Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-04-27
From E. D. Patterson.
CAIRO, EGYPT, MARCH G, 1900.
To THE SAVANNAH COURIER

. u.
am afraid to begin too far back, for
fear | shall never catch up with my
self So shall skip our voyage across
the Atlantic, our stay in Gibraltar, our
delightful week in Spain, embracing Il
visit to Ronda, Bobadillo, and Gran
ada, at which last place, is the Won
derful Alhambra, about which Wash
ington Irving wrote so beautifully.
shall likewise omit description of our
further journey by sea, from Gibraltar
to Naples, and OF our protracted stay
of more than six weeks In that city,
brought about by an attack Of rheu-
matism suffered by Mrs. Patterson,
and shall begin my letter, at the time
of leaving that city.
The guide books say, "See Naples
and de- but did not feel any more
like dying after having seen it, than
before, unless indeed that was the
only way to get away from it, in which
event it might have become serious
question.
am prepared to say that "Sunny
Italy, is a delusion and Il snare,-so
far at least as Naples is concerned in
January .andFebruary. For each day of
sunshine, we had about fourteen rainy
days, while we were there. We found
some difficulty in securing passage to
Egypt, as all steamers going in that
direction were full, but finally on
Thursday the 22nd of February the
Good Ship Weimar," belonging
to the North German Lloyd Company,
and on its way from Bremerhaven to
China, anchored in the harbor at Ma
pies. ! hurried to the Office of the
Company, only to be met with the
statement that everything was full,
and that there would be no chance of
getting state room. However, by
little extra fee Of twenty dollars, in
addition to the regular fare, we did
get one. | had but an hour and half
within which to return to my hotel,
pack up our things, settle bills, get
conveyance, and get ourselves, bag,
and baggage, to the wharf, mile and
a half away. You may be sure "got
move on myself" and made the con
nectlons with time to spare. When |
went on deck Friday morning, we were
passing Stromboli, quite close to it,
and we had good view of it. 1t seem !
ed to be sending forth about the same
volume of smoke as that which contin-
ually ascends from old Vesuvius. BY |
eleven O'Clock we were passing thro'h |
the Straits of MasSina, between Sicily |
and the mainland, enjoying to the full
est extent the lovely view and the bal |
my air. In the narrOwest part Of the |
Strait the channel is only mile and a
half in width, and from the ship one
can see all the pretty little towns and
villages along the shore on either side,
and the vineyards along the terraced
mountain sides. The trip was all that
could be wished, until along toward I
shutdown when the sea bryan to get |
rough, and from that time until we
got nearly to Port Said on Monday,
we had an awful rough time, day and
night. The Captain told me it was al
most unprecedented, in his twenty-one
years experience on the sea. The |
ships course was southeast, and the
wind directly from the north east
which seemed to put us in the trough |
of the waves, and the way they beat !
and Numbered against the side of the |
vessel, and the way the great ship |
reeled as each succeeding wave (of a |
thousand tons weight il seemed to mel |
struck against her, was enough to de- |
moralize poor fellow from the interi- |
like me. Of course had read de- |
scriptions of the roar of the angry sea,
Of its kissing, seething waters when |
lashed into fury by the wind, but did |
not understand such descriptions when |
| read them, as | will, hereafter. Dur
ing the war, ! was always scared on
going into battle, and always felt that,
if it were as honorable to run out of it, |
as to stay, | should have made a rec
ord equal to that of Star Pointer, in
making myself remote. You ask Capt.
Irwin or Ike Ross or any other old
soldier of either army if he ever had
any such feeling, and the chances are
that, if he hasn't forgotten it, he will
admit that at the time, he did feel
symptoms Of that kind. Well! | was
worse scared on the Mediterranean
than ever ! was in battle, and if there
had been any place to get to, pride
would not have kept me on that ship
ten seconds, but there was no place to
run to. Just had to stay. Many of
the passengerS-in fact all but a very
few-were awfully sea sick. and their
groans and lamentations, and other
noises not necessary to be described,
mingled with the bowling of the wind
and waves. Oh! it was II great time
we had, "and don't you forget it," |
am sure | shall not. Some Of them
said ought to be thankful that ! was
mercltully spared that awful expert
ence Of sea sickness, and | suppose
was, if thought about it, but | am
not so sure about it being an unmixed
blessing after all. Those who were
sea sick felt so utterly miserable, that
they did not care whether the ship
went down or not. They felt sure they
were going to die from sea sickness
anyway, and some of them seemed to
feel that the sooner il was over the
better, while we who were not sick,
were no where near ready to go. Our
room being on the left hand side of
the ship was soon flooded and we with
others had to move out, and up into
the'ladics' saloon and with steamer
rugs, cushions, &C., make our beds as
best we could. Sometimes the waves
would break over the side Of the YES
sci and the water would rush down the
gangway three or four feet deep, and
the crest Of one great wave broke clear
over the top Of the vessel, and empt-
ed its waters down the ventilator
tubes. About 10 O'Clock Friday night
we got under the lee-sde of the island
Of Crete and had about four hours OF
calm sea, as we ran along the south
ern shore of the island, and during
that time got some sleep, but Satur-
day and Sunday were days Of misery:
the waves were higher than ever. |
did not see how the ship could live
through it, but when one Of those
great pillows would strike, and seem
about to overwhelm her, she would
culver for moment, then rise like
bird from the angry foam, shake off
few thousand tons of water, and pre-
pare for another plunge. The Captain
said we might think he did not mind
it, but that such weather was just as
| In, h,,,, tn ba no