Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-10-25

, and ventilation. The hunks were
built three high. and 1 was fortunate
enough to obtain one of the top ones.
The advantage of the top berth was
that there was more head room, and
there were also racks above where
you could place your clothing or
other articles when you went to bed.
Another advantage was that you
were never disturbed by the other
fellows getting in and out of their
hunks, as you did most of the dis
turbing yourself. The hunks were
fairly comfortable after you got used
to them. l slept in my bunk every
night except one. That one night 1
was member of the ships guard,
and when 1 was on guard duty 1
slept on the floor of the guardhouse,
but more of that later.
Portfolios Darkened
The portfolios, which opened into
our No. upper, were closed at night
so that no light would get out, and
not much light would have gotten
out for all that we had were a couple
, of electric lamps covered with blue
glass. They were, however. sufficient
for all the work we wanted to do,
which was mainly to get into our
hunks at night and get up in the
morning.
We were not the only boat to come
over. as there were several others.
We were, of course, conveyed. and
we spent much of our time watching
the other boats. One morning after
the mist cleared off, we found that
one of the other boats was missing,
but little later We saw it way on
and after a time it joined us.
The other men who were on our
transport were pretty nice fellows,
and were not the same bunch we
started off with before. Almost every
evening there would be a boxing
match. or some sort of entertainment.
One night We gave a minstrel show,
and another night the nurses gave a
vaudeville show, which was very
cleverly gotten up. We had bridge
tournament among the fellows of our
unit, and the winners were supposed
to get prize from our commandant,
but so far the prize has not ap-
peared. 1 was one of the winners,
so 1 ought to know.
LlfebOat Drill
On board ship we had lifeboat drills
every once in a while. We We're each
assigned to a certain boat or raft,
and when the whistle or horn blew
| for the drill we all went to the boats
as quickly as possible and put on
| life preservers, which were kept in
| nearby boxes. The last few days we
| kept our preservers with us all the
time. and the guards used to have a
/ great time telling the fellows to go
back and get their life preservers
after they had their meals, or when
they were going up on deck, Some
of the fellows slept up on deck, but
I did not try it, as 1t was much more
| comfortable in our hunks. One night
| it started to rain and blow so that
| all of the deck sleepers were forced
| to go below.
Placed on Guard
One night / was on the ships guard
| from IL to 2. There were eighteen
posts on the boat where the guards
were stationed. The post 1 had this
! night was on the port side of the
| boat. at the steps leading down from
the promenade deck. At IL, when
was put on guard, the moon was just
| coming up directly in front of the
boat. 1t looked at first like a boat
on fire as the point of the moon was
| just coming up. My duty was to
see that there were no lights and
: to preserve order, which was not
very difficult, for at that time of
night there was no one around. 1t
! started to rain for a few minutes,
| but the moon was still visible and I
| was just able to see the other trans
ports alongside of us. The cloud eff
| fects were wonderful. and after / had
/ been on my post for some time. /
| became aware of the northern lights.
1t looked like big rainbow across
! the sky, but, of course, there were
no colors, only this bright circle.
The guardroom, where the guard
slept when off duty, was what was
formerly the smokingroom. There
was not very much room in it and
when the fellows stretched them
selves out on the floor there was no
vacant space When you were called
out you had to feel your way around
| in the dark, and it was more or less
| certainty that you would step on
some other fellows legs. or perhaps
his face. L was on the ships guard
couple of times and was on guard
in quarters a couple of times. and
one day it was the duty of our unit
to see that the ship was kept clean.
That day had to sweep around the
promenade deck. We were not al
lowed to throw anything overheard.
so that there was always quite a lot
| of candy boxes and orange peels to
| clean up. There was a canteen on
board where we could buy oranges,
candy and tobacco. AS 1 had bought
a box of chocolate bars in New York
before 1 left 1 saw to it that I was
| never any nuHBTleT LndH L wanted
| to be with the aid of gumdrops anu
butter scotch and oranges from the
canteen. The food on the transport,
although you wouldn't get fat on it,
was of sufficient quantity that you
could usually get enough to eat.
The sea was quite calm all except
one or two days. and practically no
one was sick. Several fellows who
have crossed quite few times said
they never saw it so calm. One of
| the fellows in our unit had been on
our transport before, but then he was
| travelling first-class, and he told us
that it was on this boat that he met
the girl whom he has since married.
a few days before reaching land
we were met by several destroyers.
and they were of very much assist
ance in seeing that we reached our
destination safely. I think you were
notified what day we landed in
| France. Needless to say. we were
very glad when we sighted land, but
w had more excitement after we did
sight land than during all the rest
on the trip. We sighted land about
$40 in the morning and until about
| 10 o'clock there wer more or less
doing around to keep us busy. We
reached the dock in the afternoon,
but did not leave the boat until the
next day. when we came directly
to -- and have been here ever
since, and no doubt wifi stay here
unless something unforeseen should
turn up.
| 1 will try to write next time what
we are doing here and what sort OF