First mate's log:

August 21, 1966

According to Ginger's astrology magazine, we're in the sign of Leo right now, which fits because of my new friend. A lion washed ashore, in a crate he broke out of. He got a splinter from the crate in his paw, and I pulled it out. I call him Leo and I don't think everyone should be so scared of him, because he's really just a big pussycat. (Well, Mrs. Howell is allergic to all cats.) I've gone to live with Leo on the other side of the island. I feed him cans of corn beef, which also washed up on the island recently but no one likes. I'm going to train him so that he can join the circus when we're all rescued.


Carol Martin's diary:

August 24, 1966

Gilligan befriended another animal, a very dangerous animal! He convinced himself that a lion that had washed ashore was harmless, and he even got some of the others swept up in his silly fantasy about starting a circus. I had to explain to Marcia and Jan why that was a bad idea, while Cindy of course has never seen an actual circus.

There was a scare where we thought the lion ate the Skipper, so Gilligan agreed to cage up Leo. The cage was swept out to sea and later found by one of the Navy destroyers still looking for the U.S.S. York. And, no, no one thought to put a rescue note inside.


September 5, 1966

Again, I'm laboring on Labor Day. I have to heat up the water for baths and showers, but luckily I found a hot water spring. So now I'm working on a pipeline.


September 7, 1966

School is back in session but it's hard to focus with an active volcano on the island. Gilligan discovered a fresh water spring, but the Professor traced it to a volcano. He's planning to use explosives (some of the grenades that the gorilla overlooked) to relieve the pressure. Mike and I are dubious about that, although it does make for some interesting science classes.


September 8, 1966

The Professor found out that there's an active volcano on the island, and I thought Ginger was going to sacrifice herself in it, like in a movie she was in where a beautiful woman sacrificed herself, so I went to talk her out of it, but she wasn't going to, but then we fell in, and so did the Skipper when he went to save us, but the Professor calmed the volcano with a grenade. And now I'm stuck heating up water again.


September 9, 1966

The Professor's plan actually worked! Next week we're going to have him bring in a model volcano and explain it to the schoolchildren. Peter in particular is very excited about that.


September 20, 1966

Mr. Howell is real upset because an impostor is passing himself off as him, the only survivor of The Minnow. (I guess no one believes Mrs. Smith, or maybe they think she got us mixed up with some other group of castaways.) The impostor is spending Mr. Howell's money and Mr. Howell wishes he could swim back to the mainland, or get rescued somehow. Mrs. Howell is upset, too, because her "widower" is dating young blondes. Anyway, I'm collecting feathers for Mr. Howell again, but this time they'll be for wings instead of pillow stuffing.


September 24, 1966

We had another visitor to the island, not as deadly as a lion but certainly criminal. A man successfully impersonated Mr. Howell, until he fell off a sailboat and washed ashore on our island. He even fooled Mrs. Howell, or at least made her question which man was her husband. Luckily, the Professor played the radio news that the impostor's signature didn't match the real Mr. Howell's. The impostor panicked and swam away from the island. He was picked up by a fishing boat today and turned over to the authorities. I didn't actually see him, but Mrs. Howell told me he had a mole like her husband's on his elbow.


October 8, 1966

Halloween is still weeks away, but I've seen a ghost! No one believed me at first, but then they saw it, too. Well, the Professor and Mr. Brady are looking for a"logical explanation."


October 10, 1966

Yet another visitor came to the island. Gilligan and some others thought it was a ghost, but Mike, the Professor, and I were skeptical. Those two men proved it was someone wearing a sheet, and somehow the intruder fell for it when we all, well, not the children, put on sheets and pretended to be ghosts. He was so frightened that, like Mr. Howell's impostor, he managed to swim out to sea, although I don't know if anyone will rescue him. Anyway, now the children all want to be ghosts for Halloween, which will be simpler costumes than usual, just shortening the Howells' old sheets, especially for Bobby and Cindy.


October 20, 1966

We scared off the "ghost," who turned out to be a man, but now everyone is allergic to me! I don't know why it kicked in after two years of being around me on the island, and even longer than that for the Skipper. He started sneezing first, so I slept in a different hut every night (with blankets to divide the room when I was with the girls and then the Martins), but everyone started sneezing. So now I've moved back to my favorite cave on the other side of the island, the one where Leo and I stayed. (There are still some leftover cans of corn beef.) I guess I'll live here until someone comes to tell me we're definitely being rescued. I'll miss everyone, but it's for the best.


October 24, 1966

Poor Gilligan! We were all allergic to him and then it turned out to be his new hair oil. Before he discovered that, the Professor gave us all allergy shots. The shots were painful but even the children endured them because we're all so fond of Gilligan. Not that we were feeling too fond of him when we found out we'd had the shots for nothing, but at least that crisis over. And the adults still have a week to prepare our Halloween costumes. (The sheets didn't take long of course.)