1 January, 1908/U.S.S. Missouri
Happy New Year! Today, I was initiated by King Neptune himself! It is a tradition in the Navy that all those who are inexperienced, people who have not crossed the Equator before and of course, being an officer, I was one of the first. Since I had heard tales of these events I gave into the “authorities” knowing resistance was punishable by a longer time in the initiation. I had my head shaven with a wooden razor, covered in all kinds of lubricants, had a nasty dough-ball shoved in my mouth, and was dunked into a canvas pool from a chair mounted on our forward turret. This is the best experience I will ever have in the Marines. Now we are back to standard routine.
Sincerely,
Major Charles Darwin, USMC
18 January, 1908/U.S.S. Missouri
Greetings from Rio de Janerio, Brazil! We have been in port for several days now and we are enjoying every single second of it. The people are very warm and welcoming to us and have given us plenty of gifts and treats. We did have an incident at a local bar though, where a local fisherman tried to hit another with a bottle and missed which caused a fight between the locals and our sailors. Thankfully, the officers of the Louisiana and local authorities ruled that the civilians were the aggressors and invited us to enjoy the rest of our stay in Rio. The first division commander is suffering from gout, I hope he gets well soon and doesn’t have to leave the cruise.
Sincerely,
Major Charles Darwin, USMC
4 July, 1908/U.S.S. Missouri
Happy Independence Day! Right now I am in San Francisco and it feels great to be an American on American soil once again after stepping on foreign soil five times already! But some curiosity has struck me today. Why are we on this voyage? Is it because we just want to do it or is it for a greater purpose such as intimidation or to flaunt ourselves? The U.S.S. Maine and Alabama, our home ship, have been replaced by the U.S.S. Wisconsin and Nebraska due to mechanical issues but I’m sure they’ll be under way soon enough. We had to refuel several times already, I do not think that these “Black Diamonds” are a suitable resource to power these big beauties of the sea. Hopefully we do not continue to use this resource much longer.
Sincerely,
Major Charles Darwin, USMC
31 July, 1908/U.S.S. Missouri
Hello from somewhere in the Pacific. I have no idea where we are but we are rumored to be heading towards New Zealand. Since we were in San Fran we have only stopped in Pearl Harbor. Something doesn’t seem right about this ship or Pearl Harbor. It feels as if something is going to happen in the future to this ship and that Naval Station. I just can not put my finger on it. Well ever since Pearl, we have been on the open ocean and it gives me a sense of how small we really are compared to this world. I think I know the answer to my question, as mentioned in my previous postcard. I think we are on a flaunting tour of the world in hopes of intimidating the other super powers of the world. Hopefully no one actually attacks.
Sincerely,
Major Charles Darwin, USMC
11 August, 1908/U.S.S. Missouri
Greetings from New Zealand! These natives gave us a very warm reception and invited us to watch their tribal ceremonies at a village. At the end of the dances, one of the natives bounded from the circle of dancers. He halted before the admiral and me; the native dancer broke into a broad, toothy smile and explained, "Bully!" Even these natives know about President Roosevelt, it is amazing how influential he is around the world. This land is beautiful to, it is so beautiful in fact that I would be surprised if they never film a movie here. Hopefully I will visit here again.
Sincerely,
Major Charles Darwin, USMC
1 September, 1908/U.S.S. Missouri
Greetings from Melbourne, Australia! We have already visited Sydney and we had a sailor fall asleep on a bench in their park and the Australians were so hospitable that they let him sleep. But Melbourne is a whole lot different. The citizens gave us the key to their city! THE KEY TO THEIR CITY! Most of our sailors are starting to feel the wear and tear of all the parties, which all the countries we have visited, have hosted for us. It will get interesting now as we find out how the sailors will start reacting after getting little sleep and constantly being monitored by an unknown number of people. Thankfully, no country has considered us a threat yet, otherwise we would be in trouble. But we still have a long way to go before we are done.
Sincerely,
Major Charles Darwin, USMC
20 October, 1908/U.S.S. Missouri
Greetings from Japan! Right now we are in Yokohoma, a very industrial city on the main island of Japan. The Japanese people are very hospitable to us, but I have feeling it won’t last long; something just doesn’t seem right about their hospitality, it feels like they have a strong hatred of us. One of the sailors in the fleet had a very close call on our way here. We were caught in a typhoon, these big beauties didn’t have any trouble getting through it though, but one sailor was swept of the deck of one ship and thrown onto the deck of another. He would have drowned most definitely had he not been swept onto the other deck. I was also celebrated by the people for saving their flag from burning.
Sincerely,
Major Charles Darwin, USMC
31 January, 1909/U.S.S. Missouri
We are almost home! One more ocean and we will be back where we started. I can’t believe the recruiting poster, after 8 years, would finally come true. I finally was able to meet a whole lot of people and literally see the world. Of course, we really didn’t have the time to learn a new trade but we learned valuable communication skills and a better understanding of the world, which I think is more valuable than any trade in the world. That is why I joined the Navy/Marine Corps, to learn and explore the world and it looks like my wish came true. Thank you for all the support at home, my crew and I really appreciate the gifts and warm words of wisdom you have given us through this journey. I hope to see you soon. This will be my last postcard before we see each other again and I thought I would make it special with our state’s ship.
Sincerely,
Major Charles Darwin, USMC
