Franklin Roosevelt in Key West

We just got home from a fun week visiting my parents in southern Florida! It might sound dreamy, but I promise that eleven hours in a car with five kids equals something like fifty-five new gray hairs if my math prevails!

Of course, I couldn’t help but think of Franklin Roosevelt and his visits to those warm ocean waters after he contracted polio. When Franklin was a child, he spent time in Germany with his parents as his father sought healing springs for his heart ailments. Naturally, Franklin followed a similar path. First, he found some friends to invest in a small ship. They named it the Larooco for Laurence, Roosevelt & Company. Franklin spent many days fishing, developing his arm strength, and enjoying the warm salt waters. 

A few things stick out to me about this time:

1) Franklin's sense of humor returned. Just look at the rules he devised in his ship's Log Book:


Rules For Log Book Scribes
I. This Log Book must be entirely accurate and truthful. In putting down weights and numbers of fish, however, the following tables may be used.
Weights.
2 oz. make—1 log book pound
5 log book pounds make —“a large fish”
2 “large fish” make —“A record day’s catch”
Measures.
2 inches make —1 log book foot
2 log book feet make—“Big as a whale”
Anything above “whale” size may be described as an “Icthyosaurus”
(Note — In describing fish that got away, all these measures may be doubled — it is also permitted, when over 30 seconds are required to pull in a fish to say “After half an hour’s hard fighting—.”
II. The poetically inclined are warned that LAROOCO does not rhyme with Morocco. Also the combinations “knows I felt” to rhyme with Roosevelt and “Saw hence” to rhyme with Lawrence are not permitted.
III. Verbatim reports of the private conversations of the chief engineer with his carburetor must be represented only thus – “x ! ! x ! — ? ? X ! —.”
IV. All references to “community life” must be written in code.
V. The leaves of this Log are made to be easily removed. All frank opinions as to the character, habits and general personality of one’s shipmates written after a 3 days’ nor’wester and no fish will be so removed. (see more from his log in this article)

​2) This was part of his life where he stopped hiding his affair.
Franklin's son, Elliott, shared much of his shock and pain at seeing Missy LeHand sitting on his father's lap with no effort to conceal their relationship. Eleanor stayed on the ship for a few days and left. She didn't enjoy fishing or the bohemian lifestyle and recounted the nights as eerie. I'd imagine there was a lot behind that statement as she was a perceptive woman. 

Still, the Florida Keys remember Franklin for his prouder moments when he provided needed aid during the depression and named one of the main roads for him. We always stop by the Navy Exchange and snap a picture in front of the large mural they have of Franklin. Hopefully, on our next visit, we'll stop by FDR's predecessor, Harry Truman's Little White House that is also on the island!