Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1917-11-27
EXPERIENCES ON THE ATLANTIC
OCEAN BY FORMER WAUSAU
BOY

The following are extracts from a
letter written by Ray Reiser, who is
on the U. S. S. Kanawha, to his grand
father, George Werheim, Sr., of this
city:
Il enlisted at Detroit, Michigan, on
April 8, and was sent to the training
station at Great Lakes, ILL.,, the next
morning. l remained at that place
three weeks and was then sent to
the station at Newport, where 1 en-
tered the yeomen school. l finished
the course in seven weeks and was
given my appointment as a third class
petty officer on June 6, and was then
granted a ten day furlough, which
spent with mother and father at Mil
waukee. | stopped off and spent three
days in Detroit, with my friends tn ere
and arrived in New York City, on the
Is. l reported in at the navy yard
that day on the receiving ship, which
was the Princess Irene, large Ger
man liner, that was interned and
seized at the time that war was de-
clared. She was undergoing repairs
while being used as a receiving ship
and put into shape to use as a trans
port in carrying our troops to France.
| remained on this ship two days and
was then transferred to the Kaiser
Wilhelm II, another German liner.
Here l was detailed to do guard duty
and was made corporal of the guard.
We would stand twenty-four hour
watches, doing four hours on and then
have four off. At the end of the
twenty-four hours another crowd took
the watch and we had the time to do
as we pleased During this time we
were given liberty and could leave
the navy yard and did not have to
return until the following morning at
eight o'clock. This gave me ample
opportunity to see the many sights
that New York affords to one who
has never been there The people of
New York made things as pleasant as
possible for the Jackies while on
liberty. Some of the Weather class
opened up their Long Island homes
and entertained US at week end par
ties. | had the pleasure of attending
several of these week ends and GER
tainly enjoyed them. They entertained
us at dancing, theatre parties, din
ners, motoring, etc.
On August 26, was transferred to
the U. S. S. Kanawha and was made
Executive officers yeoman or what is
called shipwriter. We sailed from
the navy yard on September u, and
took on cargo of oil at Bayonne, New
Jersey, and then anchored in the har-
Dor off Staten Island. On the night
of September "a, at ten o'clock, we
sailed for sea. With us were several
transports, the Antilles" Finland, "
"Leniopee,' . Henderson, two torpedo
boats and the armored cruiser, San
Diego. The transports all had troops
on board going to Somewhere in
France" We all steamed out past
Sandy Hook and out to sea. The next
morning the sea was rather rough and
it looked as if there was a storm ap-
preaching. By noon we had run di-
rectly into the storm and the wind
starting blowing a gale, which be-
came more severe all the time and
soon turned into a hurricane. About
seven o'clock that night the Len
iopee" developed some trouble with
her engines and soon dropped behind
us and out of sight. At nine O'Clock
our oil pumps that pump the fuel oil
from the bunkers to the boilers broke
down and we had to shut off our
power and lost sight of the rest OF
the fleet. The sea was coming clear
over the bow and washing the decks
and occasionally clear over the whole
ship. We were being tossed about
like chip on a wave. The storm
kept getting worse and worse and soon
large wave came over the bow anl
nearly caved the bridge in and washed
out two of the port holes in the Radio
room, which is located below the
bridge. The water rushed in and put
the wireless apparatus out of com
mission, leaving us in a bad predica
ment, not being able to get in toucI
with any of the other ships or the
outside world. The Flag ship of tn,
| fleet sent message after message t
us, but could get no answer and hat
given US up as lost. This storm laste,
until Wednesday night and Ihursda,
| morning the sea had calmed dow
i again leaving only a small groun,
| swell. Most of the crew rad all beeI
! sea sick, it did not bother me how
ever, until after 1 had eaten my sun
per on Wednesday evening. 1 laughe
at the other fellows when | would Sc
them becoming sea sick, but l got min
and soon found that being sea sic
was not so much of a joke after al
Our oil pumps had been repaired an
on Thursday morning we were mai
ing good speed again. The wireles
was repaired so that we were able {
send and receive a message for a shol
distance only and soon got into touc
with the fleet again. On Friday morI
ing we came in sight of the shiT
and during that day we oiled the de:
troyers at sea and then all starte
on our journey again. On Saturda
afternoon at three o'clock we ha
our first attack by submarine. Whe
TIE alarm was sounded the crew d
NOT Luow uhor raaTIx- ,,-,~ 5os.~~ A.,