Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-11-24

~ MO trough OF the sea. held on to
the sides OF my bunk In terror. A
wavo would smash against my door
ana water would pour In through the
cracks. felt deathly sick and l
thdflSht was going 10 die. ! was ex-
pcrfencing my first touch Of seasick-
ness.
Not Long Left In Wonder.
About six bells in tho morning g
oclock) the door opened, and there
standing In the opening was huge
Swede. incased in oilskins. The icy
blast sent cold shiver through me.
L wondered what he wanted, but did
not wonder long.
You bane get tea and toast on bridge
Tor mate, damn quick" | was bewil-
dered. The door slammed and once
| again l was alone. Fifteen minutes
must have passed when the door opened
! again and In rushed the toughest-look-
ing seaman ! have ever seen. He had
only one eye. Later on 1 found that
| ne was our first mate. "One-cyed Glib
son." Blue Noscr" from Nova Scotia.
and man whom II was not safe to
trinc with. Without word he stepped
| into the glory hole, grabbed my shoul-
! der In grip OF steel, and yanked mo
out of my bunk into the Icy water
which was awaSh on the deck. This
| was my rrst Introduction to him.
Get out O. that. you landlubbor.
| There's no fire in the galley, and 1
want my tea the bridge. and I
want IT now. or I'll put out your dead
lights"
| I meekly answered, YES. SIR" and
started to put on my wet socks. See
Ing this action. he shouted. Never
mind that damned rigging. Get to
the galley and get that fire alight."
| My feet were blue with cold and
my teeth were chatterinG. timidly
asked. Where are we, sir?" With
look OF contempt he answered. We're
| outside O. Sandy Hook, bound south for
the Horn. and she's blowing big guns"
Then he left.
| l stepped out Of my glory hole onto
the deck. We were dipping our SOUP
pcrs, and huge seas were breaking
| over the weather side. Ono minute
the after deck would appear like a
steep hill in front Of me, and Il hor-
rfble churninE sound would come from
the racing propeller. Then the decl;
would slant away from me and loud
| chug! and SILVER through the ship
as the propeller sank again into the
water.
| Benumbed and wet from the icy
spray, l managed to steer a course to
the companionway. and dragged my
self 10 the upper deck. A sailor was
in the galley and had started a fire.
The ship was rolling. pitching and
lurchins. In that galley IL sounded
like a bombardment. Pots and pans
were rattling in their racks: a few Of
them had fallen out. and were chas-
ing each other around the deck.
| Cold and miserable, | crouched in
the corner. keeping myself from fall
ing by holding on to the rail in front
of the stove.
Sniior Takes Compassion.
The sailor took compassion on me-
and made the toast and tea. How he
did IL was n marvel to me, but later
on became very expert myself
Following the ''llfe lines" on the
upper deck. l at last managed to reach
the bridge with my pot of tea and
two slices of toasted bread. There
were two men at tho wheel. In the
darkness ] went up to them and asked
for the mate. They did no, answer
Just then ! received resounding
smack on the back which made my
teeth rattle and that dread gruf voice
of the mate reached my ears through
the wind: Damn you, you helrs spawn.
keep aw.y from the men at the wheel
or III throw you over the side"
i mumbled my apologies. and fol-
lowed the mate into the charthouse
| He greedily drank the tea, and in
about four bites disposed Of the pieces
OF toast The toast was soaked In salt
water and inwardly wished that Il
would poison him; in fact, / prayed
that the ship would sink with all on
board. Such is seasckness.
l managed somehow or other to make
my way back TO the galley. and l met
my Superior officer" for the trip. the
cookie" He was about five feet moth
| inG in height; a shriveled up Welsh
man about forty-fve years old He
reminded ne OF n mummy in the Mu-
scum OF Natural History in Central
Park. If he bad ever smiled am sure
that his face would have cracked. 1t
seemed frozen into enc perpetual scowl
He gave one look at me and let out a
Growl
"Blawst my headlights. an this ere
| (pointing to mel Is what I'm to work
with on this bloomin' passage. I'm
lucky. ! am. not 'arf. amt" He
| looked like some gorilla The rolling
of the ship affected him not in the
least. He seemed TO sway, and bend
with every movement of the ship.
The next two or three days were n
| horrible nightmare TO me- How / lived
through them do not know l had
deadly fear OF the cook. AS soon as
he found out that l could not even
boil water without burning it. he start
ed In to make my life a misery He
had n habit OF carrying 4 hugo butcher
knife in his belt. Between meals he
would Sit down on bench and con-
stantly feel the edge. at the same time
telling ME what an expert he was at
carving. Later on l found that there
was a reason for his carrying this
knife. He and the crew were at dag
ger-points, he never daring to go for
ward except in case of necessity, and
then he was careful always to carry
his butcher knife. Down in my heart
realized that if the occasion should
arise he would not be backward in
demonstrating his art OF carving on
his opponent. That Wclshman was no
better cook than I was. and the crew
soon became aware OF this fact; hence
their hostility.
Gnns CT Cutthronts.
The Cushko was "lime iuicer."
sailing under the English nag. The
aliipper was lime jucer." the first
mate blue noser." the first engineer
Scotchmar. while the crow was COM
posed OF Spaniards. Italians, Square
heads Firms. Swedes and Russians
| The bos'n was Irish. and firm believer
in home rule. a worse gang of cut
Threats could hardly be conceived; a
nice. polite bunch they were. Believe
me. BIN and had our troubles
Bill and were the only two Amer
leans on board. The engineers mess
man was Prussian. Karl Tatzner. by