Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-29
RUSHING MEN ACROSS
SEA SHOWS u. g. DASH
Time at Point Of Landing Cut From Four.
Days to Forty Hours.


Time AT Point Of Landing Cut From Four.
Days to Forty Hours.
American Port. Western France, Aug.
| 15.--The spirit which animates all Amer
| leans here is the same M that OF the front
| line trenches, is the words OF tn e Genera
| commanding II is An inspiration of in
| tense eagcrncNs. This is shown by the
| fact that under the stress of haste 10 sendl
| American soldiers to the hghtSng front.
| the time required to unload the greatcrt
Of American transports bringing 12.OW
| troops. coal her and start her back to
| America, has been reduced from four days
| TO forty hours.
This is the best dccp-water port Of
| western continental Europe with n barbor
capable o. receiving the nnvics Of the
world, and vet up To the time the Ameri-
can came here six months ago it was
practically undcveloped and unused IL
was estimated then that the facilities
might possibly permit the landing Of 20,-
900 men month.
But with 2S0. 900 men n month coming
from America something had 10 he done
on gigantic scale and done quickly
Fortunately the emergency produced the
men; and American brigadier general
who has planed and executed sorne of the
great engineering projects OF tho west, and
nm American admiral who hos the reputa-
tion Of accomplishing large thing, in n
quiet way. Around them wrre grouped
men Of the same talents.
GREAT PORT SPRINGS Up.
Out Of il has arisen this marvellous re
cciving port of todny, where one days
landing of $1,000 men has been followed
the next day by1 3, ,0O0-60 900 IN two day
AZ. \ IL II nshO nfNI
And the strange thing has been that the
port has not felt or gevcn known Of the
huge migration passing through its gates
40 quietly and smoothly the organization
has functioned.
II il the same with the handling of the
immense stocks Of war supplies as IT is
with the handling of troops Six months
ago it was estimated that 5000 tons n
month could DO handled Actually more
than that is handled daily. and this is not
The main port for supplies as i rs for men.
4 large measure OF credit for the high
record IN debarking troops is given by the
general TO the officer in charge Of the
several thousand Negro stevcdorcs.
This officer has had a remarkable career
which exactly equips him for the present
huge undertaking He WAS Liverpool
docker. who went to the United States
with the Cunard company, and worked
up 10 the position of terminal super
lntendent at Boston. As an expert and
master of docking he was appointed a
major In the army. But he forgets all
about being major when he takes
command of those 1000 black steve
dores and great ocean steamer hoaves
into sight with thousands of men abroad
who must bc landed on record time. All
the old spirit of the Liverpool docker
comes back again, he becomes human
DYNAMO, and the army of black steve
dores follow him with the same eagorness
that men follow their leader "over the
top" Here are some examples showing
Just what this means:
HOW AMERICANS SPEED ur.
When the greatest of American trans
ports first came over it took 50 days 10
unload her at Liverpool. The next trp
was hetter-2S davs Then on tho third
trip IT WAS decided To send her TO thus
French port where tho Americans had
begun TO take things over. IL was
r,skv experiment. they thought But
they failed 10 reckon the major and his
black stevedorrs, for this is the remarkable
record Of how the great vessel has been
handled at this port
First ARRIVAL 10000 men and supplies
unloaded and the ship coaled and sent
back in four davs
Second arrival, uninadcd, coaled and
sent back IN three DAYS
Third arrival, unloaded cosled and
sent back in fortv-cight hours.
Fourth arrival. unloadcd. coalcd and
sent back IN forty hours.
The magnitude Of such an accomplish
ment NAV he Judged by the fact that
5000 tone of coal has 10 he put on the
huge transport to send her back, and all
Of this must be loaded from lighters
as her al feet Of draught keeps her far
ont in the harbor And all this IN forty
hours besides debarkinG 10000 troops on
lighters and several thousand tons Of
steel and emergency war cargo
NEW PORT IMPORTANT.
Americans seem 10 have discovered
for the first time that this port Is nearer
New York than anv of the great ports,
and is thus on the great commercial
highroad from the west TO continental
Europe. This holds out brilliant
future for the port IN the after the war
renaissance. One OF the
foremost American engineers recently
said he would like 10 undertake 70 make
this the great commercial port OF Europe
and he believed this would certainly
result from the American development
incident to the war So that, besides
landing soldiers and supplies here
America Is paving the way 70 making
this the first port OF Europe and the land
ing terminal for the commercial penetra-