Unfortunately, Los Angeles proved to be a bust as far as jobs were concerned, so Fritz headed down to San Diego, apparently on his own. There, he noticed the Pacific Queen tied up, and talked with the captain. The captain told him that they were getting ready to go down to Mexico to catch sea lions for exhibition. Fritz stayed on the ship, helping out, and wrote to his family asking permission to go.
June 24 - San Diego
Fritz writes home about the Pacific Queen
This photo of the ship was in the scrapbook, but I don't think my grandpa took it. That is a dummy hanging from the yardarm - I found similar pictures here from 1952.
This is an article sent home to his parents. The ship was owned by Frank and Rose Kissinger (a photo of them can be found here - Frank is on the left) and captained by Roy Moyes. Fritz was not in the Sea Scouts, as far as I know, but a history of the ship says that "A thousand or more boys invaded the ship begging to go. Thirty-one were chosen, most of them between the ages of fifteen and seventeen."
The editorial below also might have been included with this article, as it speaks of the cruise very favorably, and Fritz would probably have wanted to send as much as possible to help convince his parents to let him go.
As you can see from the headline, the ship was set to sail on July 1... so Fritz was cutting it kind of close! He got his answer a few days later... and it was not the one he wanted!
June 26
I imagine that his mother was too distraught to write, so Fritz's sister Mildred took over. His father even writes a few lines at the bottom of the third sheet.
Despite her last paragraph, saying that they did not need Fritz and had other boys that could easily take his place, I feel that she must have been sufficiently impressed by him if she took the time to write this letter. Surely she didn't do that for every boy that wanted to go on the trip.
Luckily for Fritz, the letter from Mrs. Kissinger convinced his parents to give him their permission to sail on the Pacific Queen. The ship, though originally scheduled to sail on the July 1, didn't leave port until the 4th. Fritz had time for one more letter home.
The article below is from June 29. You can see the back of Fritz's head in the top photograph... he helpfully marked himself with a little X.
July 3
"You really don't know how glad I was to receive that telegram, but you know how that is. When you have your mind set on something, your [sic] just going to do it, at any cost."
But Fritz was not going to give up that easily. He had a secret weapon: Rose Kissinger. She wrote to his mother. I especially like her argument on the last page that if Fritz didn't get on this ship, he would more than likely sign on a tramp steamer or something more dangerous.
Unfortunately, Los Angeles proved to be a bust as far as jobs were concerned, so Fritz headed down to San Diego, apparently on his own. There, he noticed the Pacific Queen tied up, and talked with the captain. The captain told him that they were getting ready to go down to Mexico to catch sea lions for exhibition. Fritz stayed on the ship, helping out, and wrote to his family asking permission to go.
