Being a veteran of the “Great White Fleet,” I read your article on its famous cruise with great interest, and I congratulate you on it. My wife was also interested… she and I met on that cruise, first at Monterey and later at San Francisco, which was her home.

…The picture of officers drinking a toast was apparently a Junior Officers’ Mess, the more elderly gentleman on the left being the pay clerk, who was usually in that mess, and the others, from their collars, being Passed Midshipmen or Ensigns. It was probably the traditional Saturday night toast to “Sweethearts and Wives.” … The toast was, “Here’s to our sweethearts and wives—may our sweethearts become our wives, and our wives ever remain our sweethearts.” Sometimes the last phrase was parodied to “—may they never meetl”