Cloverdale Union High School - Spectator Yearbook (Cloverdale, CA)

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The next day we continued our trip. We steamed down the Shelde, then went through the English Channel, into the Gulf of Biscaja, through the Strait of Gibraltar, and into the Med¬ iterranean Sea toward Port Said, our next port. Now we went sout hward again through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea. When passing Cape Perim, we signaled. From here the telegraph reported our whereabouts to those at home, several thousand miles away. 1 he next port to be made was Colombo. Then came Pan- nang, Singapore, Hongcong, Sanghai, Moji, Kobe, Jokahama, and Nagasaki. An order awaited us here to sail to Jokaitsy, from which place we had to take Russian soldiers and officers, which had been the prisoners of the Japanese, to Vladivostok. We left Jokaitsy January the nineteenth, and arrived in Vladivostok on the twenty-second of January, 1905. It was very cold there, the thermometer showing thirty-three degrees below zero. The Bay of Vladivostok was covered with ice, which was about seven or eight feet thick, and only with the help of a very large ice cutter were we able to get into port. About a half a mile fr om shore, we fastened our steamer, and landed the soldiers and officere on the ice. Vladivostok, which is merely a Russian naval sea port, on the Japan Sea, was at that time in a terrible condition. There wasn t a single building in town which wasn ' t demolished, almost everyone being sho or burned down. lhe streets were crowded with revolting soldiers and dirty Coreaner, natives of that country, which look like Chinamen, only that the men have a beard. I never saw a soldier saluting an officer. The latter ones were glad when they were not bothered with them. We were to have the pleasure of getting acquainted with these Wodka loving warriors. On January 28 we took two thousand two hundred men, in¬ cluding seventy officers aboard, to take them back to Odessa (Southern Russia.) We left Vladivostok the next morning at 6 a. m. At 2 15

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A good many of those aboard felt sad. Most everyone had left someone dear behind him. Evening came nearer, darkness was creeping over the sky, and soon the sun, which looked like a big ball of fire lying on top of the water, had gone down, and it was night. Fast and silent the boat was gliding down the river. Only the splashing of the waves against the banks of the stream could be heard. About 9 o’clock the blink-fire of “Cuxhaven,” the spot where the “Elbe” runs into the North Sea, was sighted, and a little later reached. A small steamer came alongside to take the pilot aboard. Our real voyage had begun. “Full steam forward,” ordered the captain, and at full speed the boat was making its way to¬ wards the next port, which was “Antwerp.” A strong northeast wind was whipping the already wild North Sea. Once in a while a breaker washed over deck, and made things uneasy for those who had to go to the fore part of the ship, especially for the crew, who have their sleeping quarters there. The boat was now rolling and tossing. Not a single pas¬ senger could be seen on deck. They had gone to their cabins, where the most of them were paying tribute to “Neptune,” and were wishing they never had left the safety of the shore. From the bridge came the sound of a bell, which was repeat¬ ed by the sailor in the out-look. He rang six bells. It was time to go to bed. The next morning the situation had changed a little. Only a light breeze was blowing, and the sea, too, had quieted down Quite a few passengers still with pale faces, were sittin on deck, and were enjoying the pure sea air. When the gong announced that it was time for breakfast, most of them remained on deck, as they thought it would be safe not to take any chances in going to the dining ' -room. where the aroma of the cooking works a kind of peculiarly on those who aren’t used to traveling much on water. Well, we arrived next day at the Shelde, and sailed up to Antwerp, where some of the passengers went ashore. 14

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o’clock we had the bay hehind us, and had reached open water. Everyone aboard was glad that he was bound southward now into a tropical zone, where the sun was shining, and where the weather was not like that in the part of the globe, where we were now, where the sun during the winter months never came through the clouds. All these happy thoughts shouldn’t last very long. Around half past two, a terrible explosion occurred, something strange seemed to lift up the heavy steamer for a second, and then we began to sink. An indescribable panic followed now. All the two thousand soldiers and officers, accept one, who had died during the night, and was ready to be burried in the sea, came running on deck. Everyone tried to reach the highest point, in a few seconds the smoke-stack, the masts and the life-saving boats were crowded with the panic-stricken men. In their excitement and ignorance, they had cut the ropes on which the life savings boats hang on the davits. They thought that the boats would simply float, when the water reached the boats-deck. They didn’t think about the current. On rear-deck was a boat, which was always swung out, when having passengers on board. This, too, was overcrowded and from the weight of all those who were in it, one of the ropes broke, and the boat fell, and hung on one davit. All those who had been in the boat found their grave in the icy waves. It was impossible for us to rescue them. We had more than two thousand people aboard, and it was our duty to save them. Immediately after the explosion, which was caused by a floating mine, we gave danger signals, and then turned our sinking steamer landwards again. Our signals were answered by some of the ships which lay way out in the bay. They all tried to .come to our rescue, but were unable to get out of the ice. At last a Norweigian steamer, which had come in the day before, succeeded in get¬ ting its propellor moving, and came as fast as it could towards us. 16