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Show lii5poiti Thirteen Great Transports Bringing 36,000 Soldiers Ar-" rive in France at One Time. AMERICAN PORT IN WESTERN FRANCE, July 31. (Correspondence of the Associated Press.) An Amer-loan Amer-loan Aramada of thirteen great transports trans-ports bringing 36,000 fighting men to France had conio qulotly Into port during dur-ing tho night and tho landing of this little army was soon to bogin- Going on board the transports, tho Associated Press correspondent had an opportunity to sco the equipment for this huge undertaking, and how the men had lived and fared on I heir trip aoross. It was a long climb up tho rope ladder to tho deck of a former for-mer Ward liner rebuilt as a transport. trans-port. Soldiers packed the decks and were as thfck as flies in every cabin, hatch and between decks down to the very bowols of the ship. Tho spacious promenade deck had disappeared, and in Its place were long lines of "slan-does," "slan-does," or metal hammocks, for tho men sleep in the open on decks as well as betweon decks. Only Six Sick Cases. The men looked well, and the report re-port from the sick bay showed only six cases of sickness out of 000 men aboard, n vory good showing, said the doctor. In tho mess hall a relief of men wore taking their breakfnst. There was no sitting down at table. The men stood at high troughs, very clean and practical, each man with his own tin plate, knife, fork and spoon, tossing off with relish the hot coffee and good white bread aud butter. Wo tasted this bread and found it a revelation reve-lation real bread, so different from tho potato bread we are used to as war diet, And real, butter, a luxury for soldiers only, which no ono begrudged them. Botween decks tiny blue lights were burning to let the men see tholr way about with some degree of freedom. These aro the only lights aboard, no lights on deck of any kind to avoid danger of fire. At night the men felt their way about. Tho living quarters between decks wore scrupulously clean, and oven after aft-er ten drfys of this crowded life afloat there was not a trace of odor, the floors were scrubbed and there was no litter about It would have cheered the heart of an exacting housekeeper-Cleanest housekeeper-Cleanest Transport Afloat. "The admiral says It Is the cleanest transport afloat." said the naval officer offi-cer with as much pride in the record as one in marksmanshp. In the wash room the men were at long porcelain wash troughs. Everything Every-thing showed the spick and span neatness neat-ness of the efficient naval management. manage-ment. In the kitchen galley savory dishes wore being prepared, and in the bread-making plant the long line of ovens were turning out stacks of wheat bread for these 3000 hearty caters. This was a meatless day, for civilians, but one of tho negro cooks offored as a taste ot the steaming meat curry, which would have done credit to a Paris chef. Exciting Event of Trip. An exciting event of the trip was learned as we passed along. Most of the voyage had been uneventful. Eur., nearing this side a lookout had signalled sig-nalled the appearance of a periscope. Soon the deck guns got into action, and two depth charges wero dropped over the spot where the periscope was last seen. But thore was no further sign of hostile craft. If the deptn charges took effect thoy loft no trace for there was no wreckage on rho water. Very soon the incident h&d passed and some of the ships did not even know anything unusual had occurred. oc-curred. On the upper deck we saw the dnd-ly dnd-ly depth charges and the long toboggan tobog-gan slide along which thoy are started start-ed ou their errand. The charges were in metal cylinders the size of a ca3k, two on each side ready to drop over-Officer over-Officer Proud of Guns. Besides these the gunnery officer was proud of the possession of guns made for use on battleships but mounted mount-ed here on deck. "Thoy will out-shoot any submarine afloat." said the officer, patting his big weapons as though they wero pets. Men Anxioous to Fight. In the officers' mess hall ono of the officers summed up the results of the trip. Most of the men, he said, wero from the west, with a large number num-ber of farmer boys who had never been on the water before. This was a great experience, a great adventure, and they were eager for it. There was little sea-slckneess after the first few days. The men looked forward anxiously to getting into the fighting front, for there was one common impulse im-pulse running through them all, as shown by their letters home that there was a big job ahead which had to be done, and they wiBhed to do It and have done with it so as to return home. As we came ashore two American airplane sections were being debarked, with their liberty motors and all the paraphernalia of flight. These, arrivals, arriv-als, long deferred but now coming strong and fast, wero almost as cheering cheer-ing as the arrival of troops, and to-gether to-gether they signalled that vital part in men and machines that America would soon be taking in tho critical stage of tho great conflict. |