The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1919-02-23
CHIEF YEOMAN
SKINNER TELLS
STORY OF SEA

southeast recently heard from her
son, Charles c. Skinner, Chief
Yoeman, s. Navy on board u. S.
S. Sioux. a portion OF the letter
was under the head of Every Day
Occurrences and is as follows:
1--WE have all had our experien-
ces, varied they may be, during the
great war that has just ceased hos
tilities. / didn't happen to be one
of the many to come over and
fight the hun in the trenches, nor
one OF the ones that fought the
U-boat at sea, during hostilitics,
but all the time ! was doing land
duty, much to my displeasure, in
the States. ! finally was success
ful in being transferred to 4 cargo
ship and following is 4 sketche OF
the trip over. will state that
at the time that we came across
with our cargo of gasoline and
hay there was no danger OF u
boats but some danger of stray
mines, from which we were partial
ly protected by mine sweepers;
however, these aren't all the dang
erS and perils OF the high seas as
we found out at a little loss.
1T was my first voyage on the
salt water, consequently, as usually
occurs with landlubbers, was in
disposed to be in the best OF spirits
for a while and the fishes and sea.
gulls were the better for it. Be
fore we passed the radius Of the
big lighthouse, Off Cape Henry !
was sea-sick. For the next three
days | didn't care whether | drop
ped over the side or not. How
ever, on the third day | snapped
out OF it and went about my duties
as ii nothing had happened.
From the time we hove out OF
sight OF land we had rough wealth
er and it seemed that each day she
grew worse. This sort OF weather
is characteristic OF the North At
lantic in winter months. On the
morning of the seventh day ont
we were steaming along smoothly
in an ordinary sea at a speed Of
about eight and five-tenths knots,
being little better than the aver
age speed OF the old packet, the
sun was shining across the deep
blue sea, bringing out the clear
blue OF the water abeam and the
green OF the smooth trail LETT by
the ship in the distance. The sea
gulls that had taken up with us on
the second or third day ont were
fitting about and making much
ado over the hard tack which the
cook was tossing over the side.
went up on the boat deck and lay
ed lazily in the sun. enjoying the
beauty as we'll as the comfort of
the sunshine. But the sunshine
never lasts long in this part OF the
globe at this time OF the year. /
noticed just before noon the world
seemed to get lighter and the sun
was beaming down on our star
board beam-our course being
north northeast; I glanced about
and soon understood what caused
the sudden brightness-about two
points forward of our port beam
there was an apparent cloud loom
ing up from nowhere. 1t was fast
covering the clear sky and soon
we had run into a heavy fog.
learned later that we were now oil
the Great Banks OF New Found
land, which are well known to all
mariners OF the Atlantic. The
wind began to blow at a pretty
good clip and as | sat in the office
that old ship soon began to tell the
story. The office is amidships
but one could feel the bow as she
would rise with large wave, then
as she came down with sudden
crash she quivered and creaked
and seemed to pound the bottom
OF the sea-then the rise of the
stern and the quiver and vibration
as the propeller churned away.
When dark came-and it comes
early under these conditions at
seal went forward and turned in
after wrestling about with the
chain pipes and stanchions in quest
OF my bunk. This was a rough
little toss all night and a part OF
the following day and again she
calmed down to ordinary ground
swells with an occasional squall
blowing over.
We moved on and on further
towards the center OF that vast ex-
panse OF water that Columbus
dared to cross in his three mast
schoonerS four hundred and fifty
years ago, occasionally sighting 4
lone boat sailing westward.
On the morning OF the eighth
OF December the climax OF my
story, and OF the trip, materializcd,
Having been at sea for about
twelve days-things began to drag
on the ship with nothing to do
from day to day except eat and
sleep--a sailor can do both quite
well. On the evening of the sew
enth at about seven O'Clock | stop
ped in the Radio shack to gam
with the man on watch for awhile
lie was listening to some dope
from the George Washington, re.
garding her contemplated arrival
IN the Azores with the president
etc, while | lounged on a com