London South Collegiate Institute - Oracle Yearbook (London, Ontario Canada)

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L. S. C. I. OIRACLE 29 CONCERNING SHIPS---A FEW JCTTINGS ' S. R. BYLES, B.A. l Ships, Horses and Dogs are subjects which should be passed around with care. One isapt to run into some enthusiast who is just looking for an excuse for discoursing on his pet theme and then there begins a deluge which is difhcult to stop. I have been asked to say something on the first of these topics and, as I am a bit of an enthusiast, you will know that the Editor has done the stopping. My first experience at sea was on coming to Canada in 190- when I crossed the Atlantic on the S.S. Canada. This ship, about 10,000 tons, was considered a fair vessel at that time, crossing from Liverpool to Halifax in eight days, and had been used as a troop-ship during the South African War. It was still in use during the Great War and on one of its last trips to this country brought home 1,200 officers of the Flying Corps who had been on service overseas. After spending two years on the prairies, in what is now Saskatchewan, I decided to re-visit England and took passage on the Empress of Britain, then a new ship but now discarded and superseded by the present famous ship of the same name which was put I into service only this summer. We sailed from Quebec on November 15th, and had fair weather until we came off the Irish Coast when we ran into a very bad storm. Something went wrong with the steering gear and it was neces- sary to stop the engines in order to make some repairs. The pitching and the rolling were quite bad enough when the vessel was making some headway against the waves, but when the engines stopped, the big ship rolled like a helpless log. Everything in the cabins, even our heavy trunks, pitched from side to side with every lurch of the ship and it was difhcult to stay in the bunks, though most of us had not much am- bition to be anywhere else. Next morning, we learned that the great rudder shaft had broken and that the ship was being steered entirely by means of the propellors. Had the boat been of the single propellor type we should have drifted helplessly and should have had to be towed to port. The next series of crossings began during the war-period in connection with transportation work, and it was then that I had my first experience of travelling on board a freighter. This, vessel was the Tireseus, which or-

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28 which she and her mother were stay- ing, and, keeping in the shadows asgmuch as possible, started for the ritual ground which Naja had told her how to reach. She wore the Indian costume smuggled to her by Naja, and had dyed her skin. Her red hair struck ana-incongruous note, but she wore an elaborate head-dress which, she hoped, completely concealed her hair. Slowly, painstakingly, she crept, almost on hands and knees, toward the circle of bonfires which marked the ritual '14 gg rx ., Zia Sr ' 'f rim wi -,,,-Pf' 7 ' ' 'tif 1, it ,if I T K r T' , ,' 3 Pa Ev! u. -f .r- '. All Q -was-ff -' - - - kt' ,. R ,. f - I 'gm is CK ground, then hid herself among the stunted bushes and gazed out on a sight never before witnessed by a white. Seated in a circle inside the row of fires were several hundred redskins, stolidly watching the gyrations of a dozen or more fanatical Apaches, who were whirling, brandishing long knives, and occasionally rushing headlong through one of the bonfires. Weird devil-masks worn by the dancers height- ened the effect, and Alice stared, fas- cinated, hypnotized, unconscious of the passage of time. Then suddenly the snapping of a twig somewhere behind her brought her back with a jerk to reality. Fear- fully she searched those stony faces around the fires. If there were sig- nals passing among the Indians, they were imperceptible. Nevertheless she decided it was time to leave. Rising from her hiding place, she turned and started back along the path by which she had come. Suddenly, four massive redskins appeared before her, IJ. S. C. I. ORACLE as if from out of nowhere, their hands on the hilts of sheath-knives at their belts. She looked once at their ex- pressionless facesg then screamed and fell, unconscious. She never regained consciousness. The next day, her mother, alarmed at her disappearance, organized a searching party. ' Soon members of the party discovered, under some bushes at. the bottom of a small gully, the bodies of Alice Bradley and her Indian sweetheart, each pierced with dozens of knives. It is said that love shatters the barriers of race and traditiong it is still open to question. LONDONDERRY AIR In evening's halls the stars will still be burning When we are gone, and names have passed away, And yet this thought can not assuage a yearning To lift our voices to our parting day, With faith that echoes are not lost forever, Tho' they may roll beyond our present ken,' But those who heard the jirst sad accents never Shall catch the poignant melody again. -Annie Vahalla Dodds. Stratford-Continued from Page 23 between himself and his beloved War- wickshire: Good frend for Jesus sake forbeare To digg the dust encloased heare, Blesse be ye man yt spares thes stones And curst be he yt moves my bones. Can it be that he looked ten years into the future and envisaged this place when he wrote: Duncan is in his grave. After life's jitful fever he sleeps well. Neither the dome of St. Paul's nor the aisles of the Abbey could so fittingly enclose these bones. The Avon's winding backwaters overhung with willows, the riverside gardens with their deodars, privet hedges, holly- hocks and roses, the lush meadows, the chequered fields, the winding roads, may, in time, fade from memory, but this obscure spot of placid sanctity- never.

