Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-01-26

| Mrs. Carrie >. ToSS VI fhuSoS>e>'
eeived the copy from Mr.. Snow:
Southampton. England. Oct. IA, il.
| We are all we'll and happy at the
present time. This is our fourth day at
| sea after leaving the last port winch
we hit after two days sailing. we hao
fine weather up to the last two days.
when we struck a storm.
| Yesterday it rained all day but the
water was not very rough while TO-DAY
the rain has stopped but the wind IS
! blowing a gale.
| I went up on deck for a short Whlie
and got soaked to the skin by DIG
wave that broke against the side OF the
ship and swept over the deck. A whlie
later while eating dinner in the butcher
shop a big wave struck the boat and
! swept eight of us into one corner with
dishes, chairs and all. we cleaned up
| the mess, finished our dinner and TOOK
! it all as a joke.
There are quite a few of the fellows
seasick but Bill and l have not been
bothered by it at all. even Earl has
not had a touch of it. He don't know
| how to explain it himself.
The first day out the chef was looking
| for two strong men to help the butchers
| cut meat. 1t is hard to find anything to
| do on board ship SO ! took the job.
am supposed to be experienced in cut
| ting meat but I guess l will get by all
| right.
! Two days later and believe me I did
| not know there was so much meat in
the world. l cut 1900 pounds for dinner
| every day, and into single slices besides
| a lot of fowl and such things for the
officers and nurses that are with us.
! think | have learned how to clean
everything eatable that has feathers or
| that swims in the water and the best
/ of it all is We save the best of 1t out
for our own meals.
At A. NJ. we have tea and rolls and
! breakfast at 8 A. NJ. with any kind of
meat we want generally turkey but this
is getting too common now. All through
! the day we have three or four teas and
! three big meals of meat and fancy pas
try with classy desert on the end. ga
J king could never get better eats than l
get. I pulled off a good trick today
when / threw a key of pigs feet over
the side. I couldn't see how anyone
could eat pigs feet but butchers hunted
| the ship for them and when | told them
where they We're they were crazy l told
| them Yankees didn't live on swill and
that got them going. We have quite
Il few arguments about the Yanks as
the crew are all English.
! The last four days have been rough
and the only way we can sleep is by
i bracing coats on each side of US to keep
| from rolling. We passed into the war
zone last night and have to change all
our orders and etc.
| We have lifeboat drills every day and
are assigned TO Il numbered seat in a
certain boat and know the shortest
route to our boat.
! (Censored.)
/ If we see the sub marine before they
hit us we can beat them easy as our
, boat is one of the speediest going and
! the captain knows his business as he
has been chased several times before
We sleep with all our clothes on but it
will be all over in a couple of days.
! Two days later.
| We are still on the top of the water
! and have seen nothing to be afraid Of
| At the present time we are almost in
sight of the coast of Ireland but on &C
count of the fog we will not be able to
see it.
| We are protected by British and U. s.
destroyerS on all sides so l guess the
! submarines will keep clear of us
Last night was the toughest so far
The boat seemed to be tipping over with
| every wave. 1t was impossible to sleep
as everything movable on the ship was
| banging from side to side Even the
mess table in our room which is bolted
down worked loose and went over with
a bang that woke the whole section
Somebody yelled we We're sinking and in
about half a minute there was q rush
for the stairs but it soon quoted down
and ended with two fellows fighting
with the table trying to hold it from
banging the beds to pieces
There was also big milk can in the
cook house we couldn't get at which
banged like a bell all night Quite
a few fellows We're tossed out Of bed
but nobody was hurt
After landing.
We met quite a few destroyers that
were waiting for us. They followed us
| on all sides for few days till we
struck port. which we did Tuesday at
10 p. NJ. There We're quite a few
/ rumOrS Of submarines after us but
there was only one we We're sure of
which followed us from s A. NJ. to 4
+. nj. watching for q chance to get
one Of our ships. One of the destroy
ers fired at it and two or three of
them chased after it but it was lost
and not seen again.
l finished the job in the butchers
shop the day before we reached port
and got paid for it in English money.
The sergeant in charge fixed it So |
was paid for the whole trip.
1 received 3 l. j or $685.. we took
the money and then tried to figure it
out, we got it after a while and
studied it till / was quite sure of il.
| At first we counted it as so many large
ones and so many small ones but we
got along fine with it after two DAYS
experience. When We pulled into the
harbor we expected to see a brightly
lit city, but there was not a bright
light in the whole city. We soon found
out there was a heavy fine for unnec-
essary light on account of air raids.
| They got us up two or three times
during the night to land and then sent
us back to bed again but I was on at
! 2 M n unload hor