The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1918-05-15
On Board u. S. S. S. Moccasin
Somewhere on the Atlantic
Anril 2h. 1913.

oofle"heie On ',ie N y IlI.ii',t "a to,o
~ rho po,. o,a en,nlnyoos.
~, ~ -" E,;onSs.. o '
Defi "a - Ni, -. baya ssi,od al rho
"E't Era,,a9 a,,J an, nr M, uar
,", 81 h,I,o,,+ Moor i, fI,i,s conf
Gu 90 - l;ttIa 80, CO.., ,,,n,,hs II
seems wears instead of months: yet
time gets away real fast when you are
nm thp lwav. and when Won are in port
on live from one liberty night until
me other.
think CT you, my good friends, eV-
cry day, and dream about some OF you
at night. Wish | could write each
end every one of you a letter or could
even send you card, but tolutd out
that cards could not be seat from
France
@. ~, D H., a, lie en-
'ooppoSe NY 1'vsn l''tS 'l",',, ''ip XII tn
IN ttip 70 tNe% S lonS ny Nv ,om, - o"o ,,''
Iopeu W oee I'm VIZ f,,J ~ s''i - ~,
ooii eNpecV " $50. ses :, - "a ~, "aS
1iine sum, I,, aa .,als n,,'ei ''''' ~ '"'
sci wee lung e'io'7 -
! hear our boat IS gong ihto NY
dock in New York TO-, some fepa },
but al. yet hhne 1f''&f tleeSfd siiS't'iIig
aDout leaves. Nhen come nome l
hope to nave few more stripeS OF
promotion marks on my SIeeFeS'
The Mayor some parts o. its
not so bad, as there is always pleas
ant side to look on. The trip over was
all so new to me as well as to great
many others Of the crew, and things
were not regulated until we started
back All of the officers from the
Captain down are reserve men. Think
we have thirteen officers on board.
(YUu know thirteen was always my
lucky number, that being my clerk
number all the time | was in the
store stand in with a few of them
one especially, the navigator. He is
going to help me along lot, and has
already helped me in number OF
ways. He is just twenty-three years
old, but has a gold stripe and a half.
We had storm going over which
frightened us very much. The wind
blew at the rate of ninety miles an
hour, and / thought we were going to
be drowned, but we got through u.
K, with the exception of few of the
boys being slightly hurt. We were
lost from our convoy for two days,
Our boat is one of the largest IN the
convoy. We have one hundred and
fifty men, one three inch gun and one
six inch gun which shoots a bullet
that weighs one hundred and twenty
five pounds This boat was built In
1903 by Germany II is well built but
q little run down. We had leak in
the bow for several days and nights.
We had lot of steam but no steam
pump.
Going over we were twenty days on
the way. Coming back we will leave
the convoy after the fourth or fifth
day, as we will then be out Of the dan
gerous part, and expect to make abort
fifteen knots an hour and get home
in about ten or twelve days. Going
over we carried provisions amounting
to several million dollars, and coming
back we are bringing gravel for bal.
last only.
Saw Sid Lenoir in France and was
with him almost two days. was Ger
tainly glad to see some one knew.
Also met a man that knew lot Of
Greenwood boys whom he had taught,
The city we went to is not on the
coast, but is one of the largest in
southern France. ! went into several
Of the department stores while there,
but in my estimation none of them
came up to the "Big Busy Store This