CHAPTER IVGOING OVER
Having but a small percentage of globe-trotters among their number, the ensuing weeks on water and land were full of interest for all the men, even the blasé travellers showing just a hint of excitement during the trip through the submarine danger zone. Although the day was dreary when the train pulled away from the station at Niantic, the weather cleared as the seacoast was left behind, and by the time Springfield was passed the skies had cleared and the beauties of the tree-clad hills of Vermont and New Hampshire adorned in their gorgeously colored autumn foliage presented a glorious farewell to the men as the setting sun added its roseate glow to their final view of the U. S. A.
Travelling at night in a well-filled day coach has its difficulties if one has the desire to snatch a few minutes of sleep, but most of the men, thoroughly tired from their efforts of the past few days and their broken sleep of the preceding nights, managed to court slumber in some of the most amazing positions. At midnight all were aroused at White River Junction, Vermont, to be served coffee, the quality of which ever after was an unfailing object of invectives and a taunt to the Vermont members of the Company.
After circling the city of Montreal, the train arrived at 6 o'clock the following morning on the pier near His Majesty's ShipMegantic, and within an hour the entire Battalion with its baggage had been hurried aboard, A and B Companies to occupy the hold of the ship, with C and D in the second class cabins. At 10 o'clock the ship left the pier and began the journey down the St. Lawrence river. Of course the river was calm, and with a berth ticket and a mess ticket safely in their grasp, most of the men spent their time in exploring the ship as far as was permitted and viewing the pastoral scenery of Quebec and Labrador.
Early in the evening of October 11 the ship passed under Victoria bridge and stopping at the historic city of Quebec tookaboard two hundred Serbian reservists in their quaint costumes, loaded down with baggage of all descriptions. The following morning the pitching and tossing of the ship produced some doubt in the minds of many as to the wisdom of leaving the blankets. Then followed a day of misery and dejection for all except those few and fortunate ones who were not subject to the attacks of "mal de mer."
To thoroughly appreciate the wonderful land-locked harbor of Halifax one must pass through the rough water the men had experienced and then watch the ship steam into the smoothest of basins, protected as it is from the ocean by a wall of rocks almost large enough to be called mountains. Here theMeganticlay at anchor from Saturday afternoon until Sunday afternoon when, after a hundred Canadian artillerymen had been added to the passengers, the convoy, consisting of the transportsBaltic,Scotia,JusticiaandMegantic, the tankersCherryleafandCloverleaf, a British auxiliary cruiser and a tramp freighter, steamed out of the harbor. With the entire passenger list assembled at boat drill and standing at attention, bands on the British warships lying in the harbor played "The Star Spangled Banner" as the transports passed by.
Perhaps that moment might be catalogued as one of the most poignant thrills of a lifetime. The men were leaving behind them the land to which they might never return. They faced first the dangers of the submarines, and if they passed safely through that menace still greater perils awaited them. There were those who covered their emotion well while the bands played the National Anthem, but there was a long silence even after the harbor of Halifax was far to the stern and the ship was reaching out into the first real ground swells which betokened their presence on the boundless Atlantic.
Routine on board ship was rather irksome to men who had been free a good share of the time in camp to follow the dictates of their own desires. Twice daily there were boat drills, and there were calisthenics and even short classes in various subjects during dull hours. One of the most mystifying things about the ship was the seeming regularity with which passageways were opened and closed to traffic. It is related that while "Tempy" Sullivan was on guard at one of the passagewaysCaptain Wolf nearly ascended the stairs before that astute person discovered him, whereupon, in spite of all the Captain's pleas, he was forced to descend the way he had come and try another place. "Them's my orders," said Sullivan with stony determination when the Captain explained he was officer of the day.
Ideas of English hospitality were given a set-back by the prices which the stewards aboard ship charged for all commodities. The prices of tobacco were prohibitive and there were no matches to be had within a short time of sailing, and it was whispered that the fruit being sold had been sent to the ship by the Red Cross for free distribution among the soldiers. Beer was on tap at the wet canteen after three days out.
