The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1919-01-29
Continued from nara %.

N' iouheu very odd at first,
'ee after Gay Of two we became
used TO them, and they were not the
nuisance we had expected them to be.
lucy We're made to keep one above
water for six hours. | guess thew
insured that in case we were moi saved
IN that length of time we would al,
De frozen to death.
The next day and Saturday forenoon
we spent in port, but no one was al
ioWeo TO go on deck, let alone leave
the ship. We were constantly re-
minded of the precautions to be OBJ
served after we put out to sea: for
instance, every few yards or so on
0eck and on the doors Of the compart
ments were signs reading, Throw
Nothing Overheard; Floating Objects
reveal Our Course to Enemy Subma-
rlnes," and in our printed instruc-
tons we were told that no smoking
would be allowed after shutdown n
think everybody smoked. There were
no lights at all on the decks after
dark, and only few blue globes
scattered below decks. All port holes
mad to remain closed all the time.
saturday morning l was standing
BY an open port hole when / noticed
that the pier was beginning to slip
away from us. I looked at my watch
and it was 1855. We were off on the
trip that meant so much to all Of us.
The trip for which we had been look
Ing forward during all these months
OF intensive training and drilling.
We were towed into the river and
then our engines began to throb
though we could hardly hear them,
there was such little vibration. We
were hardly started when the "Aban-
don Ship drill call sounded. We all
jumped to our hunks to be ready for
the next call. Then we heard the
bugle again and the command to fall
out. We did not get the drill exactly
right the first time but everyone man
aged to get to their appointed places
before many minutes and then stayed
on deck until we were we'll out Of the
barbor. The big New York buildings
were, every one of them damned with
people who looked like small flies to
US, and we could see thousands OF
handkerchiefs waving farewell. As we
passed the Statue Of Liberty everyone
removed his hat, and let out yell.
! suppose everyone was wondering
when they would see the Old Girl
again, If ever.
AS we sailed out of the harbor any
number Of little submarine chasers
moved all about us. A destroyer |
showed up right in front Of us and
started that weaving back and forth |
which was kept up for more than
day. Overhead a dirigible balloon |
lowered. All the way down the river |
we were passing large ships all of
which were camoufiaged until they
looked like a futurist nightmare.
The sea was perfectly calm and re-
manned 30 the whole voyage. The
huge floating palace sailed along SO
that there was hardly any
seasickness.
The trip itself was uneventful. We
were allowed on deck some times dur
ing the dreary days that followed. Al
ter day or so It became very hot,
which was caused, / know now, by
the boat taking an extreme southern
course. The crew sat about lazily
but always ready to spring into &C
ton. There were two six-inch guns
forward and two more aft, ard a.
each gun there were couple Of men
constantly. One had telephone re-
ceiver clamped on his head, through
which he received his instructions
from the crows-nest. When we came
to the submarine zone. machine guns
were brought out ready to aid in any
that might arise.
The second day we found that our
destroyer had left us, and we were all
alone from that time on until one
day out from Brest. The following
Friday morning when we got out on
deck we discovered four U. S. de-
stroyers.
Maybe the old Stars and Stripes
didn't look good to US? They were
sailing all around us, and 1t looked
funny to see those four little boats
protecting big ship like ours. Some
body must have seen something about
that time for I was away up on
deck when the boat stopped dead
still. Then you should have seer
those four little destroyers seurrying
around after something that We could
not see. 1t was a very pretty sight
though we were right in the subma
rine zone and there were plenty OF