CHAPTER IV
GOING 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 Ship Megantic, 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 took aboard 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 the Megantic lay 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 transports Baltic, Scotia, Justicia and Megantic, the tankers Cherryleaf and Cloverleaf, 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 passageways Captain 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.