Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1918-05-02


forth across the sky in great arcs. were the fore
and main tops-the "crow's nests" In each of
these four stationed-the eyes of the
vessel. In pent house at the foot of each
dwelt the commanders of the fore and aft
guns, in constant communication with the look
above
Dawn broke over a thousand ranges of gray,
rolling mountains. Behind the Ramapo two 9TH
transports ducked and crashed through the
Before her the bulk of armored
cruiser showed now and again through the foam.
Waves were breaking over her all the time. She
plowed straight through Sometimes to the
the Ramapo it seemed as though only her fun
nels and masts were above the
The first night, when the Ramapo behaved more
like drunken acrobat than stately ship,
merely the forerunner of worse things to come.
All winter, storms have ranged up and down the
sea lanes of the Atlantic. Calm days the
trip across always rarity in December, jan
uary and February. This year they have been
unique.
There were windstorms when the vessel rolled
in of 50 degrees. There days of ice
came off watch cased in mail. There days
of that dashed the lookouts' faces like
whips There were days of tremendous seas that
reached up 60 feet from the water line to rip
lifeboats from their davits.
There little time free of hard work and
leisure for the seamen. To sleep had
clutch the sides of his bunk and usually when
he relaxed slumber overlook him. he fell out
with a dismal crash.
Day and night, they fought the making
fast repairing defending their vessel against the
unending assault of the waves
A petty officer was going through the
hall, progressing cautiously, letting go of
stable object until he had grasped another.
when his grip slipped. He was thrown the whole
length of the hall, and was carried limp piece
of bloody wreckage to the sick bay.
They had operate to his life, the sur
geon said That in storm that was making the
Ramapo behave like outlaw horse But the
navy cares for its and they operated, and
the is still alive The wind was from the
north and making the ship roll terribly. They
turned her bow into the gale and faced into it
for two hours. because the motion that way was
easier
The cruiser and her passed down
over the horizon. The storm got worse For
hours the Ramapo steamed slowly into its
teeth alone on the ocean, she and her thousands
of men waiting while in the operating room the
surgeon balanced himself to the more regular
plunge of the vessel and saved the mans life.
The ordeal of the never-ending series of storms
was sufficient to try mems souls. occupied by
other worry. But the Ramapo hung an
other threat-the menace that envelops any YES
sci faces out across the Atlantic
"Watchful waiting"-the men of the Ramapo
grew know the true inward agony of che
word Always to watch. To stand for a four
hour watch in the crows nest until your eyes
ached from scanning the battling waves for the
sight of the white periscope trail To tread the
deck, your strained for the dull boom
below that might tell of torpedo driven home.
To sleep, with onehaf of you wide awake. ready
to jump to your appointed post while the vessel
dropped swiftly away beneath your feet
The thing got them. For the first day or so
they talked and joked about it. Then into the
talking came note or denance, as -houen each
man were telling his fellows that he wasn't
afraid Then they stopped talking about 1T en-
tirely.
Then one morning the section that awoke to
the twitter of the boatswains pipe caught new
emphasis in the old navy cry:
Third section deck. relieve wheel, LOOKOUT.
speed and ammunition"
Especially the lookout They had reached the
far-ffung limit of the zone.
The Ramapo and her consorts and the armored
cruiser were all zig-zagging now Navy men
know how long after vessel has been sighted
it takes to aim and discharge torpedo Say
that it takes five minutes Every four minutes
the vessels changed their courses. lodging back
nnd forth from an foe that might not be