We had all been looking forward to eating our Christmas dinner at the island of Trinidad and were going to have a royal feed, as our German "hosts" were going to kill a pig and a cow that were on board the _Igotz Mendi_ when captured. However, the Brazilian navy changed our plans as to where our dinner was to be eaten; though we had "Sir Pig" just the same. Owing to the sudden change of our plans (gaining freedom via Spain) we all felt very blue on Christmas day, which was not the enjoyable affair it would have been if everything had worked out as expected. I know I had the blues all Christmas as I got thinking about other Christmases spent under more enjoyable circumstances, which thoughts naturally didn't make me feel any more cheerful. Lieutenant Rose was around bright and early, wishing us all a merry Christmas and "many happy returns" of the day. I intend next Christmas, if Rose is still interned in Denmark, to write him a letter returning the compliment, and then he can possibly appreciate the subtleties of a joke of this nature. My wife wanted to stick a hat pin into him when he came around with his "many happy returns of the day." The German crew, too, appeared to be blue on Christmas. New Year's eve we all sat up to see the New Year in, and one or two of us worked up enthusiasm enough to make a little noise, but the situation was so depressing that we soon subsided. Not so our German crew, however. They held high festival in the Engineer's mess, having a bowl full of punch, whose chief recommendation was that its foundation was "Aguadenti" and it had an awful kick. The Spanish Engineer, who had a splendid voice, sang several songs, and the German sailors sang patriotic songs. At about two o'clock on New Year's morning, some one woke me up by shoving a bottle of wine through the port-hole for me, and later on around three A.M. another bottle made its appearance. Some of the German sailor boys had imagined we were not happy because we had no wine. The gifts were received in the spirit in which they were sent. This was by no means the only act of kindness shown my family and myself by the members of the crew. In fact, throughout the trip, officers and crew, with the single exception of Lieutenant Rose, were very friendly toward us. The American contingent was decidedly popular, though they had no use for the rest. As an illustration, on my birthday on January 25th several members of the crew came and presented me with presents in the form of bottles of wine, and even Rose came across with a box of cigars. Several of the German crew had lived in America for many years; two had even taken out their first papers. And all of these talked enthusiastically of going back to America as soon as the war was over.