The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1919-02-13
''GOI|NG OVER
BY Tom Rhea Phillips
ARTICLE TWO

relative to submarine, put us al
on the alert. Our course was al
ways a zig-zag route, but, in or.
der to avoid conflict with q hos.
tile sub, our feet turned anG
went north for twelve hours
and then resumed our eastward
course-meeting with no enemy
undersea craft.
One who has never taken a trim
over the sea knows not how to ap-
preciate the wonders and beau
ties of the water. The beautiful
sunset, a clear moonlight night
on the ocean, the salt water phos-
phorescence which can be seen
as countless sparkling stars in
the water disturbed by the pas
sage of the liner, the schools of
fish which followed the shir for
hours, the interest of an occa-
sional passing ship, the eight
signals of ship to ship,-all these
contributed to the pleasure Of
the trip, and tended to relieve the
monotony.
We were scheduled to arrive at
Liverpool on Thursday. Sunday
we entered the danger zone" es-
tablished by german highhanded
proclamation; and expected a
fleet of vessels Of war to meet us,
and guard us on our way until
we should be safely landed. All
that day we watched in vain,
and the same on Monday. Tues
day morning at about $50 we
saw on the horizon the smoke of
a ship-then to the north that of
another. Presently other ships
came into sight, and by 11:OO a.
m. we were being conveyed by a
dozen chasers and other vessels
of war. Now, we felt safe, as the
little subchasers moved about a.
mong the ships. Tuesday and
Wednesday passed without a mis-
hap. During the day Wednesday,
as we passed through st.
Georges Channel, we saw the
coast of Ireland, and realized
that soon our journey would end.
Wednesday night we were in
the most dangerous area. We
were passing over very shallow
part of the Irish sea, where the
lurking submarine could rest on
the seabottom, listen for the en-
gines of passing ship, rise, take
aim, fire the deadly torpedo, and
submerge in comparative safety.
We received orders to sleep in
heavy marching ORDER" not even
removing our shoes-of course
that order was not very COM
forting to us.
| had been relieved from sub
marine guardsaat 900 and had
gone down to quarters below
deck, and had retired. At 1920
we were awakend by terrific
shock and explosion which, it
seemed, would nearly throw us
out of bed. We knew that we had
been hit by a torpedo. The
engineer blew six blasts of the
whistle, which meant, eve are
struck, the ship is going down.
every man for himself" Now
you will have to imagine our feel.
ings, for words will not express
them. We grabbed our life Jack
cts and very 'liesurely" made oul
way to our abandon ship station
for each man had been told where
he should go to abandon the shir
in case of danger. In less thar
three minutes every man was al
his station, ready to leave thu
ship. We shuddered at the pros
pect OF an icy plunge in the Irisl
sea. More than one prayer as
cended to God. While we waited
for the crew to lower the raft,
and life boats, we were ordered t.
go back to quarters, as we coull
make it into port-then only
twelve hours away. We after
wards learned from authoritativ.
sources that the torpedo was fir
ed from very long range anc
struck our ship at an angle
bursting hole in one of the air
tight compartments at the stern
and taking off one of the pro
peilers. Early on Thursda,
morning October II we dropped
anchor in the broad mouth Of til.
Mersey river, and, for our frs,
time saw Liverpool How gla6
we were that we were safe OF
the other side!
With the band at the head Of
the column, we marched through
the streets OF Liverpool. and re,
celved a warm welcome from thu
English. There we saw our first
Two story" street carsdifferent
social classes made it necessary,
We made our way to the railway
station, and found trains await.