The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-11-24
SEGREGATED TO
HOT ENGINE ROOM
ON RESCUE SHIP
Tells Vile Conditions
in Stoke-Hole

decfchdnds to the Negro Champion
illustrate aUhdt went on quhen tn,
rotten hulk of the Lamport-Hoh
inner sank Under their feet. In
simple speech, as if it were all IN
the days 1oork, these Nenro workeys
tell hoV they faced death. deserted
OF the officers, how then so"ed the
hves of 10hite ond black alike, ond
finally aoere "Jim Crowed' vh en-
they reached the rescue ships. Todaa
the DAILY Worker gives the storm OF
Reginald Weeks, Barbados Negro
fireman from the stoke-hole of the
) Vest'-is. 1t follows:
y Called to nv watch at $40 Satur-
day evening after the ship left port
| went on down at 3:45. I worked
the a tours that l had to. Leaving
the stoke-hole at 7:45. I went to nv
cabin. Before bathing l went en-
deck to watch the dismal sea. re-
turned back to nv cabin and sat
down. 1t seemed that a storm was
on. dropped off to sleep shortly
after that and was called again on
Sunday morning at 9:45. Went
back to my watch to begin my Job
again.
1t was a very DANGEROUS task.
During the time l could rot stand
up level on the plates. However, l
tried NV best to carry on with nv
job until about $3.50 when # got
worse and / had to stop. I did not
leave the stoke-hole I went up on
ton of the grating. l sat down there
flor about 2 hours watching the
Iwater in the starboard side of the
hship that flooded the stoke-hole.
they went forward.
Nethirg TO Fa+ For Two DAVIS.
stood up at the galley door and
asked for something to eat. There
was nothing in there to eat at that
time. I turned back down into the
stoke-hole. I had to hold on life
line to ret across the deck. After ]
got to the allev way which led to the
stolSe-hole. I he'd to walk through
water and went back down.
7 remained on The ioh helping the
other boys. never left again until
Monday morning. l went towards
the deck apain when l was told tt
throw awav CARGO. About half
hour afterward | was ordered back
down to the stoke-hole again.
carried on again with my job by
orders.
The condition down there then
was horrible. | could not stand up
to pitch the coal into the furnace
4 After the other men walked around
land got rome ar1 chains. One OF
the men tied me from nv waist. One
man propped me up so that / could
throw the coal into the furnace.
Danger In StolIeho'n.
Yet I was not safe. The shir
made lurch and threw me into the
starboard corner towards the water
I jumped over the bilgeplates and
found myself hanging on the ladder
until she steadied herself again.
got my left ankle hurt, and pro-
ceeded back to my job again.
in an hours time, I found myself
end two other men standing in the
stoke-hole. Engineers were nowhere
to be seen. One of the men turned
to me and asked me what I intended
to do. I told him l was going to
leave. He followed me.
Left Just In Times.
was lust in time to run to thu
deck and pick nv life belt IN and
ran to my boat, No. l. BY the time
I got there No. boat smashed.
ran and jumped into No. boat
whilst it was lowering and helped
shove 10 off the ship. I took UP ar
oar and started to pull away with
the other boys.
Whilst pulling away, took up
\ white passenger who was floating "
the water, as he couldn't swim. W.
pulled away about quarter of
mile from the shin. l turned to SCI
a life boat filled with water an'
seven men in it. Four white ant
three colored. I managed to ge
ent 2 white and colored.
Saved Ten lives.
The Gaping seas rolled my boa
away and I could not get back to thu
boat to the other three men.
turned to another boat which wa'
swamped and rescued six other men
One was the second wireless opera
tor. l don't know the others.
Dark quickly closed in on US.
wandered about the ocean until / saw
light. My boat was leaking yer,
badly and the passengers and crew
who were not pulling oars were bail
ing out the water. I saw the frs
light searching for us about 1,
o'clock. 1t vanished and / never saw
It until about an hour and hall
| after then. The weather began t.
set back on US again. 1t thunderet
and lightninged and hailed. Some o!
the bows in nv boat were prett!
frightened, but I tried to cheer then
nm and asked them to help me bal
the boat as fast as possible. I saw
a light again at o'clock. got tn
time from a passenger who had
watch on him.
elm Crowed" On Rescue Ship.
Before I saw the light, I had an