Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1917-02-15
Ctiei Among Transport Boats Is
the Former Giant Liner,
olympic.
CARRIES 1000 MEN on TRIP

CARRIES 1000 MEN on TRIP
Areshee Of TIE -Ferry eoats" En-
p,eyed In Transporting Soldiers
and Munitions 10 the laurea-
tie-creat Secrecy Observed.
New York.-Less than quo miles
from New York city. less than ~
hours distant in the matter Of time,
Great Britain Is maintaining one end
Of the longest, most dangerous IN
most Important ferry service In tn
world.
Ferry service may sound like an
odd phrase, for the moment, to ne
used in describing an overseas trans
psortation system, but so frequent are
the saiiings. 50 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 tertnt-
mus Of the great ferry. Its eastern
ends are Liverpool. London. Havre
and Bordeaux.
Few Americans unless the thing
fails directly under their eyes land
unless they are helped. even then.
with a little Information that Is
mighty hard to getl. can realize what
an important seaport Halifax is and
how much Is being done there.
On a vacation trip a few days ago 1
steamed into the harbor of Halifax-
through q narrow space. a gate" they
call it between two lines of floating
mines that extend from shore to shore
-on the little steamer Florizel of the
Red Cross lire, writes Joseph ]. ONeiu
in the New York World.
As we Strengthened out for u dock
there came into view an immense eour-
stack steamer a mile OF 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 that all New Workers are used
to seeing In their WI hay; hut there
was something wrong about her. She
looked different. She was Of the dull
gray of the British navy, and on each
side of her. forward and aft, protruded
long. w~ide-mouthed guns.
The Twenty-Eioht Ten.
aWhat ship is that?" everyone
asked.
But the patriotic British officers Of
the Florizel were not telling.
Probably something in the trans
port service, or an auxiliary cruiser.
or the like" they replied.
But IL this was a transport or an
auxiliary cruiser it 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 name and bust
ness of the big craft they would usu-
ally reply: 'Cawn'r sye. sir, really"
Finally we got this far: They call
her Twenty-eight Ten7Transport
T~wenty-eisft Ten"
Then. at last, l CHANGED to meet and
fraternize with a Canadian soldier. a
chap who had just returned from the
other side. wounded. and one who was
glad to get a 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 Olympici" he said. Il just
came over in her. and tomorrow
morning she's going out with a pretty
full cargo of Tommies. She's nothin'
but a bIoomin' ferry these days."
And that's what she was-the Olym-
pic, the former pride Of the White
Star line. sister ship Of the Inflated
Titanic. and formerly one of the most
luxurious passenger liners afloat.
But now she Is Transport Twenty.
eight Ten.
And next morning, 80 early that the
dawn-pfnk hadn't yet shown over the
eastern horizon, the olympic went out
ON one OF her regular ferry-runs. She
just slipped out. without a whistle
blast, without u sound. indeed. And,
as my friend In khaki had said, she
took with her q pretty full cargo Of
,Tommies."
Now. II you had rambled sbout Hall.
fax the night before and asked pr.
Yates or officers here and there
whats the big boat taking away
when she goes?' you'd have been told
'OA, . few hundred men. maybe; a BIZ
OF supplies. too" And watching The
Olympic slide on through the semi
darkness you wouldn't have bee1
greatly impressed.
But IL you had had better sources Oh
informntion-as ] had. thanks to M
original Tommie-pal and some other
lyon might have learned that inside
the dark gray hull were 1000 men con
signed to tie French front-7NO0 stall
wart Young chaps from the forests and
wheat fields and towns Of the vast Do
tnlniOn Of Canada, for the most part