The Washington herald., 1917-09-17
rough Sailing
ON TRANSPORTS
American Soldier Describes
Difficulties of the Trip
Across the Atlantic.
,.,.i a. ~. vssh;,gton Herald.

| New York, Sept 16.-Trials OF an
American soldier on board trans
port en- route to France are detailed
in a letter Just received here from
H.w. Ross, Californian, and pri-
vate In the Eighteenth Engineers, U.
Is A. Private Ross explains that he
Is "somewhere in the Atlantic at
the time of writing and nearing the
end of a voyage which, up to that
time. had consumed fifteen days on
the water. An English vessel was
used to transport the men to France,
and Ross expresses admiration for
the crew. most o. the members of
which have been through several
submarine sinkings.
Wear Life Preservers.
"I am writing this under difficult
ties on a ship presumed to be some
where in the Atlantic, near the end
of a voyage which now Is on its fif-
teenth day. 1 am wearing a bulky
life preserver, which works more for
mental than physical ease, sitting on
a bunk in a four-berth stateroom
with a typewriter in my lap. The
stateroom is a luxury permitted for
"illliiS purposes W AN''aN-
lieutenant. There is hardly room for
my Typewriter, one of the portable
type. in the troop quarters which are
tween decks. There are (deleted by
censor) troops aboard, nearly all
quartered on the first deck below the
main deck in space which once ac-
commodated probably 1000 steerage
passengers.
I'm the days when this ship. a Brit
isher (name 6eleted by censor) II the
censor lets it stand. carried immi-
grants. they never understood the
conservation of space. They have
packed us in wooden hunks. which at
first sight are more remindful OF a
coffin. They are two feet wide. six
feet long and two tiers high. Mine is
lower. can't sit on the end with
out humping my head on the one
above. The only thing to do Is 10
crawl in. double up. pull OFF your
shoes. place them under your pillow
and let it go at that. The vessel has
list to port. which is the side I hap
pen to inhabit. The first night out
we shipped a few seas. They came
down through the hatchways and
lodged under my bunk. AS had
placed all OF my belongings on the
floor IL was disconcerting. My gun
and everything else was two feet un-
der water. Some things washed away
and haven't recovered them yet. My
hat. for example.
Smoking Prohibited.
I'VE came across the United States
from American Lake on three special
trains in seven days. with a short
pause somewhere in Minnesota. We
landed at Weehawken one morning at
daylight, were marched onto a ferry
boat. transported across a well-known
river to a large and famous city, put
aboard this craft and We never got
off.
I'VE did not have long on board the
ship before we were on the move. We
sailed at that evening and the only
glimpse I got of the big town was
from a side port. I saw a dozen or
so well-known buildings. then a sta
tue. then nothing more until we put
in at a Canadian port for a few hours
to join the convoy train Of which
this ship is a member.
"At night We run totally dark. A
cigarette lighted on the deck and the
man at the other end is under ar
rest IL it's after nightfall. 1 retain
my freedom because 1 threw away
all my matches the first night out.
Whenever there is a signal from
the flagship. something happens. we
either change our course or speed up
o. reduce. Once We put entirely about
and back-tracked for a while. Truly.
it will be a notable feat if the whole
train is landed safely.
"Eats, Are Terrible.
"The eats have been terrible. First,
they are the English idea and there
fore not agreeable to Americans
stornachs. Fish for breakfast isn't
popular, nor is tea. Then the food.
which probably is good enough to
begin with, is all steam-cooked and
from the popular viewpoint, ruined.
The mess hall is on the after end. be-
low deck. 1t seats about 7co and we
eat at three sittings. Mine is the third.
The diningroom, a couple of days ago.
got so odoriferous that the American
doctors ordered renovation. But at
that, one can't but admire the crew.
The skipper has been running through
the submarine zone since the war and
never has been hit. Most of the crew
have been torpedoed or mined on vari-
Gus vessels, some two or three times.
There is scarcity of seamen and boys
are numerous in the crew. But Eng
land. one of the officers was telling
me. has an effective way of keeping
her sailors sailing. Three weeks is all
a man is allowed ashore. If he hasn't
another job by that time he is drafted
for the army. He can be the only
survivor of the most notable wreck of
the war. but he has only twenty-one
days to tell his friends about it.
II probably will have more time to
write later. Give my regards to every
one. Yours,
III w ROSS"