The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-07-26
GUNNER'S MATE
HOLLINGSWORTH BACK
Four Times Across, the Last Voyage
Was a Thriller.

LduIIS 1lOllliiSo"OI Ii1 tHS ooH VI
Mr.. and Mrs. M. E. Hollingsworth,
and known to practically every per-
SON in Abbeville, returned to the
city Saturday on a short visit to his
parents. He enlisted in the regu-
lar navy about fifteen months ago
and has been across the ocean four
times in the course OF his service.
The young man, who has attained
the rank of gunner's mate, has ex-
perienced life on coast chasers, sub
marine scouts, and speed boats of
other descriptions in the coast de-
Tense. He has crossed the Atlantic
despite the "subs', four times and
has exploited France from Bordeaux,
Brest, and Calais. But the last voy-
age on the u. S. S. Henderson beat
'em all for real hrills!
The u. S. S. Henderson left New
York June 80 on her seventh trip
across with troops and supplies.
Besides the crew of $50, there were
three and a half or four thousand
soldiers on board. Some forty or
fifty others ships-cruisers, trans
ports, trawlers, tugs, and destroyers
were in the convoy, typical of the
alright system of transport devised
by Uncle Sam in his fight against
the German submarine system.
On July 1, submarines appeared
off the s~tarboard. The flagship i'm
mediately ~signalled the crews to
general quarters" that is, to their
fighting stations. Gunner's mate
Hollingsworth, who is in the fourth
watch, was one Of those called upon
to mann the guns. However, the
submarines could not get close
enough to do any damage or engage
in fire. They were chased off by the
conveying ~destroyers.
The fight alarm was but the be,
ginning. On the next day, the ship
caught fire in the third hold. No
one knows the cause, unless it was
an Internal machine. At any rate,
the crew fought fire from ive-thirty
that afternoon until late at night
Then hope was given up for the
ship, which was about five hundred
miles at sea by his time. So the de-
stroyers set to work transferring
the troops to another transport. By
2:30 the next morning, they had ev'
cry soldier upon some other ship
Then the transport, with only 104
of the crew on board, turned back
for America, while the fleet sailed on
for the great battlefields of France.
Left alone, the crew, among
whom was young Hollingsworth, had
no idea whether they would gel
home or not. They had scarcely any
hope save in the life boats. On
July 4th, fire broke out also in hold
No. 4, and even greater demands
were made on the tired sailors. At
one time the magazines were in i'm
minent danger of catching fire and
exploding. They had to be flooded
and only the water neutralized the
powder. The crew, meantime, had
nothing to eat but a little canned
stuff, some cantaloupes and water
melons. They were very tired, but
in the best of spirits.
This account, such as it is, is
largely indebted to a little red diary
which MIR. Hollingsworth kindly
loaned The Press and Banner. "Elev-
en- o'clock" it continues, "looks like
we will make port, entering Boston
or Newport. Twelve o'clock, ship
righted itself to an even keel and
now looks as though we will get to
'Phila.' home port. Two-thirty P. M.
fire out. Bag lost. All hands on the
handy billies or water pumps. Hur-
rah! Hurrahw However, the ad-
venture was not quite over For that
evening, at fvethirty, the boat al
most capsized. 1t listed 18 degrees
starboard and then rolled over I'M
til it listed 27 degrees port. One
could only get around the deck by
crawling and holding to ropes. The
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