Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, 5/26/1939
Dear Marie and Valdemar!
Now we are near a trip home from Santiago, Cuba where to !!! 288 bottles of rum were loaded aboard, I wonder if there will be a little sip left over for the Copenhageners but it’s only small samples. We got them to make advertisement, fine Bacardi Rum, fine, fine, can you now remember the name? Since we think the Americans owe us something we went into this harbor which is an American naval harbor and where we figured they would have a slip (the messy paper is due to Per’s active fingers) and we would like to have “Restmore” with a respectable bottom, it worked fine, the commander is an old Seawolf born at sea and he ordered the respective American sailor boys to pull us up on the dry land and we try in return to prevent their throats getting dry. He also told them to give us whatever we need of lines, wires, hoses, paint, so it’s really working out good here. Here is a free cinema every evening and when we were on the ship we could see the show from the “Restmore’s” deck, the sailor boys are nice and friendly and today is Sunday, we have continuously some of them on board and Peter really put them to work. The whole family has been blessed with sailor hats, Musen gets bracelets and the well-known ice cream is flowing in wide streams and now back to the answering of your 3 letters. Somebody’s travel has been very unfortunate because they didn’t get an opportunity to treat us with a warm bath etc. and that just it should not happen. Mr. Markussen who talked with us in Havana we can’t quite remember, it’s probably the Stewart on “S.S. Pilsutzky” who was supposed to be waiter on the sea pavilion at home. We can’t remember his name. The next letter you write it is well done in 5 years to sail with no head wind but that has to be answered with that goes a little too hard on our sailors home; the course is not chosen by accident but is decided by us who know which way the wind is blowing and the trip across the Atlantic was made in the trade winds belt where the trade winds always blow from East to West. The trip home is on a more northerly course with the west winds although they may not be quite as steady as the trade winds, that we now get north wind is on a kind of USA’s unwelcome behavior which got us to turn the bow around but now it goes good again although it’s going to be September at the earliest before we reach homely waters. Now they have cinema, so I finish with my loving greetings from yours Lars, Muse, Per, Peter and Else.
