The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-05-29
ARMY MANS TRIP FROM
GOLDEN GATE TO MANILA
Captain Rich of the Medical Corps Gives His
Impressions of an Interesting Journey
Stopped Off at Honolulu.

The following letter appears in the
Free Press of East Boston, Mass:
Capt. Edwin w. Rich of the Medical
Corps of the United States Army talk
ed very interestingly to the Free Press
about our possessions in the Far East,
and with his permission the talk is
given below. He takes the reader
from the Golden Gate to the Phillip
pine Islands, and throws a wealth of
color on an army transport, the Ha-
waiian Islands, Guam, the moods of
the Pacific Ocean. 1t is vivid in the
extreme, and will be enjoyed by all.
Capt. Rich was born in East Boston,
on Princeton street. and is a graduate
of the Emerson school, class of 1887,
and the East Boston High School,
class of 1890. While a senior in the
High School he wrote with Mr.. George
w. Ray and the present publisher of
this paper column OF high school
notes for the Free Press. 1t was the
first column of the kind ever printed
in weekly, and the idea spread
throughout the state. After leaving
the school Capt. Rich worked for a
while with Haskell and Adams, whole
sale grocers, and then he entered Har-
ward college, graduating with the
class of 1898. He then took a course
in the Harvard Medical School, grad
uating in 1902. For the past half
dozen years Capt. Rich has been in
the Medical Corps of the United
States Army. Quiet, reserved and a
deep student, he makes a strong i'm
preston upon all who meet him.
Capt. Rich's interview follows:
The War Department of our gov
eminent possesses 10 or II transports,
serviceable ships of 1000 to 5000 tons,
which are utilized to carry troops,
families OF officers and men, their be-
longings and various supplies, to and
from our outlying dependencies. 1t is
on one of these ships that officers
usually travel and / shall attempt to
describe briefly how life is passed
aboard, during the month that is re-
quired for the trip to Manila from San
Francisco. On emerging from the
Golden Gate, all the wise ones among
the passengers prepare for the heavy
weather which is found almost invari-
ably for about 500 miles off the Paci-
fic coast, but after passing through
this turbulent belt, fair weather,
smooth seas and constant increase
in the mildness of the atmosphere is
A.. 81
miles to Honolulu. AS the transports
are run at the most economical speed
1912 knots, the trip requires or
days, but this time passes quickly.
After one gets fairly settled aboard for
the long trip. then comes the visiting
of old friends on deck, the exchange
of experiences since the last
meeting, for there are always to be
found many with whom one has
served before. After letters have
been prepared to mail at Honolulu
the time is found to be ideal for the
accomplishment of back reading or
for the serious study which is necess-
airy today if an officer wishes to retain
his commission. Occasionally a box
fng tournament is gotten up between
decks for the benefit of officers and en-
listed men and on our trip, we hat
moving picture show given by {
soldier who was taking a machine t.
| the P. l., on a venture.
There are but few military duties Il
| perform aboard ships, light duties and
| calisthenics for the men. and the nee
essary guard duty being all that il
required. So, after all, there is moth
| ing wildly exciting about vhe journey
| usually for days at a time nothing
more stirring may happen than :
! spouting whale, a school of porpoise
or a shoal of flying fish. 1t must b
remembered that the Pacific is a yer.
| lonely place, even in the track of tn
| liners, ships are seldom met with an'
| transports follow a track unused b.
| any other class of vessel. One takinj
\ name given to the Pacific Ocean by on
| of the early navigators was eminentl
| appropriate for it is unusual in tn
| ATTITUDES followed to the Philippine
| to encounter severe weather; but il
returning to America, the trip is mad
| by way of Japan and the North Pacifi
| and there every such Illusion would b
| quickly dispelled and you would be
! lieve that the Atlantic had as nue.
| right to the name.
| On the Sth or 9th day out from Sal
| Francisco, if the weather is fine, yo
| will behold the mountain peaks of tn
| island of Oahu. rising out of the Sc
| enveloped in blue haze. In the cours
| of a few hours, the haze which make
the picture look for all the world Xix
the work of a painter of the impress
| sionistic school, gives way to the gree
of the wooded hills and the red of tn
rocks and exposed earth and you wi
be struck by the ragged sky line, tn
high hills and deep valleys, the variou
volcanic craters here and there and tn
little city of Honolulu lying betwee
the mountain range and the coast.
takes but a short time to pass
through the break left by nature an
improved by man in the coral reef an
you find yourself in the small, bt
| secure harbor Of Honolulu.
Sightseeing in this Paradise of Il
Pacific is most interesting. At fir
one is bewildered by the profusion
tropical trees and shrubbery, b,
everything in the landscape is so a
propriate and so harmonious that OF
| quickly ceases to wonder and accep
1t all unconsciously as the natural o
der of things. Honolulu will be four