamers, when our quests came ashore they were asked what they were doing on the boat, on the streets there were soldiers everywhere, military men guarded and sometimes only 12 year old boys stood with guns (weapons), the atmosphere was very tense but the climate was wonderful, the beach and the fruits also. Now we have by the way reached Pineapples today, we are having Bananas porridge and marmalade, I am also supposed to make them, but you should not be sorry, in Denmark they also have nice fruits, when I think about cherries, yes, strawberries and such, it makes your mouth water. I propose, If Valdemar one day has absolutely nothing to do may be you could examine the rules for winning a long distance cruise, the king’s or others, maybe it could be interesting to get sliver on board. How is the coughing now? Is the weather better?