Mountain advocate., 1919-03-28
THEY THAT GO DOWN TO THE
SEA IN SHIPS
Ponta Delgada, Azores.
Feb. 13th., 1919
Mr.. H. M. oldfield,
Barbourvllle, Ky.

lou no uOuDt VIII De SuTpTlseu W
hear from me but just few words to
let you know that am still alive and
still in the navy. +.
have been i'm European waters
since last May and as yet don't know
when | will again be in the U. s. A.
When we first came over we went to
Inverness, Scotland, with the mine
force which later laid seventy-five to
eighty thousand mines between
Scotland and Norway. It is rumored
that we were going to Denmark to
sweep these mines. After staying
there for a month and a half we left
for Queenstown, Ireland. We stayed
there for about seven months doing
salvage and rescue duty also operat-
ing with the destroyer fotilla.
While stationed here we had oppor-
tunities of making several different
ports. We were in France, England,
and several ports in Ireland. The
best one of these was probably Linn
erick, Ireland. This is a fine little
city of about $4,000 population a.
bout sixty miles inland on the River
shannon. Since we were the first A
merican ship up there since the be-
= ginning of the war we received an
exceedingly fine welcome. There
must have been three or four thous-
and people on the docks to see us
leave.
While doing this duty we were
called out several times to the as
sistance of lot of ships torpedoed
and in distress but in most cases they
sank before we could reach them.
We however did have some very try
ing and dangerous experiences.
Thirteen of our crew received letters
Of commentator from the British
Admiralty for their daring in trying
TO save British steamer. We were
in waters where the submarines were
most plentiful. We patroled over
The spot where the Lusitania was
sunk at the beginning of the war.
Came in contact with a couple of
these but am not sure whether we got
either of them. At least we are not
officially credited with having gotten
them.
When the armistice was signed we
salvage and rescue duty and were
given the job of escorting sub chas-
ers back to the States. We have al
ready made a trip to the West Ind
les with a detachment and am this
far on another. We went to Char
lotte Amelia, St. Thomas Island, Dan
ish West Indies. While there we
made a short trip up to San Juan,
Porto Rico, for stores and provisions.
We left st. Thomas on Jan. 18th for
Europe again and have gotten as far
as the Azores. We will probably
leave soon for either Plymouth, Eng.
or Gibralter. Within the last two
months we have travelled approx
mately seventy-fve thousand miles
spending about forty days at sea.
You can possibly appreciate my
letter better by telling you about the
kind of ship l am on. l am now
on large sea-going tug boat, the U.
S. s. Sonoma. 1t is said that she is
the most powerful tug in the world.
/ had much rather be on a ship of
this kind than on one of the big
dreadnoughts. There is not so much
regulations as on a larger ship. How
ever it is pretty bad at sea when a
little rough. We sometimes roll
thirty-fve CIR forty degrees.
Well so much 70: this ravy dope.
How is he High School getting along
now? l have read quite a lot about
1t being shut down on account of the
Spanish Flu" hope now that the
"Flu" is a thing of the past and that
everything will go on as ever. How
is the band getting on? I also hope
that it is making good progress. I
guess there is the usual basket ball
team which hope is the real cham
pion of Southeast Kentucky. My
sympathies are always with the High
School and I sincerely hope that it
will soon be the leading school in
this section of the Bluegrass" State.
So hoping to hear from you soon,
| must close requesting that you give
my best wishes to my many friends
still connected with the High School.
] beg to remain,