The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1918-11-28
CHAPTER x.
He'll at GallipoIl.

Dltal, L was ordered TO report to nv
snip at Brest for sea duty.
The boys aboard the Cassard gave
Zee hearty welcome, especially Muir.
ray, who had come back after two
week" IN the trenches at Dixmude.
was glad to see them, too, for after all,
| they were garbles, and l always feel
more at home with them than with sol
diers. Then, 1t was pretty rough stuff
at Dlxmude, and after resting up Mt
the hospital, l was keen on going to
sea again.
The CaSSard was in dry dock for re.
pairs after her hast voyage to the Dar-
danc'lcS MS convoy to the troopship
DuplciN. Everything was being rushed
10 get her out as soon as possible, and
| crews were working day and night.
There were other ships there too-S,I-
perdrcadnaughts, and drcadnaughtS,
| and bnttleships, and armored cruisers,
all being overhaulcd.
We received and placed guns OF
newer design, filled the magazines with
the highest explosives known to naval
use. and generally made ready for n
hard job. Our magazines were filed
-
guns. A 14-inch shell can tear a hole
through the heaviest armor plate at
| 10000 yards, and will do more damage
than you would think.
When we had epalcd and had got
| our stores aboard, we dressed for ac-
tiOn-or rather, undrcsscd. The decks
were clear; hatch covers boltcd and
davits folded down; furniture, chests.
! tables, chairs were sent ashore, and in
fammable gear, like our rope ham
mocks, went overheard. You could
not find single wooden chair or table
In the ward room.
! When the ship is cleared for action,
! shell bursting inside cannot fino
much to set afire, and If one bursts OH
deck. there is nothing to burn but tho
wooden deck, and that is covered with
steel plate.
Finally, we had roll call-all men
present. Then we set sail for tn,
Dardanelles as escort to the Duploix,
which had on board territorial and
provincial French troops-Gascons
PariSians, NorInans, Indo- Chinese.
Spahis, Turcos-all kinds. When we
messed, we had to squat down on the
steel mess deck and eat from metal
plates.
There had been notice posted be-
fore we left that the Zeppelins had be-
gun sea raids, and we kept n 1--WE eye
out for them. The news proved to be
a fake, though, and we did not see a
single cigar while we were out.
We made the trip to the Dardanellds
without sighting an enemy craft, keep
Ing in close touch with the Duplex,
and busy every minute preparing for
action.
1 was made gun captain and given
charge Of the starboard bow turret,
mounting two 14-inch guns. 1 had my
men at gun practice daily. and by the
time we neared the Dardanelles, after
hve days, they were In pretty fair
shape.
1t was about q. m. when we drew
near Cape Helles and took stations
for action. The Duplex wns in front
Of us. The batteries on the cape
, opened up on us, and in q few min
utes later those at Kun Kaleh Joined
In.
AS the Duplex made for "V" beach
and prepared to land her troops, we
swung broadside on. raking their bat
teries as we did so, and received
shell, which entered through a gun
port in the after turret and exploded.
Some bags Of powder stored there
(where they should never have bccn)
were fred and the roof OF the turret
was just lifted off. 1t landed on deck,
tilted up against the side Of the tur-
ret.
! On deck the rain Of Ere was simply
terrific. Steel flew in all directions.
1t was smash, crash, Slam-bang all
! the time, and do not mind saying
never thought we would come out
of 1t.
Some Of the heavy armor plate up
! forward was shot away and after that
the old Cassard looked more like q
monitor than anything else to me- AS
we drew nearer the shore they began
using shrapnel on us and in no time
| mt all our tunnels were shot full OF
holes and a sieve was watertight COM
pared to them.
Naturally we were not lust taking
e-' '''iS COME
back. Our guns were at It fast and
from the way the fire slackened In
certain places we knew we were max.
ing 1t effective. My guns did for two
enemy pieces that know Of and per-
haps several others.
The French garbies were a good
deal more excited In action than
thought they would be. They were
lodging around below decks, trying
to miss the shrapnel that came
aboard. shouting, swearing, singing
but fighting hard, at that. They stood
the gaff just as well as any other
garbies would, only In their own
sweet way-which is noisy enough,
believe me.
One Of our seamen was hit 100
times by fragments Of shrapnel, so
you can see what they were up
AGAINST I'm the do1oipo limo oun