Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1917-08-27
DR.. PETIT ABOARD
SHIP q DAYS WHILE
CROSSING ATLANTIC
OTTAWA LIEUTENANT IN MEDI.
CAL BRANCH OF ARMY REACH
ES "OTHER SIDE" SAFELY Ar.
TER THRILLING EXPERIENCES,


In letters fairly sizzling with inter
est. Dr. Roswell Petit among Otta-
was first Ito get across" as an Eur.
opean port is expressed in Bostonese,
tells of his twenty-one days of excit-
ing incidents between his departure
from the American shores and his ar.
rival on the other side.
The missves, five in all, were writ
ten DR.. and Mrs. J. w. Petit, father
and mother of the lieutenant. who is
assigned to duty sOmewhera in
France with American hospital bases
were contained in the same envelope,
mailed out of London. All escaped
major censorizing and only Il few
sentences are eleminated, soma of
them being of personal nature to
the authors parents.
Copies of the letters were secured
from DR.. Petit this morning In them
DR.. Petit tells of the close guard
kept on the vessel by American con.
vOys and of the thrills that he and
other passengers experienced when
the corps reached the other side. He
says:
July 20, 3 p. m.
Dear Father
After writing my letter to you
which was mailed this morning,
was lying quietly In my berth
reading magazine. when the
whistles blew three times, a vi
bration ran thru the ship. and the
engines stopped OF course We
were all keyed up, and expected
anything to happen. rushed up
on deck to see tug standing off
from us in the fog We then
went along together for about an
hour until we came within sound
of a fog horn When the fog
lifted, we were outside another
port and the submarine nets
were opened and we came into the
harbor ! have no idea how long
we are to remain here, but it is
convoy, SO | feel quite certain we
will arrive on the other side safe
ly.
July 3lst.
We are stll here in an Ameri
can port, just week yesterday
since we left New York. | sup
pose you have been worried about
me and | only hope you got my
letter which was sent to the Navy
Department for censor We under
stand we are to leave tomorrow
and certainly hope so am
tired of doing nothing and want
to get to work . We are to be
, conveyed over and ! am sure we
will all arrive safely on the other
, side We are all well and happy.
, ! shall be glad to get TO London
= and hope there are lots of news
J awaiting me from home.
August 2nd.
AT last we are on our way agail
4 We heaVed anchor about p. m.
, yesterday ln' steamed out of the
, harbor amidst the cheers of all
! the people on the dock. merchant
I men and war vessels. AS we
passed British man-of.war the
band struck up the Star Spangled
- Banner, and you should have
:, heard the cheers We have five
, liners and a convoy In our group.
This makes quite a string About
. 9 p m last night ! was reading
in the main cabin and the siren
began to blow. Everyone hest.
tated for a moment, then rushed
below for lie belts and canteens
y won't say was scared, but
certainly did not waste any time.
was just rushing up the com.
" panion way to the lifeboat to
, which | had been assigned. when
someone shouted fake alarm,
II The boats in line were simply
y signalling to each other. Just the
same. we were all glad 1t was not
D real alarm II IL beautiful
u day at sea Brisk breeze blow
i, ing, Just enough to kick up a
III spray, but not enough to make the
rs boat roll The air is sharp and
oi clear and the sun Is shining
r. brightly 1t is an ideal day We
"a are running rather slowly and
I'd our voyage across will take ten
days We do not know whether
we are TO land at Bordeaux OF
* some place on the English coast
I'd AS | am assigned to report In