Show 4 0 am Y V V F A M 0 U 3 HUNTER 4 fog ram rain and death by FLOYD rloyd GIBBONS I 1 have to tell you says edward of ne new york city is a story of FEAR it belongs to the united unite states navy and for 12 hours strong men were trying to baug laugh off their quaking knees and the wild eyed apprehension that something was going to happen to them that something WAS going to happen was what everybody believed and nobody admitted the trouble was that no one had any idea of WHEN it was going to happen but on with the story and with that introduction ed goes mt int aone of the ma most astounding tales of what men s imaginations can do to them that I 1 have ever heard in all my life to get the whole yarn right from the beginning weve got to follow the career of a battleship the S S charleston ed says she was built at newport news va in 1905 and commissioned for duty in the atlantic fleet beet in 1906 she was ordered to the west coast as flagship of the pacific fleet and in december of that year she made the trip around the horn but before leaving tor for the west she put into new york harbor for provision provisions and liberty for the crew astounding message of the visitor the charleston was one of the first four stacker vessels in the na navy and people were interested in her she received quite a number of c f vi i igors and one visiting day a little old lady came aboard and asked th the officer of the deck it if she could see the captain I 1 of course says ed she was not accommodated for cranks were always trying to tell the captain how to run the navy but the officer of the deck out of politeness asked her if there was any message he could take to the captain the little old lady stumped yes there was a mes sage please tell the captain she said that the charleston will be blown up in magdalena bay mexico on the eighth day ot of may 1908 it will be a foggy rainy day and she will be blown up by a tramp steamer which will come from nowhere and will refuse to give any information concerning herself that gave the crew a big laugh that was a big laugh for the crew imagine a foggy rainy day dayi in magdalena bay they chuckled why there been a drop of ram there since time began they put the old woman down for another crackpot and forgot about it that is they did until may 1908 the charleston took up her duties in the pacific she was in mag dalena bay in october 1907 then returned to san diego calif she was back in magdalena bay in the spring again for target practice april blossomed into may I 1 says ed r and we were still there the sky was still a perfect blue and there wasn gasn t a cloud in the sky the prophecy had been forgotten well acost forgotten but some of the more superstitious on board did remember and on the night of may 7 we all turned into our hammocks wondering the eighth of may dawned COLD FOGGY and RAINING unheard of since no one knew when but we told ourselves it was only a coincidence how could anything happen to us besides the tramp steamer hadn haan t shown up yet on the surf suffice ice all was serene men laughed and joked as they went about their work 6 but many an anxious eye was cast toward the mouth of the jmj harbor AND THEN IT HAPPENED about three 0 clock that afternoon the men on the charleston could make out through the fog the general outlines of a tramp steamer entering the harbor ed says that along about that time many a ruddy complexion took on the general hue of a bag of flour it began to look as if the little old woman knew what she was talking about no merchant ships ever entered that harbor it was too dangerous what with battleships firing big guns all over the place but there she was moving straight toward the charleston and the charleston s frantic signaling could get no response from her whatever waiting for something to happen says ed she steamed past us and anchored about yards off our starboard side she refused to give us her name or call letter and all we could get from her was that she had lost a propeller pro blade and had dropped into ship another no tramp as miserable as she was ever it but nevertheless over the side carries a spare blade and we knew went a diver i through the fog we could distinguish nothing but outlines as we tried to watch his movements but we imagined more and more as the day wore on and a dark night began to settle down we were served a hearty supper but our appetites t any too keen rumors ran not riot imaginations started to do their stuff staff and that empty feeling began to find its way into the pits of our stomachs the smiles were gone from the faces of strong men inaction was killing us by torture it they were going to strike for god s sake let them do it now do something do anything t but do it if fit awake all night for nothing the bugler sounded lights out and hammocks but there were doggone few men who rolled into their hammocks that night I 1 they sat around in hettle groups and wondered says ed and anyone walking around the deck could see little piles of life belts placed here and there by some gob or bunch of gobs who t taking any chances even the commissioned officers kept pretty close to their preservers men talked and speculated what was the idea anyway who d want to destroy the charleston and so the night wore on the night wore on and NOTHING HAPPENED just before daylight says ed we heard the tramp hoisting anchor soon she was steaming past us on her way out to sea and then after heaving sighs of relief the entire crew fell to and cursed that rusty old tub as only strong healthy sailors can curse ad service |