SSRN SEAVIEW

 

Dear Mom,

          Well, here I am aboard Seaview. Not a bad gig for my Reserve time. She's more of a pleasure boat than a real sub. I can stretch out my legs and there's no 'hot‑bunking'.

          Don't get me wrong. They do everything the same way the Navy does, sort of, well, maybe. I mean, you 'sir' the officers, and get chewed out by the Chief if you don't work fast enough.

          Anyway, in between watches I'm trying to keep up with my studies and I sure am kidded about trying to get a degree in art history and some of the guys are starting to call me 'prof'. It's all in good fun, so I just let them.

          I taped a couple of pictures that I've done aboard.

This first one is of the Captain in the control room, near the periscope. I'm not usually in that part of the boat. Sometimes they let us take a peek out of the front porch now and then. That's the Observation Nose that Seaview’s so famous for. One of the perks.The next one is of the ‘Three Musketeers’ as we call the XO, Captain, and Admiral. The third  is is a portrait of the Skipper. He’s probably the only man aboard who's actually encouraging my artwork. He even sat for me over some coffee. And does he ever guzzle it down. Has to have a real caffeine fix, that one. I don’t remember now what joke it was that had him laughing. Anyway, he actually suggested to the Admiral that I might do some art for the Institute's Visitor Center. Paid work. I'm not sure what the Admiral thought. Hard to read him. Nice enough though. We'll see.

 

 

          I don't do much of anything important, and spend most of my time scrubbing the deck, vents, and any other mundane chores. I guess it's 'cause I'm only one on Active Reserve status and they can get away with it. Oh well. It's only a two week stint. I gotta close now, the mailbag's ready to go, and those chopper pilots are an impatient lot. I'll write again as soon as we get home and fill you all in on my 'adventure'. Yeah, sure, ‘some’ adventure. See you soon.

 

          Love,  Brad