HOLIDAY ROUTINE
At sea in the peacetime Navy: Deep within all of us is a treasure of memories. Not all are pleasant, however even the most unpleasant tend to mellow with time. So it has been when I look back on a short Naval career. I am grateful for the memories of those precious years. During years of wars or threat of war, our nation has issued a call to arms and the response has always met the demand. True, we had a draft system for many years and many responded because to do otherwise was unlawful. Many (a man?) evaded the draft for various reasons, but I daresay most responded because it was considered a duty. Such individuals abound in a free society where people believe that each person is entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Perhaps in recent years an overwhelming amount of our people have distorted that principle to the point that they believe the world owes diem a living. I have never believed that and I take some pride in the fact that my children do not so believe. In the old Navy of which I was a part there was, and probably still are, an elite group of men. They were known as regular Navy. They could, with pride sign their name and rank or rate and then add three letters, namely U.S.N. That simply signified that they were on active duty by choice. They were not reserves. I must hasten to add that many did leave the regular Navy after a period of active service and joined the Naval Reserves. They trained on a regular basis and were subject to call to active service. The other group were the draftees who were there because they had no choice in the matter. One should not jump to the conclusion that they were second class sailors. Most of them were men with excellent records. Never the less, they were not sailors by choice. There was a distinction. I was regular Navy and it gives me a rather special feeling when I look at my discharge and it notes that Willard Franklin Morgan CMM (USN) was honorably discharged from the Naval service. Why did I leave the service after six years? That is another story. But back to the story "Holiday routine at sea." While at sea a ship is always underway. There were of course special times when it might be otherwise. A ship needs to be underway to keep steerage. In peacetime we might anchor in a sheltered bay. On rare occasions a few officers and even Chief Petty Officers might decide to go deep sea fishing. As a member of the engineers force I was sometimes assigned to boat duty. My responsibility was the engine that powered the boat. The crew consisted of a coxswain who was a petty officer and bowhook who handled the lines when coming alongside or leaving the ship and an engineer. These three men handled the twenty two foot whaleboat. At this point you may well ask, Did you really to out on the high seas in that little boat. Indeed we did. Of course fishing parties did not go out unless the sea was reasonably calm. The Pacific, which means peaceful, was well named. It could at times assume a glassy appearance with of course the ever present ripples. The surface is never still. What did the fishermen catch? Any party of which I was a member, trolled for tuna. The fisherman would pay out his line so the bait was skimming the surface perhaps a hundred feet behind in the boat's wake.
We probably moved along at perhaps ten knots. When a fish was hooked it was hauled aboard. At the end of a days fishing the fish would be taken aboard and prepared for food. I assume that the fellow officers shared in eating fresh fish. The officers had their own mess and stewards to prepare it and the chiefs had their own mess with a ships cook and some seaman called briefly to serve as mess cooks. I did my time as mess cook but never had a chance to eat any fresh fish.