New Britain herald., 1927-05-28

lions were made UP like big can
full OF explosive with float attached
to a spring. AS the charge was
thrown into the sea, the float would
serve to pull the trigger and the
charge would go off.
On one occasion one Of the crew
threw over a charge but the spring
was fouled and the explosion car
ried away the ships rudder. Into
dry dock the boat was towed and
there repairs were to be made. Ex-
pecting liberty ashore, the crew got
busy and scraped the ships sides as
the water was pumped out o, the
dock. But. as soon as they reached
bottom, they had orders to start
painting there until they reached
the top BY the time this job was
completed. the rudder was repaired
and they were ordered off on an ex-
ira trip because they had lost so
much time in dock.
Still continuing on in relating ex-
periences during the war. Sailor
Lawson stated that Captain Lind
bergh wouldn't give his airplane up
for destroyer ii an accident which
befell the war time craft should
befall the one on which he might
take passage home.
Ship Is Stalled
Starting out from Brest, bound
for home, the evaporators which
purify the salt water for use in the
i boilers. went bad. The crew couldn't
shave, there was no water to drink
except the salty brine and the ship
finally became disabled. The Fannie
Luckenbach. one of the transports
in the service of the big steamship
company by that name. took the
destroyer in tow.
In the Gulf Stream, while sailing
along as peacefully as on a lake, a
storm suddenly hit the craft. The
| tow line parted and the destroyer
| was left alone and helpless in mid
! ocean.
Rigging up the apparatus as best
! they could, the members OF the
crew got the ship moving. 1t took
the craft II steaming days to reach
/ home. The journey started at the
i French port on December 9 and the
| home port was reached on January
| 3. All this time, the craft was the
i victim OF a capricious sea being
| tossed here and there and every
where and it was an unkempt-look-
! ing bunch OF bedraggled seamen
who finally set foot on United States
territory when the voyage was over.
The Christmas Dinner
On Christmas Day, the crew was
Just sitting down to a chicken din
ner, served on account OF the holi.
/ day. The dining tables are swinging
F., affairs and i: takes a good juggler
to keep all the dishes aligned as
the ship buffets about the waves.
Suddenly a submarine was sight
ed and the crew hastily got to their
stations. For an hour and a half the
destroyer dove and bucked. turned
and shot here and there dropping
depth charges all around the sea in
hopes OF breaking up the undersea
dog.
Finally the orders to return TO
! mess were given and on returning
to the dining compartment. the
| chicken dinners were under the gun
! carriages, up or the walls or strewn
all about over the floor. Neverthe-
! ed
to open cans OF corned beef. gold
r, fish" and nice, ripe tomatoe
canned three years before. When the
ship arrived in Philadelphia, the
! locker compartment with the crews
/ clothes, was in three feet of water
/ and it wasn't a line Of movie actors
that filed off the ship when they
/ got their first shore leave.
Navigating by Compass
Speaking OF the wonderful trip
! Captain Lindbergh made by COM
pass alone, Sailor Lawson said he
would like him to stand wheel
watch to see the difference between
his plane and the destroyer. He
would like the aviator to try and
follow the compass and see If he hit
within three miles of where he was
aiming to get.
The destroyer service Is the school
of hard knocks for the officers, he
said. and that is probably why a
delegation Of them a short time ago
urged Captain Lindbergh to take
the Leviathdn home.
| Sailor Lawson said that Lindbergh
must have been happy to make such
a beautiful landing in France but
his joy would be nothing compared
to the relief and happiness he would
| feel when he set his foot on dry
| terra firma after five days in q
| destroyer.