"HAIL AND FAREWELL"
By A1 Stein II
Speaking for the rest of the crew and
I beleive I am, I send a hearty "Welcome
Aboard" to all the men and families that
have reported aboard this past month or
mope. You. are especially welcomed by
men whose'relief you are.
You have probably heard many stories
about this little dot on the map, ADAKl
Don’t get discouraged at first,for-as
time rolls by you will have found many
things to occupy yourself in your spare
time. Just to mention a few of the fac
ilities that ADAK offers us, we have the
Village Gym, which houses a bowling all
ey for those of you who like to bowl,and
a roller shating rink with last but not
least the basketball court. Right behind
the Gym there are a couple of ball diam
onds. In the Bering Building there’s
the swimming pool, the Williwaw Lounge,
the theatre, and we have the enlisted
men’s club, ’’Club Bayview*’, We have the
nicest clubs on the Island. With Bingo
every Friday night, usually with a band
to follow, and music for your dancing
pleasure,you can be sure of an enjoyable
time.
tor those outdoor men who luce to fish
and hike ADAK is just the place. Accor
ding to the scuttlebutt this year is the
year for the Salmon to run. They start
in July and finish up ,in.September# Give
the Special Services office a call about
checking out some fishing gear.
I hope you men enjoy your stay here.
; It is all up to the individual whether
his stay here is pleasant or not.
Last but not least I am not forgetting
I the men and families that are due to le
1 ave. They are going back to that land so
: far across the sea. I imagine that there
i are a. few of them going back with '• some
: pleasant memories that they will never
: forget.
One person I especially want to men
! tion and bid a. well earned farewell to
the originator of this column KA1 SteinM
For the past few months he has added a
! bit of reading pleasure for all. Myself
i WA1 Stein II hope that I will be able—
; bo continue to bring you more of the - -
i same® • • .A1 Stein II, • . .
From the 011Sourdough’s Nature Notebook
A bracketed blenny, an eel-like fish,
was found in one of the shrimp pots last
woek by J. C. Hobbs. Although resembl
ing an eel, the blenny belongs to a dif
ferent group of fish which includes the
wolf-eel, spotted kelp fish and eel-pou
ts. The wolf-eel has been known to reach
a length of 8 feet. This group of fish
has fins composed of spines and rays wh
ile the true eels have fins composed on
ly of rays, no spines.
X X *X XXXX X XX XX X-X*
To the boys at GCA go the honors for
the biggest handsaw fish caught around^
Adak. It’s length was 55 inches. An
attempt will be made to have it mounted
for the museum. Other specimens were
caught by Bill Coats (54 inches) and the
boys at the Ships Dept. (48 inches). We
found six jaws of the handsaw "fish on
the beaches of Great Sitkin a couple of
weeks ago.
The' Handsaw fish may reach a length j
of 5 feet and is indentified by its bar-j
racuda-like teeth, eel-like body, high-j
dorsal fin and the presence of an adip- j
ose fin.! It is a deep water fish and is j
occasionally taken on halibut fishing !
gear or found washed ashore here on I
. Adak* |
On examination of the stomachs of th- i
ree of the fish found here, many undige-j
sted shrimp were found in one with the j
other being empty* • In all references |
consulted, we could hot find any mention j
of shrimp in'their diet* j
We are unable -to-explain why these!
fish- are' being washed ashore here onj
Adak, Someone speculated radiation poi— }
soning from atomic fallout. I seriously I
doubt this in that the# have been doing j
this for years and- all the specimens ex-j
amined here were heavely laden with par- !
‘asites which possibly contributed to th-j
eir death*
‘ * * * *•># ■■■» # #
Sorry we did’nt get to write about j
| the King Crab this week but will get it j
j next week* • : - - ' ~ j
i .. •' |
t • ;
"See You next week". • i