The Jasper news. [volume] (Jasper, Missouri) 1898-1924, 1918-09-26
CHAPTER XII.
Action at the DardaneIIes.


I made twelve trips to the Darda-
nelles in all, the Cassard acting gen.
orally as convoy to troop ships, but
one trip was much like another, and
/ cannot remember all the details, so
j will give only certain incidents of
the voyages that you might find inter-
esting. We never put into the Darda-
nelles without being under fire-but
besides saying so, what Is there to
write about in that? 1t was interest
ing enough at the time, though, you
can take it from me!
Coming up to "V' beach on our
third trip to the Dardanelles, the
weather was as nasty as any l have
ever seen. The rain was sweeping
along in sheets-great big drops, and
driven by the wind in regular volleys.
You could see the wind coming, by the
line of white against a swell where
the drops hit.
AS we rounded the point, the seas
got chopper, and there were cross
currents bucking the ship from every
angle, it seemed. You could not see
two hundred yards away, the rain
was so thick, and the combers were
breaking over our bows three q min
ute. The coast here is pretty danger
Gus, so we went in very slowly and
had the sounding line going until its
whirr-r-r sounded louder than ma
chine gun in action.
l was on the starboard bow Mt the
time and had turned to watch some
garbies poking at the scuppers to
drain the water off the deck. But the
scuppers had been plugged and they
were having hard time of it. The
officer on the bridge, in oilskins, was
walking up and down, wipng Off the
business end of his telescope and try
ing to dodge the rain. All of the gar
bies but one left the scuppers on the
starboard side and started across
decks to port. The other chap kept
on fooling around the scuppers. Then
] saw big wave coming for us, just
off the starboard bow and / grabbed
hold of stanchlon and took a deep
breath and held on. When my head
showed above water again the other
end of the wave was just passing over
She place where the garbies had been,
and the officer was shouting, "Un
homme la mer!" He shouted before
the man really was overheard, because
he saw that the wave would get him.
| rushed back to the port bow and
looked back, for the wave had carried
him clear across the decks, and saw
che poor lad In the water, trying to
fend himself off from the ships side.
But 1t was no go, and the port pro-
peller blades just carved him into bits.
On our homeward voyage we re-
ceived word again by wireless that
there were zeppelins ut sea. We did
not believe this and 1t proved to be
untrue. But there were other stories
and taller ones, told us by one of the
wireless operators, that some of the
garbies believed. This chap was the
real original Baron Munchausen when
1t came to EARNING, and for while he
had me going too. He would whisper
some startling tale to us and make us
promise not to tell, as he had picked
it from some other ships message, and
the Old Man would spread-eagle him
If he found 1t out They probably
would have logged him, at that, If they
had known he was filling us full of
wind the way he did.
He told me one time that Henry
Ford had invented something or other
for locating subs miles away, and also
another device that would draw the
sub right up to 1t and swallow II