Dear Jim,

October 30, 1908

I knew this was a great idea to join the navy. I feel so powerful being on these giant ships and going around showing off our dominance to other countries around the world. When our ships got to Shanghai, China the shores were too shallow for our enormous ships. That made me and the rest of the crew feel powerful because our ships couldn’t fit in their puny ports. We had to go the port of Amoy instead so their ports could fit our ship.