Jackson County journal., 1918-07-19
0ermans Fail In Raid on Great
est United States
Transport.
CARRIES 10000 SOLDIERS
Ego Witness Gives Thrilling Account
OF Trip Across Atiantic-Hiuh
Praise for Work of American
Navy-Men on Transport
Behave Splendidly in
Time Of Danger.


Vathan and the destruction of two o.
the U-boats by United States destroy
ers, Is contained In letter from Capt
CHARLES A. Harmon Of this city to his
son, Sergt Carl A. Harmon, at CamI
Custer. The Leviathan, formerly the
German Vaterland, is the largest vesse
anoat and was seized by the United
States when this country entered the
war.
Captain Harmon is in the motor me-
chanics division of the aviation CORPS
now safely in France, while his son
Is member of the ambulance com.
pany.
The Leviathan carried 10000 soldiers
on that particular trip and every pre-
caution of camOuflage and Zigzag nav.
1gation was employed to protect it
from the submarines, since the Ger
man government is said to have offered
fortune and great honors to the com
mander and crew of the U-bOat that
succeeds in sinking it,
All Obey Orders.
Most of the men aboard were raw
recruits says Captain Harmon, "but
when the emergency came the constant
Grill and training told and not man
disobeyed orders. Twenty hours from
our destination, at daybreak, we picked
up the destrOyers in a bowling gale.
Ihey came swOOping at us out of a
rain squall like flying fish. Boy! They
looked good. They are little, long, in
trepid devils all engine and wicked
ness. We were tearing along at high
speed, trusting to luck not to hit any,
thlng, but those little devils curved
and clrcled and zigZagged around us as
Ii we were at anchor.
Even with our thousand feet of
length we could hardly keep our feet
on deck, but they, with their 200 feet
or less, were simply doing the isnpos-
sible Seas too high to ride they diyed
through, actually disappearing at times.
AND when, in their circles, they fell
into the trough, they took list that
would make your heart stop.
Ihey carry two spars about so feet
nigh. On top of each is a crows nest
with man in each watching for peri
scopes. Ihe gunnerS are lashed TO
their guns. They must be amphibious
Inc ride those crow's-nest birds took
that day would curl your hair.
Taking No Chances.
All day long it howled and rained
and blew, and most of the following
night, too. 1t was too rough for n.
boats, but we were pitching over the
bones OF the Lusitania and hundreds of
other good ships and the destroyers
We're taking no chances.
ANY time the United States navv is
mentioned you just get onto your legs
ana salute-just on general principles.
When you cross you will understand
why. They are there, those lads.
went on duty in a troop section
peiow the water line that evening at
nVe ana was on duty for II hours sta
uoned on stairway where / could
PICK Off the first bird that batted an
eye. About midnight the sea went
down. Then we did expect trouble any
minute. 1t was a tough, long night
we knew that if torpedo ever hit in
that section we hadn't chance in tbe
world. AT five in the morning / was re.
heved and went up topside, to the for
ward upper deck. 1t was lust break
Ing daylight. clear, no wind soa as
sihooth as glass Six more destroyers
hau joined us some time during tho
aight and they were coursinp like
partners near and far in great.
sWooplng curves all around us.
Finally They Came.
we were roaring along in sharp
zigzags, the ship trembling like
nervous dog, with the best speed in
her. | thought to myself, as | took if
all in:
wen, this is the time and the
place. Now where in h are those
doggOned Huns?
AS IL In answer to my question the
nearest destroyer turned on her fail
snd shot straight at our cutwater as if
10 heao something off, at the same
time firing rapidly at something the
other side of her and close by. In
''S othClS pOlIllou In toward
us and c"ue darting in like diving
sharks.
me nearest destroyer was not more
than 5O yards distant. Next it swung
around in smother of white wafer
ana In an instant / saw the black stern
~ submarine as it upended in
aive SO close to the destroyer that they
actually bumped. Then the DESTROYER
SAT back of the sub only few feet
under the sncface.
U-6oat Blown to Atoms.
There was terrific explosion. II
snook our ship as if it had been strncl,
Ihat sub just was naturally blown to
atoms. 1t almost cut the DESTROYER in
two' nearly blew the Stern of her off
but that is just a part of the lob for
.hose boys. Their business IS TO got
suDs. What happens to them is an
other matter entirely