Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1901-04-29
An Akron Young Man Was
Aboard.


ceived the following letter from their
son, Kent w:
At Sea, L. $. s. #. Garonne,
April ., 1901.
Mr.. and Mrs. V. \. Clark,
Akron, Ohio.
My Dear Mother and Father My
last letter was written to you from Ma
Mia short time after we returned
from Hong Kong. We left Manila on
Feb. -, ana went to Iloilo on Panay
Island, arriving there OH March /. This
is the second city In size and import
ance in the Philippines. Here we took
aboard the 26th infantry, u. $. ",
and sailed for Manila on March 6, ar
riving there op the Sth. We sailed out
of Manila "homeward bound" on the
9th and after very rough trip arrived
at Nagasaki, Japan, on the 18th. One
very rough night half way between
Manila and Nagasaki it was discovered
that the ship was leaking badly, al
though only few outside of the crew
knew of it at the time. All the steam
pumps were put to work except the
hand pumps, but the water gained on
us four inches an hour and got almost
knee deep In the engine room, so that
the dynamocs had to be shut down.
bic was, and stopped the leak: but
never could find out what caused il. for
all the ships officers keep tight
mouth about It,
Then, owing to the heavy gales blow.
ing straight into our teeth our coal
got so low ii was feared we could not
reach Nagasaki, but we did pull
through ON u very narrow margin We
stayed six days in Nagasak and was
ashore neariy every day. Leaving
Nagasaki on the 2lst we encountered
heavy seas and gales and on the tenth
day out we had fierce storm from the
north. That night no one aboard close |
an eye in sleep; not so much from
fear, although some of the army otii
GERS and soldiers were looking anxious
hut from the fact that it was impossi-
ble to lie in our hunks without holding
fast with both hands TO keep from
being pitched out ON the deck. Great
seas continually broke over the deck,
making n loud, crashing noise. and
threatcningto carry away our life boats.
Between decks tables boxes and chairs
troke loose from their lashings aul
vent smashing back and forth across
the decks, making an awful din. A
good many got cuts, sprains and bruises
from falling and getting mixed up with
the debris rolling about, but no one
was badly hurt The next day il was
impossible to cook anything. and all
hands had to cat cold timed meats
etc. ali that day.
On the following day the storm wen,
down, but MS our coal was poor and
burned like paper, 1t was feared We
could not make San Francisco. so n
consultation was held and 1t was de
elded to put into Honolulu, 1000 miles
south of where we were, for moro
coal. So we ought 10 reach there next
Sunday. This is great and uncxpect
ed pleasure TO me,and was not thought
of at all when we left Japan So n,
1t was with the Hong Kong trip. the
ships bad luck was my good fortune
verifying the old saying, that IT'S an
Ill wind that blows no good" ThI,
"trip has been regular tour of the Pa
cltic. Honolulu makes the DIST mort
we have dropped anchor in since leay
ing Seattle, s months ago. ! am still
enjoying my usual good health; In fact
feeling much better since we strucl
cold weather, although It is commenc
ing to get warm again as we get far
ther south, We win not reach SaI
Francisco before April 81 or 20 now. OF
account Of this new departure. vii
mail this to you from Honolulu. bu
will probably reach Frisco about th