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physical drill, and even then we have them close at hand Two or thr**e times a day we hear the general alarm sound and we have to double on deck and take our place in front of our life boat8, to get arid keep in practice in case anything happens to the ship. Each company falls in in its respective place each time, so that no confusion arises as to where e shouldgo.They are mounting eight machine guns on the decks in case anythingdoes show up. They will he able to help a hit if the enemy comes withiu range. The machine gun section have to man their guns night and day. The signal section is on the bridge all the time taking and sending • messages from and to the other boats. They use the Morse code both day and night. We are now waiting for the Meiagama to catch up. as it is a slow boat; hut when we get our escort from the other shore we will make a dush through the danger zone. There will he no waiting then -every boat for itself with an escort for each boat.The second day out we. sighted a bunch of whaling boats. As the first came into view the cruiser turned in that direction and it was not long in finding out what kind of boats they were. The officers having satisfied themselves, they returned to our boats and once more took the lead. We saw a number of vessels going in the direction of Hulifax, and yesterday when we were in mid ocean we saw u sail boat also going toward Halifax.I can tell you it is nocky enough in a big steamship like this, but deliver me from a small sail Imat. You might land in two weeks and maybe in six months, it depends on lt;he wind. We have had a head wind all the way so far. Sometimes it. will blow you right along the deck and if the boat is dipping very much the front end getsa good dose of spray, as well as thel*assengers if they happen to he from under cover.There has been no heavy seas yet, j according to what fellows say that have been on the sea before. There Is just enough motion to give a fellow an uncomfortable feeling. The third night oul I had a good bath in warmsea water ami after that I felt Jake.Everybody can have a free bath on board and if you tip the steward he will bring you a towel and soap. I j think one thing that kept me from being sea sick was that I eat so much. I have had a ravhnous appetite ever since I got 011 the train at Brandon,| and have eaten a lot of fruit such as orauges and apples.To give you an idea of how they | feed us, 1 will give you our hill of farefor yesterday. Breakfast: bread ami butter, bain ami eggs, marmalade and coffee. Dinner: chicken, green peas. |Mtatoes, rice pudding. ice cream, oranges and apples. Supper: roastpork, potatoes, green lettuce, tea, bread, butter ami jam. So you see weI fare all right, when we are in a position to eat. Often when half through (a tneal you will see fellows getting up and running for the door, and when j they arrive at the side of the deck they lean over and one trying to out-' do the other.One of the signallers just came off the bridge and said that the cruiser , K.M.S. Drake, was coining to meet us I this afternoon to relieve the one we • now have. He also said that we are just about eight hundred miles from 1 tle north of Ireland, so that another I three days and we should feel dry j land under our feet again.The machine gun section take post [this afternoon, and they are also placing a guard around the deck with loaded rifles and fixed bayonets to keep down any panic which might arise in case anything hapnens. We must be nearing the daifeer zone hvhen they are taking all these precautions. 1 was on guard from Saturday night until Sunday night. Everybody takes a turn on guard duty. (the M.G.S. being on now.* We are at it three at a time, the 79th one day and the 70th the next.I One of the boys just came up and ' said we went 301 miles from noon J yesterday until noon today, the day ' before 290 tulles, and the day preceding that 315 miles, there being very little wind that day. One or two days and nights R was very foggy and they had to travel very slowly and keep the fog horn going every1 few minutes, which was very pleas .ant at night.Well, this is all I will writ.* today, as we have to go and do physical drill now. The half hour dress went a few* minutes ago.Well, this is the seventh day at sea (May 3rd) and we still have the same'escort as when we started. I suppose(they have dll the submarines chased out of our road and do not need any more escort.1 The weather is still fine and a very 1 smooth sea. It has been a fine trip all
Newspaper Details
Brandon Weekly Sun
Brandon, Manitoba, CA
Thu, Jun 01, 1916
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Darrell P.
CA 19 Sep 2016
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