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30 dinarily carried cargo, and had only four state-rooms for the accommodation of passengers, but was now fitted to take 1,200 troops instead of freight. The men were quartered below decks in the cargo-holds and were entirely devoid of creature comforts. Because of the danger of subs no smoking was allowed above decks after dark and towards the end of the journey Ctwelve daysj, even the men were not allowed above decks after dusk. A temporary emergency hospital had been built on the main deck and we had four poor fellows there with pneumonia when, one night, a rolling sea came right over the top of this superstructure and nearly drowned the men in their beds. On this voyage, too, we had one of the most exciting races imaginable. It happened that in the same convoy we had the sister-ship to the Tireseus, the Reseus, and the crews of both ships were eager for a race for it was the hrst time they had ever been together. When we arrived off Dover Qwe were bound for Londonj, the convoy was broken up and as each ship took on a pilot it was allowed to go on its own. The Reseus was the second ship to take on a pilot and we were the fourth so that our rival had a lead of several miles by the time we cleared away for the run round the Foreland and up the Estuary of the Thames to Gravesend. Immediately we could feel the throb of the great engine with its huge piston and the vibration of the single propellor and it was not long before the normal speed of eleven knots had been pushed up to fifteen. Both ships were manned by Chinese crews and the men would keep coming up on deck between periods in the stoke-hold, to see how the race was going. You can imagine their L. s. c. 1. ORACLE excitement, demonstrated in both voice and gesture, as we began to overhaul the other ship which, in contrast to our 1,200 Canadians, had on board 1,200 Sammies. As we drew into the narrow and tortuous channel of the Thames we began to draw alongside the Reseus and no school yells could equal the cheers of the men on the two ships. This was kept up for miles and it looked, sometimes, as though one or other of the ships would surely fail to take one of the sharp bends or else would run into some other ship trying to come down the river. Gradually, however, we pulled ahead and we had the distinc- tion of being the first of the convoy of six ships to drop anchor at Gravesend, late in the evening of twenty-fourth of May. My return voyage on this trip was on the Olympic, one of the greatest of all ships. This vessel, called Trans- port 2810 during the war, was manned entirely by naval men and carried four six-inch guns. Her duties as troopship took her to many ports, American, Canadian, and even to some of the Mediterranean, and in this service she carried more than 200,000 men. It was my privilege to sail on this ship again when she brought her last company of Canadian soldiers home from England. Before we left South- ampton we were given a Civic farewell by the Mayor and Aldermen of the City, who were all attired in their gorgeous civic robes. I shall never forget the cheers of the 5,400 men on board, nor the sight of the solid mass of khaki as the men climbed to every vantage point to wave Goodbye to Blighty. TO THE MOTHERLAND The land I love to dream of And cherish above others, Is like an Emerald paradise Where all men are as brothers. ' I want to see its rocky coasts, Dear mountain glens, I knew, And pluck a handful of shamrock A Out of -its breast anew. For in the night and when the rain The foaming river gills, I fancy that I see again My old home in the hills. O land of which I dream, Fair Ireland, Emerald Isle, I 'm going back to thee again 1 And may I stay awhile. -Agnes Swanton. U J