The Elbert County tribune., 1916-12-01
Chief Among Transport Boats Is
the Former Giant Liner,
Olympic.
CARRIES 1000 MEN ON TRIP
Another of the Ferry Boats" EN-.
pIoyed in Transporting Soldiers
and Munitions Is the Lauren
tic-Great Secrecy Observed.

of the longest most dangerous and
most important ferry service in the
world.
Ferry service" may sound like an
odd phrase, for the moment. to be
used in describing an overseas trans
portation system, but so frequent are
the sailings. so great the numbers of
men and tons of munitions and sup
plies carried that the expression is
really the aptest to be found.
Halifax, N. s., is the western termi-
nus of the great ferry. Its eastern
ends are Liverpool, London, Hayre
and Bordeaux.
Few Americans, unless the thing
falls directly under their eyes (and
unless they are helped, even then,
with a little information that is
mighty hard to get), can realize what
an important seaport Halifax is and
how much is being done there.
On a vacation trip few days ago l
steamed into the harbor of Halifax
through n narrow space, gate" they
call 1t, between two lines of floating
mines that extend from shore to shore
on the little steamer Florizel of the
Red Cross line. writes Joseph j. O'Neill
in the New York World.
AS we Strengthened out for our dock
there came into view an immense tour-
stack steamer a mile or so away from
us. She looked rather familiar at first
glance, and even more so when viewed
through the glasses. Undoubtedly
she was one of the huge passenger
liners tnat all New Workers are used
TO seeing in their own bay; but there
was something wrong about her. She
looked different. She was of the duh
gray of the British navy, and on each
side of her, forward and aft, protruded
long, wide-mouthed guns.
The Twenty-Eight Ten.
"What ship is that?" everyone
asked.
But the patriotic British officers of
the Florizel We're not telling.
probably something in the trans
port service. or an auxiliary cruiser,
or the like" they replied.
But If this was transport or an
auxiliary cruiser 1t was an unusual
one, for there are mighty few boats
afioat the size of this great gray mon
ster.
By driblets information about the
vessel in the harbor came TO the ears
of the curious vacation voyagers after
they got ashore. The town is filled
with khaki-clad Tommies, Of course.
Appealed to for ''e namc and busi-
ness of the big craft they would usu-
ally reply: "Cawn't sye. sir, really"
Finally we got this far: ''They call
her Twenty-eight Ten-Transport
Twenty-eight Ten"
Then, at last, / CHANGED to meet and
fraterniZe with a Canadian soldier,
chap who had just returned from the
other side, wounded, and one who was
glad to get bit of news about the
United States (because-this was con-
fidential-he belonged here himself,
and showed me proudly his United
States citizenship papers which he had
carried with him throughout two
years of scrapping In Belgium and
France).
That's the Olympic"
THAT big hooker out there? Why,
that's the Olympicp' he said. 81 just
came over in her, and tomorrow
morning she's going out with pretty
full cargo of Tommies. She's nothin
but bloolnin' ferry these daysp
And that's what she was-the Olym-
pic, the former pride of the White
Star line, sister ship of the ill-fated
Titanic, and formerly one of the most
luxurious passenger liners afioat.
But now she is Transport Twenty
eight Ten.
And next morning. so early that the
dawn-pink hadn't yet shown over the
eastern horizon, the Olympic went out
on one of her regular ferry-runs. She
just slipped out, without whistle
blast, without sound, indeed. And
as my friend in khaki had said, she
took with her pretty full cargo of
Tommies."
Now, If you had ramoled cbout Hail.
fax the night before and asked pri-
Yates or officers here and there
"What's the big boat taking away
when she goes?" you'd have been told
"Oh, few hundred men. maybe: bit
of supplies, too" And watching the
Olympic slide off through the semi
darkness you wouldn't have been
greatly impressed.
But If you had had better sources of
information-as ! had. thanks to nv
original Tommie-pal and some others
you might have learned that inside
the dark gray hull were 1000 men con-
signed to tie French front-7.O stall
wart young chaps from the forests and
wheat fields and towns of the vast DO
minion of Canada. for the most part.
That w6s impressive enough, that
great number of fighting lads housed