Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1918-04-08
SAILOR LAD WRITES TO
WEBSTER CITY GIRL
Is on "Wyoming' Somewhere in At.
lantic-Writes Because he is
Lonesome,

A sailor Lad on the "Wyoming'
somewhere in the Atlantic got lone
some. Strange One would think that
with the excitement caused by sub
| marines and ocean storms and what
not the sailors wouldn't have time
| to be lonesome. Such is not the case.
however. so far as this jackie is con-
cerned. He was very homesick and,
having always been a "lady's man."
lie decided that the one best way 20
overcome his lonesomeness was to
find some girl to whom he could write
his thoughts. And, what do you XII DIV
about it? He picked out Webster
City girl. Good taste, you say? Well,
we guess so.
Now this is all secret-no one
knows except the people concerned
so don't tell. He writes very inter-
esting letters and the young woman
in question has consented to let us
peruse one if we are careful not to
read between the lines. The mis9ive
was written February % and arrived
here recently. 1t says:
Speaking Of subs" l think ] had
the real sensation. One time we ran
into school OF those undersea boats.
Torpedoes were fired at some of our
ships but to no avail We we're ton
quick for them. We can report the
sinking of one but we are not very
sure of it. They use all kinds OF
tricks to make believe they have been
hit, such as forcing oil and waste mat
ter to the Surface. This is done SO
that the enemy will think them sunk
and give up chasing them.
Il can tell you something of our
trip across. 1t was filled with all
kinds of thrills. We ran into one
storm after another. | stood watch
on the bridge, which is deck blii
around the foremost about twenty
feet from the main deck or top side.
The spray and rain that beat down |
on me was drenching and rather IN
comfortable We wore big, heavy |
windproof suits. In spite Of these
we got drenched to the skin with salt
spray. In spite Of all this discomti-
ture | liked it. Oh! it was great
The waves broke over the ships bow
and went the full length of the ship.
She rolled and pitched like a living
thing. First the bow would head up
mountain wave and pitch down,
down until the stern was sticking
high up in the air, the prope'iers
completely out of the water. The
next wave would break over us and
drench everything.
Zone night, the thirtieth of Novom-
Der, l was on watch from II till
At about 1890 while 1 was standing
on the bridge a terrible cracking and
smashing sounded over our heads. Be-
fore We could look to see what hap
pened the foretop mast and wireless
gear was down upon us. Luck was with
us and no one was hurt. A large
weighing about twenty
pounds swung past my head and
crashed into the stack behind me. 1t
had been struck would never have
known it.
"A few nights later one of our
whale boats was washed away.
great wave came over the side and
picked the boat off it's davits and
dashed it over the side. One of the
lavits was bent into half circle.
You can easily see the great strength
of the water.
I'VE tossed about like a corpse for
a week Then the storm abated and
we reached our port in safety. The
best of all l was not seasick during
the storm.
Il hope you will get some picture
of the life of a sailor from these few
lines.
81 have been in Marlborough, Scot
land, and it certainly is 2. fine place.
| have been in several small cities
and towns in Scotland and know
little about the people on the other
side"
-W.S SIS
Do not risk having poor corn crop
,y using INFESTED seed. d.f-i.tiF
WIS S..
Business cards at this office.