On the Atlantic
Saturday May 25, 1918: Reveille at 5 AM. We are going to leave camp and start for “somewhere”. Where do we go from here? We left Camp Merritt at 10 A.M. Traveled by train thru N. Y. along the Hudson River. Beautiful. Hope I can make this trip again someday. Arrived in Montreal at midnight.
Sunday May 26: Detrained early this morning. Had breakfast and lunch at Canadian Pacific Depot compliments of H.M. the King of England—an honor, I suppose. Sitting around station yard waiting for time to board ship. Left station at 4 P.M. hiked thru city to docks. And boarded an old tub called The City of Poona. It is a British ship used in peace time to haul cattle somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Just a shell and no heat. Lay in harbor all night.
May 27: Left dock at 5:10 AM. sailing up St. Lawrence. Cold, oh boy. Gee for a little Texas.
May 28: Passed Quebec today. Cold and foggy. Guess we will have a nice trip. Hope we don’t go any further north. Cold enough now in this old scow.
May 29: Entered Gulf of St. L this A.M. sailing up St. Lawrence and the Atlantic at noon.
May 30: Passed a convoy of about 30 vessels, entered Halifax Harbor at noon. We are to meet our convoy here. Halifax has had quite a disaster1. The buildings are down. For blocks there is not a building standing.
June 1: Left Halifax at 10 A.M. We are now on the Atlantic. We are in a convoy of 14 ships with an English battleship H.M.S. Donnegal as escort. Very foggy. Heavy rain. Quite pleasant. I guess not. This old tub sure can roll. The boys are getting seasick. Here’s hoping I don’t.
June 7: Still cold, foggy and raining. The old tub is rocking now. Looks as tho we may have a rough trip. Nothing anything extra to eat. Tripe, tea, buns and orange marmalade. English sure. Ah for a good American dish.
June 8: Stormy today and still foggy.
June 10: A member of the medical corp died today from a fall down a hatchway. Met a convoy of 7 sub-chasers today.
June 11: On guard today. Rumored attack by sub and one sub-chaser destroyed. Five depth bombs were dropped and they shook the ship as tho we had been struck. Sighted whales at 3:30 P.M. and two French planes came out to meet us. Getting ready to land. Have my haversack packed.
