The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-04-26
Brattleboro Young Man
Tells of Experiences on
Atlantic
WAS HOSTLER ON
ENGLISH STEAMER
Not Favorably Impressed With That
Kind of Employment - Sister Ship
Will Go to Brockton.

Torpedoed Less than 50 Miles Away
viii Go to Brockton.
Ronald Clark, formerly an appren-
tice i'll the shop Yof J.. f. Rogers,
plumber, arrived in town this week and
in an interview with a Rcformer rep
rcsentative told an interesting story
Of his trip to France as hostler on an
English steamship. He explained why
his sudden disappearance from Brat
tleboro was clouded i'll mystery and
told Of many incidents of the trip,
which lasted from March to April
| ,, when he returned to Boston
| q had been anxious to make
trip OH cattle boat, or oh some sort
of ship, to Europe said Clark. 8 Fl
nally ] decided to 60, and bidding a
fond farewell to Brattlcboro, without
| Brattleboro 8 knowing it, | went to
Boston. There I found il an easy mat
ter to ship as a hostlcr ON the Siamese
Prince, of the Prince line of steam
ships. She was a French vessel leased
to an English firm and ofeered and
manned by Englishman
q shipped from the International
Shipping agency at $40 Commercial
Istret, right i'll a district that fairly
swanned with sailormen, many Of
whom were in no sense anxious to ship
for deep-sea sailing because of the
danger from submarines and mines
After l had signed as hostler and
: shortly before it was time for me to
1 20 aboard the ship / wrote a letter
. home, addressed the envelope and
stamped it and asked a man to mail it
for me. He said he would. The let
!. ter was still in the office on CONNER
eial street when l arrived back in
!. Boston.
eve left the dock in Boston Tues
day, March 6. The ship was supposed
\ to be an Englishman, but once out of
! sight of land we hauled III our colors
n and did not show them again on the
d trip across.
G Ny interest in the beauties of an
ocean trip stopped shortly after We
y left Boston, Land had hardly dropped
j. astern before / began to feel decidedly
) uncomfortable. I had never been sea
' sick, but | knew what the matter was
n without anyone telling me. There
h vasn I enough wind to fluttcr hand
kerchief, but that old ocean was rou
Al ing. and. believe me, it WASH Z lopss
70 before began to register extreme i'll.
= ness. I WASH t the only one A vounls
-c kid from Utah aged l6, was wors.-
ia than | was.
h "Those of US who worked, despite
our sickness, found we had tackled \
regular Job. There were LOO horses
!, on the Siamesc Prince and 30 men to
- act as hostIers. Our Job was to feed
- and water them and to keep them on
=. their feet. They We're packed in like
- decks they stood, many of them hand
u, some animals and everyone fresh from
'o the West. And green. Grass growing
along brook would be pale in compar
u n ison.
a ''The mean part OF the job was
:; keeping them on their feet. It s not q
ld mollycoddle' job to crawl in amongst
as a bunch of horses feet and kick ar
Id animal until he decided to stand up
es On the way across we lost Ga horses
OF They were hauled on deck and dropped
e. overheard. They sunk like lead
IS. HorSemen on board told me that =
y, horse that dies on board will sink like
n that, while u horse that browns viii
IN float for days.
bo 'Our boat was not a spcedboat. Sht
n, averaged about II knots an hour
Ii which is trife better than Is Ian,
IS miles. OF course, as soon as we wer,
&C able to pick up and choose. j few o
~ us kept together. So did the Others
nc Several of he hostlcrs were voSnl
m fellows like myself. making the trij
at for the fun there might be in it. TIL
N others were hobos and old-timers. W
ry>I took n look at the hunks assigned {
Ic us and thereafter slept III the hay.
The first few days out the feo'
was pretty poor. The cook woul
~ throw the potatoes into the pots an
al boil them with their jackets on an
Ga -, without troubling himself to was
~. them. When We peeled and atc thef
=" - we could taste the dirt. The bean
~ - were appetizing, | don't think. An
-, we had beans, beans, beans. Th
!. !" cook simply put them in a boiler, lc
- them boil, and then served them.
y, guess he didn t know what salt wa
IN IN made for. l was too seasiek to kie
~ much and / didn't eat enough to ear
m ,mon a great deal, but some of the other
''.. did and the second day out they struc
Nio The food was better as soon as thu
W captain found out what the troubl
an was.
ie' After we had been out a littl
70 while the mate decided never TO com
'oh below where the hostlers were withou
&C. a member of the crew with him, and til
cook developed the habit of walkin