Mount Vernon (AP 22) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 52 text:

Adelaide, Australia is about an hour ' s train ride up the river from the port. The train, running from the port to the city, is pulled by an engine purchased from the states; the model was popular here in the eighteen hundreds, and the train jerks, and tosses, and stops, it seems, every several hundred yards. Cut off from the rest of Australia by a chain of mountains, the city is a quiet, overgrown country town. Like all cities of English design, it appears old and worn. Adelaide is not large, but what it lacks in size, it makes up in the number of pubs. There were no activities until eve- ning, then, in the blackout, the glow of cigarettes marked the lines of people awaiting entrance to the theatres. In the blackout the sound of footsteps was amplified. This sound rose in volume as the theatres loosed their crowds onto the streets.

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f-.T roll in! The Coast Guardsmen becanne seasick when they saw his escorts; Boden, Butler, and the rest of the ship ' s gunners mates, and the sea rolled in. Eating places and bars were found everywhere. In fact, a marriage was performed in one of the bars, with the crew of the Mount Vernon participating. Those who felt too crowded in the city proper spread out over the bay area and in the towns down the peninsula. Ships must sail, however, and accomplish their missions. The Mount Vernon was no exception. She left San Francisco on various trips bound for Adelaide, Sydney, and Melbourne, Australia; Auckland and Welling- ton, New Zealand; Noumea, New Caledonia; Suva, Fiji; Milne Bay, New Guinea; Honolulu and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; and Bombay, India. Even San Francisco could not hold a troopship forever.

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Several dances were held for the entertainment of the Yanks. The last night In port a dance was scheduled, but liberty was cancelled. There was a mass ship-jumping move, and by 1900 the ship was deserted. Working parties on the dock, under the supervision of Dudley, suddenly had cargo nets filled with sailors headed for town. At that time the ship was In possession of oversized S.I. cans. One of the men, in dress blues, secreted himself in the can, had a couple of fellows cover him with newspapers, carry him to the dock, and set the can down behind some packing cases, where he climbed out and took off. Other men were able to get off over the stern lines. Upon returning, the boys solved the problem of boarding the ship In an equally ingenious manner. Over in cargo nets they came. Some, borrowing leggings, the long coats, and the hats of the Aussie soldiers