"I made four trips to France. The first one as seaman
on the U.S.S. North Carolina. On returning to the U.S. our division
was sent to the Armed Guard School in Brooklyn, N.Y. After
one month there I made two trips on the S.S. West Hampton. When
we were returning the second time, our ship sprung a leak. For
seventeen days we had stormy weather and rough sea. It was only
by hard work night and day by all hands that we finally landed
in Halifax, Nova Scotia, having been obliged to let her drift.
After being repaired, we proceeded to New York, where the West
Hampton was discarded. My next and last trip was on the U.S.S.
New Mexico when she made her first trip. She was to escort the
George Washington to the U.S., but a little way out one of her
turbines became disabled and we were obliged to give over our
job and take our time. We arrived in the U.S. at last, after
passing through a hard storm that took some of our life boats
and so forth. One morning on this trip we sighted a vessel drifting.
Upon investigation, we found she had been disabled for several
days. We took her crew on board. As she was totally unseaworthy,
we shot her until she sank."