"Last
Sunday afternoon was a calm, peaceful, sunny one; so when Chuck Latimer invited
us to go sailing on the Potomac we jumped at the invitation.... About 5 P.M. we
decided to head for home base....Then it happened! With Bob egging him on J. O.
had the ship very close to the wind. We
dipped far over to the right, recovered, then the wind and wake both catching
us the boat tipped far enough over to ship a hull full of water. Meanwhile, we
had jumped to the port side for ballast; so the whole ship having lost its
buoyancy just eased over on its side dumping us all into the Potomac....There
we were--five naval officers including a navigation instructor who couldn't
keep a 16 ft. vessel afloat or right her once she had capsized....Finally some
people came along in a motor yacht and offered us a tow."
--Letter
from my father, Washington, D.C., to his family, Bloomington, Kans., Saturday,
June 15, 1946.
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