The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1919-01-17


! of q life boat was in charge Of NC,
16-A, which was the last boat On the
poop deck, it being ON the deck too
No rs being swung over the side. If
anything happened / made UP my
mind that that life-boat would be too
slow for me, as i can swim pretty
good, and there were plenty OF RATS.
We hit a couple storms, raining
and foggy, the ships dipping water and
I then Is when they get sea-sick, but
funny / didn't even feel sick. That
old tub just dipped and twisted, try
ing to turn upside down and doing al
kinds OF stunts it knew how ~
solly, if you didn't hold onto some
thing, being out on deck, overheard
you would 60.
'1They' put us to work ON the way
over, putting us in charge OF troops
On the boat being on duty on four
hour shifts, eight hours out of twenty
four. r was il charge Of part Of
platoon of Signal Corps birds, down>in
"a" hatchWay. One night while on
the Graveyard Watch" from IL mid
night to A., there was some storm, the
\ waves washing over the decks and L
was drenched to the skin holding On to,
the stairways rail, and it was just the
same as riding roller-coaster, the
ship rolling and plunging; everything
i being pitch dark, foggy and raining,
and 50 T had, to stick it out 7 will
remember that night for some time.
! About the 26th. when 500 miles or
SO from shore, 20 sub patrols, y. >.
\ too, came out from shore to~escort us
/ i'm, as we hadn't hit the sub zone as
crfTT Or
ders to sleep in our clothes and life
belts, and close watch was taken All
around Those little destrOyers-we
greeted them royally-would just keep
making cuts across the front and rear
of all our boats. Speedy, they can
make so miles per hour if one, and
are built very low in the water, having
powerful engines, carrying mounted
thing camoufaged. We watched them
Tor hours, speeding all around us,
darting here and there.
'About o'clock that afternoon i
came. I was down in my room shaw
ing, when I heard a sound like biz
barn door being slammed, which rock
led the boat Something the matter
= knew, left everything and beat it fol
L the deck, where everybody was as
) sembling. About that time some more
" went of. They were depth charges
/, being dropped by the destroyers
- This was all happening pretty far on
q but soon, the old cruiser started x
} speak with her heavy guns, dropping
= shells here and there, at anything
4 that looked like sub. At this time
q o. Tanker on our left, which wy
thought was carrying supplies, dropp
i ed her sides down and displayed al
J. kinds of guns. II sounded TO me tlkt
"a regular naval battle, depth charges
Z going Off, the cruiser and transport:
: firing over our heads far and near
4 Those old shells humming and scream
ing over our head Funny but 1 like
to hear shells screaming overhead
4 they make such peculiar sounds, &C,
cording to sizes. When al this was
y taking place, + had a first-class or
chestra seat where / could see every.
y thing, on the top deck, shining up a
! spar Well this firing kept UP fo1
about Is minutes, some Of the ships
J stopping, others going at full speed
; turning all directions. Our boat first
!. stopped dead, then went full speed
' ahead. We knew the Dutch were
among us somewhere, and never
= thought or looking around near the
!, boats but / thought they would
!, be far Off. On casually glanc-
> ing around near our boat
| right there en- the left hand
: side, about 500 yards, going across
J the front df our boat, was sub
: evidently not knowing where he was,
, and coming up TO get his bearings
4 could see family his dark outline
!, under the Water-just looked about
, as long as a canal boat, we were try
. ing to ram the thing. found out
: afterwards, that was the reason for
IN stopping them full speed ahead. just
a. hen S0t OH the other side OF us, the
, Saxonia, ship next 70 ", left ~ and
| hit IL smack, sending it to tho happy
hunting grounds. and you ought TO
have heard Us cheering. Three subs
, were reported as officially shot TO
, pieces and "a couple more disabled.
~ 'sWe continued ". on to Liverpool,
/ England, landing July Both, hung up
= in the haEbor awhile and then land
D ed, hiked to a railroad station where
. we boarded train, and travelled
. through England, seeing some of the
large cities, Manchester, Oxford, ETC.,
:. landing at Southampton. Crossed
J the English Channel and landed in
J. Cherbourg, France, where we went
!, to rest camp, then hiked about 10
miles to railroad station where we
Travelled; again, i'm anything from box
cars to ffrst-class passage, motor
trucks, hiking--we didn't feel SO COM
Portable when It rained either, hiking
in soaking wet clothes for couple
days Finally, We landed at Chau-
mont, where we found out that the O..
II. O. was located, and were certainly
glad. Here met JOS Reynolds and
several other boys whom I-knew.
III have Travelled over q great part
or France, except the southern part,
and we are going to take that in
about December I have had some
pretty narrow chances with the
Dutch fokkers, but was certainly
lucky; one boy nearly finished our.
business though. The Dutch have
some assortment OF guns, nearly
every kind imaginable, but they do
their dirtiest work with machine
guns While up Withsa division near
.St Michael I'll September the Dutch
sent over. some pretty good charges
of gas, butt never took any chances
ON the mask business, and was al
ways ready at the least alarm, as
only little Whit will knock you out.
The Colonel says W. will give them