The Ordway new era., 1918-12-27


wrestling matches on deck. This,
with our card games, kept us all
tpretty busy and made our trip seem
short.
Saw Ruins at Halifax
Our first stop, at Halifa, where
we laid in the harbor for few days
| waiting for our convoy to gather
We were not allowed to land here.
but from the deck we could see some
of the ruins of the big explosion
which had taken place just few
days before in the harbor and which
you no doubt remember was one of
the biggest and most disastrous
things of this description that ever
occurred. On January 27 our ship,
in company with eleven others of
various sizes and kinds and one big
U. s. battleship. pulled out of the
harbor and started on our big ad-
venture. 1t was a day that the boys
had worked hard tor for over six
months and every one of them was
glad that the preliminaries were over
and that at last we were on our way
and it was as much as your life was
worth If you attempted to come up
with a lighted cigarette. After we
were but few days out submarine
guard was put on to watch for peri
scopes. and every precaution was
taken that q person could think of.
Sees Tuscarfa Go Down
On February 6 we passed some
wreckage that we supposed was the
result of some U-boat's activity, and
of course that put us on the watch
more diligently than ever. Just af-
ter dark Eddie and were sitting up
on deck when we felt the ship
quiver and then start out like race
horse. We had boen going at a
good rate of speed most of the time.
but now we felt her jump right out
from under us, and we commenced
to leave the other ships behind. The
Tuscania, a large camaflouged ship
which had been sailing q few hun
dred yards behind us on the trip, sent
up a signal rocket and then all her
lights came on and IN few minutes
went off again and we realized that
she had been torpedoed and was 60
ing to the bottom. We first thought
one would think that we should have
stayed behind and helped to rescue
the boys that were being sunk. but
that Is not the way OF war. and we
left her behind as fast as possible
and in the morning arrived in port
all alone. We afterwards learned
that the German government had
placed bounty on the Baltic and
her captain, Foggy Finch, and the
81 rr,Ix foIn !, 10 4
rected at us. but owing to our zigzag
course 1t had struck US a glancing
blow and hit our sister ship square.
We arrived at Liverpool on Febru-
ary6 and were Immediately unloaded
and put on board the train and
started right out again.
Thru England
The English trains were funny
little affairs and we thought 1t would
be quite a joke travelling in one of
them. but after we got under way
we found that they could go as fast
as one would care to ride. We had
very nice trip across England and
saw some of the most beautiful
country that 1 have ever seen any
place. We arrived at Winchester
about midnight and hiked about
tnTee miles out 10 OUT camp. we
stayed here three days and lived on
English tea and mutton, and slept
on English boards, all of which is
all right, only we had been used to
i1ifferen. things at Camp Merritt and
it was hard to get used to.
In France ..
On the ninth we left here and
loaded on the Prince George at South
Hampton. This ship, l understand.
was converted cattleship and 1t
was certainly loaded to the limit.
The channel was the toughest it had
been In years and II any of the boys
had escaped their coming up" feel
ing on the previous journey they sure
didn't miss it this time. I heard that
the captain of the ship had been on
the sea for over twenty years and
and he could not keep his boots down
himself.
We unloaded the next morning at
La Harve and marched about three
miles out to another English camp.
where we had our own mess and
much better beds. These two camps
are what they call rest camps here,