El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1920-11-25
ACROSS
In War Time
LEAVES FROM AN
OVERSEAS NOTEBOOK
-

] The Overseas Notebook" contains
] variety OF material gathered by the edlto
Of The Herald in Europe during the wal
! and after. Excerpts will be published ID
] this column daily during the next severa
] months. Publication OF the Notes be-
] Kan October Is. IoQay's iuslalmeut con
diary with the story Of crossing in sub
] marine time
! articles each day and paste them IN scrap
] books; they viii not be reprinted and haci
] numbers cannot be supplied. The entire
] connected story Is going 20 make mar
7 10 the battleliues in France, through ms
] period OF action. into LuEcmbourE. into
I Germany and after that through the othei
] countries OF western Europe; with intimate
] description and running comment on many
] different phases Of vivid human expert
] ence in surroundings where the romance
] Of history colors everything and where liz
mas infinite variety ana q deep my sterloul
background IL VIII be no guide book o.
D dry encyclopedia stuff but Just instant
I Impressions about every thing and any
thing jotted down moment By moment
I during 500 days away from America
/ INDEPENDENCE dav. 4 july 1918
l opens up fine. an the ships carry
the American flag at the fore and
[ the British Jack at the stern Band
music and speaking are followed b
games on the after deck in observance
of the day. Americans do not cele-
brate very well, at any rate there Is
no enthusiasm, and little participation
IN the exercises. Fault is in lack of
preparation and coordination; a good
opportunity is overlooked; chaplain of
the artillery regiment sfails 10 strike
right note in his talk-n0t a word
about the allies or our present relations
with Britain, not a word Of the deeper
significance Of our journey; no men
tion Of Lafayette, OF, Of the British
mission putting a wreath on Wash
ington's tomb at Mount Vernon.
At IL a. m dense fog closes down.
At noon the battle cruiser in the lead
fires a salute Of p heavy guns out of
the fog which completely hides her and
all the other ships from our view; the
salute sounds daring and defiant, as
II challenging any submarine IN the
neighbOrhood TO come on and try It.
July 191s-Sea smooth. Fog at
intervals during the day. Ships in close
regular formation. We hear Of a ship
having been torpedoed behind our con
yoy.
At 1888 and 4:20 p. m. we cross oil
streaks on the oceans surface. tracks
Of submarines, Indicating recent pas
sage. The fleet al once changes course
and scarters widely, then swarms
again.
Oil spots on sea now; dense Jog.
We steam slowly; our ship, doing
scout duty, makes a wide sweep out
around on the right flank of the
column. Fog breaks a little at inter
walls and we catch a glimpse Of another
ship OF two q good WaVs of. then the
fog thiekens again
Only a very few officers and prob
ably none Of the men are watching
these details and most Of those aboard
are entirely unconscious that anything
unusual is happening. I am almost
alone on the deck except Tor the Wig
liant gunners and the l0okOuts.
At $50 We cross another oil streak
The fog is now so thick we cannot
see over 80 or so yards. yet not @
whistle is sounded, indicating extreme
caution in running through suspicious
areas.
At $3.50 We speed up aflittle- still
very foggy. At 7.3O p. m. first sound
of whistle; for more than three hours
we have been running around here IN
dense fog crossing and crisscrossing
submarine tracks and so far as I know
totally out OF touch with the other
ships-but out Of the Jog as if whis-
pering through seven blankets comes
the faint sound OF a whistle from an
other ship somewhere and our nari-