Fair weather favored the ships until they started on a course which was to take them to the north of Ireland, when they met fog, rain and hail in varying quantities until Sunday, October 21, a day before sighting the west coast of Scotland, the weather cleared. On the afternoon of that day an escort of nine British destroyers made its appearance, bobbing on the large waves like corks in a wash-tub and dashing through the convoy, flashing their signals with heliographs by day and blinkers by night.
Wales was sighted on the starboard the morning of October 23 and that night at 7 o'clock, after waiting for some time in the Mersey for a pilot, the troops debarked onto Liverpool's famous floating dock, immediately boarding the queer little English trains, which waited nearby. On the trip following the men had their first sight of Englishwomen engaged in men's work and garbed in the unconventional overalls and jumpers which later became common at home. A short stop was made at Birmingham where coffee almost as bad as the White River Junction brand was handed out. Some of the men survived the crush at the lunch counter to discover later that the patriotic workers there had given them almost half as much as they had bought. At 4:30 the next morning the train stopped at Borden and the Battalion hiked about four miles through the mud in a drizzling rain to Oxley, where watersoaked, leaky tents were assigned while the cooks used all their magic to coax a fair meal out of the available rations.
Tramping around in the mud which was at all times ankledeep and often deeper, a Y. M. C. A. hut was discovered with a small stock of food and an American in charge. Here change was made from American to English money and most of the supplies available were purchased. Rest that night was more or less disturbed and wishes were expressed for that dry little bunk in the ship. The rain always found a hole just above the sleepers and there was no way of repairing the leak. At that, the men fared better than the officers, for the tents of the latter were located in a wind-swept area and the high winds of the night levelled them completely.
At 4 o'clock the following morning it was up and going again. This time the train passed down through the sunny green fields of the English countryside (for the rain had abated during the early hours) past farmhands tilling the soil behind neatly trimmed hedges, through cities which hid beneath their appearance of calm a hive of industry, to the port of Southampton, where another rest camp was the prospect. Like that at Borden, this proved to be muddy, but duck-boards helped in this difficulty. Here were American marines doing police duty, German prisoners at work on the roads and the interesting buildings of one of the oldest cities in the country. The stay here lasted until October 29. Long before this, however, cash supplies had dwindled to such an extent that but few of the men continued to patronize the restaurants, although the food served at the kitchen seemed barely sufficient to keep life in the body of a healthy soldier.
Crowded aboard the channel steamerLondonderrywith British soldiers from all corners of the world, the trip across the English Channel was begun after a long tedious wait, during which the opportunity was afforded the men of seeing their first example of what a torpedo could do to the side of a ship. TheGloucester Castlelying in dry dock exhibited a wound through which a fair sized motor truck could be driven. Passing out of the harbor, the ship waited for darkness in the shelter of land and then began that leaping, bounding journey of seven hours which landed the Battalion in Le Havre, but first gave most of the men one of their worst tastes of seasickness.
Le Havre offered the troops their first sight of French soil, but it was not as pleasantly impressive as it might have been,for toiling uphill four miles with all your belongings on your back will make the most wonderful scenery in the world fade into mediocrity without the added misfortunes of scanty supplies and the same dreary weather which was encountered during the stay in England.
Hydroplanes and dirigibles were sights for the men during the twenty-four hours spent in Le Havre, but the status of "Sunny France" had received its classification along with the "Santa Claus" myth and subsequent months did not tend to disprove this impression. Funds were at the lowest possible level. Most of the spare cash scattered through the Company was made up of the few shillings which were saved from the onslaughts of the English merchants. Coupled with this was the much lamented fact that extra rations supposed to meet the Battalion in England had been side-tracked in some out-of-the-way place, and they only reached the units for which they were intended after they were well established in training camps in the Vosges.
Luckily the station platforms at Le Havre were covered with bales of cotton when the Battalion arrived to entrain at 5:30 on the afternoon of October 31, for these served as excellent beds and they were universally utilized as such until the train was ready to leave at midnight. The following day, with stops at Nantes and Versailles for coffee and various halts all along the line for reasons at no time apparent, after the manner of the French railway systems, the troop train continued its eastward journey, passing through Chateau Thierry and the scene of the first battle of the Marne, through Troyes, where coffee and rum were served by French soldiers, to the destination at Neufchateau, where the headquarters of the 26th Division were located and about which clustered the various units of that organization during the period of training which followed.