Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1918-08-16
Letter from Harold Webster


home the following interesting letter
from on board the U, S, S. Malang;
Philadelphia, Pa, June 2S, 1918
am a little disappointed this morn
ing for ! woke up in Philadelphia when
/ wanted to stay in New York. We got
into New York on the morning of the
Goth and the next morning we left and
came down here We didn't even have
a chance to go ashore there but they
sent for our mail We didn't get it all,
thought only had five letters, all from
home, | have written to you folks ev-
cry time | have had a chance but |
don't know whether you got my letters
or not, so III tell you all about my trip
now
suppose you know we left the dock
at New York on April 10th, We went
out into the Harbor a ways and an
chored and the next morning we started
again; il was foggy so we did not know
until the next day that we were on the
way to France, There were about thir-
ty-three ships in the convoy but we
could not keep up with them and after
the second day we did not see the other
ships any more, On the morning of the
2lst, we pulled into Halifax, n. S. We
stayed there just week and on the last
day we had liberty We took a street
car and went all over the part OF the
city that was blown up. You bet am
! glad was not there at the time of the
explosion
On the 2Sth we left again in a con-
voy of forty ships; we were about in the
center Of the convoy, pretty good
place | thought,
When we were at Halifax | got
chance to trade work with one of the
seamen and l took it, 1t was so smoky
and dirty down in the fire room that |
got sick and tired of it; bath every
time you came off watch and then you
couldn't keep clean. l like it fine on
deck and | took the exams for second
class seaman the other day and passed.
After we left Halifax everything went
fine for about a week then we struck
storm and the old Malang did every
thing but stand on its head, We got
lost from the convoy and were gone
whole day before we caught up again.
On the llth of May was on watch in
the Grows Nest" and saw the Amer
lean destroyers coming to meet us;
Just three at first but seven more came
later. Say-they are pretty all painted
up with so many different colors and
they can go like the devil; they would
go in and out among the ships and
around the outside.
The next day about half past nine
we heard the submarine warning and
we all went up the mast, to get a good
view of the scrap. The little destroy
ers came from all sides and you could
see them shoot and see the water fly,
but we did not see the submarine. Then
they began dropping depth charges and
although they were half or three quar-
tiers OF a mile away, every time one
went off it would shake the Malang and
would sound like some giant sledge
hammer striking the bottom of the ship,
There would be big mound OF water
fly up and lot of spray on top OF it.
That afternoon at half past two we
had another warning and all the excite
ment over again, but it was better be-
cause they were nearer and they got
the submarine with a depth charge.
That night we had another scare but
only a few shots were fired We got
lost from the convoy again in the night
and we never saw them again. | guess
it was a good thing it was foggy or
submarine would have got us then.
The next morning we spotted a light
house and you bet we were tickled
bunch About half past nine we steam
ed into the harbor of -. 1t sure
looked good to us because everything
was all green and when we left home
we had not seen green grass.
We got liberty that night and had
it every day but two while we were
there.
az" is a very old city and the streets
narrow and crooked Everything is so
different from our way that you can't |
help laughing at them. The poorer
people wear black clothes and wooden |
shoes and they are just as liable to go |
down the street on the run as to go |
slow. You see women siXty-five or sew
enty years old running down the middle
OF the road and the wooden shoes make |
more noise than a horse trotting on |
You hardly ever see autos,
except American army or navy trucks
and you seldom see team. If you do,
one horse will be hitched in front of the
other Their street cars are small and |
they have whisky ads printed on the
outside instead OF the names of the |
place where they are going. They |
have lots of little parks all over
the cities and some big ones too
They are very pretty but not as well
taken care of as ours, Lands, Seitz, !
Lee and l went all over the place. We