Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1915-12-14
HOSPITAL SHIPS
CREATESTLUxURY
| OF THE SOLDIERS
Sick and Wounded Experience Feeling
Of Joy Mt Being Ordered TO
Floating Ward.

IOdtlH4 NaLus
Aboard the French Hospital Ship
Charles Roux, Harbor Of Saioniki, Nov.
24-(Correspondence Of The Associ-
ated Press Quite the most agreeable
fate that can overtake an allied soldier
in the Balkan campaign is to be i'll or
slightly wounded. Not that the hospi-
tai facilities of the ancient Turkish
city are famous, or even adequate.
They are not. But there are four
French and one British hospital ship
in the roads Of Salonih and they con
stitute by far the most comfortable
not to say the only sanitary spot in the
Balkan peninsula
The French have been better pre-
pared from the very outset Of the pres
ent Balkan campaign in every detail Of
military organization than their Brit
ish allies. No better example Of the
tthoroughness Of this preparation could
be given than the arrangements for
caring for the sick and wounded. Long
before there was actually any need for
lit and simultaneously with the landing
of the first contingent Of French troops
on Greek soil the French hospital ship
/ Sphinx was lying ready in the harbor
tof Saloniki. As the number Of troops
I disembarkeC increased. automatically
more hospital ships put in an appear
ance. First the Dugay Trouin, with its
{ sheltered decks and its high stern like
1.-THE poop Of a Spanish galleon, all
porches and awnings and iounging
/ places for the conyalescent; next this
ship, the Charles Roux, with its Oper-
ating rooms, its surgical clinics and
Its complete provision for the care Of
/ the more seriously wounded; and final
lily the Canada-all with full compile
ment of nurses, surgeons. physicians,
sisters Of charity and all the rest of
/ the paraphernalia Of the aftermath Of
/ battle
Has Celebrated Surgeon.
/ In many ways the Charles Roux is
! the most interesting, specially as it is
the principal operating theatre of the
floating hospitals of SaIonili and
and especially as the surgeon major,
/ Dr. Heitz-Boyer, is one of the most
distinguished and best known surgeons
in Paris. The ship was converted from
one Of the larger passenger steamers
that in time of peace made the voyage
from Marseilles to Alger. As such, it is
roomy enough, for not only have the
saloons not required as operating
chambers been turned into wards TO
add to the Accommodations Of the cabins,
but the great broad decks have been
/ glassed in, making the most agreeable
of sun-parlors in which cots are set in
long rows so that the sick and wound
ed, in the warmth Of the afternoon
sun. may lie quiet and look out at the
splendid view the Bay of Saloniki af-
fords.
Here, too the convaIescent, propped
up with pillows, sheltered, eXcellently
cared for and competently nursed by
volunteer French women who have
passed the necessary examination and
had the requisite experience, gather
strength against the time when they
may go back and have another go at
'em, as the "poilu' in the next cot to
the Associated Press correspondent put
lit. Under such circumstances the
wounded soldier has all the advantages
and none of the drawbacks Of "the
Naples Of the Orient" as its inhabi-
tants call Salonibi If his cot is on the
south side Of the ship, he has before
him the new snow-capped crests of the
mountains Of Kaichis, those three
/ fingers Of land that stretch into the
! Aegean. with convent-crowned Mt
Athos tipping the last finger. Or. tc
the west, confused with the clouds, he
has the peaks Of Thessaly-1ft. OIym-
pus, the home OF the gods Of ancient
/ Greece, and beyond, Mt Ossa; and per.
I haps even dim in the distance, Mt. Pei
ion. both of NEUROLOGICAL fame. The
rare and changing beauty of the clouds
above these snow coiffed heights, the
singular coloring Of the sunsets are
joys to the patients aboard the French
hospital ships in no wise lessened by
| the odors, the noises and the discom-
forts Of life ashore in Saloniki,
Have Attractive View.
On the other hand, should the patient
be placed on the north side Of the ship
the view is no less attractive. Salonik
itself charming from a distance, strag.
. CLING along the curying shore, mount