Dearest Padre et al,
The voice of out of the deep speaking.
I’ve just had a most thrilling experience, an adventure you might say.
Friday afternoon Aug. 30th Sgt. Marrs, Cpl.
Hencke and I took a banca out for a sail. The banca belonged to Sgt. Davis
of the outfit who is over at Ft. Mills. It was about fifteen feet long and
rode about a foot out of the water. There was a light breeze stirring and
we thot we’d have a fair bit of sailing before suppertime. However, after
we’d been lowered over the side by the derrick and had the sail up, the wind
had died down considerably and we made small progress, having to tack
against the wind out towards the open sea. We started out that way so that
when we wanted to return for supper we could either go before the wind or
sail across it and be sure we could get there quickly.
At four thirty we were about eight hundred
yards from Drum and decided to go back as five o’clock was chow time. The
breeze had started to freshen and we were beginning to make fair headway
when suddenly a squall hit us with full force but with just enough warning
for us to let the sail out and prevent the boat from tipping. In fact it
almost did tip us over and the right outrigger had risen about three feet
out of the water and if Sgt. Marrs hadn’t seen it in time and yelled to Cpl
Hencke to let the sail go we’d have been upside down in no time. It was
useless as well as dangerous to keep the sail up so we lowered it and the
mast as well and headed down the wind hell bent for election.
By the time we were stripped for action the
wind had risen to its full force and the waves in no time were running to
five or six feet in height. In less time than it takes to tell about we
were beyond Drum and headed up the bay toward Manila. Thank the Lord it was
coming in from the sea instead of running the other way or we might have
been drifting yet.
The squall started to subside about dark
and the men at Drum lost sight of us and started to search for us with one
of the lights. They didn’t seem to be having any luck so I, remembering my
pictures of castaways in Life and Judge, proceeded to put up the mast and
ran my undershirt to the top of it.
While the squall was blowing, which was
about two hours, we had plenty of excitement. The sergeant was steering,
the Cpl. was bailing with a rusty two quart tin can with a hole in the
bottom, and I was pulling on an oar to give us headway to steer by when the
crucial moments came along.
Now and then an enormous wave would com up
behind us and it seemed as tho it would surely break right over us, but
she’d hit under the stern and for an instant we’d stand on end and then the
wave would slide under us and we’d slip down into the trough behind it. On
such occasions we’d invariably ship water and it would pour over the sides
until it seemed we were awash but the little old banca would come out of it
riding like a duck.
By the time the squall had started to quiet
some, a two masted native fishing schooner which was out in the entrance of
the bay when it started, had caught up with us and was crossing our bow.
But it was fairly dark then and they couldn’t see us so we yelled and waved
our arms. However they evidently thot we were just yelling to them to look
out for us for the kept on their course and sailed by.
No help coming from that quarter, we
decided to put the sail up and get somewhere faster. The wind had gone down
some but the waves were still too high for us to take from the side. The
shore was about three miles away and Cavite about ten miles ahead. However
there is a small barrio on the south shore called Naic and we were about
five miles from it in a straight line. We could see the lights of it and
thot we’d go with the wind until the sea had calmed so that we could cross
it. So we took a reef in the sail and ran it up and dashed merrily down the
bay.
Finally the water calmed and the wind
quieted a bit more so we let out the full sail and headed straight for Naic.
By that time it was pitch dark and we were
wet and shivering in the wind. The only clothing we wore was a pair of blue
denim trousers, shoes socks and underwear. The water was warm and full of
phosphorescence that made it so light that we could see each other quite
plainly and when the water would splash on you it would leave little
radio-lite spots on your skin. A rope that had been trailing in the water
looked like a silver snake when we pulled it out in the air.
After an hour or more of sailing we heard
the booming of the waves on a beach so we headed for it. We had lost sight
of the lights of Naic as it is located back about a mile from the bay on a
small river. Soon we found ourselves among the rollers and after a couple
had passed under us we finally rode in on the crest of a wave and landed on
the beach. We jumped out into the water and when the next breaker came in;
we grabbed the outriggers and pushed the banca up on the dry beach.
Just as we approached shore I saw a light
in the trees and after we’d pulled the banca out of the way of the breakers,
we started out to look for the light and about fifty yards down the beach
found a native fisherman’s hut. The Corporal could ‘hable’ a bit of Tagalog
and after much palavering we found out that it was about 9:30 and that we
were about two kilometers from Naic. We finally persuaded two men and a boy
to take us to town.
The path led across the rice fields which
are nothing more than small mud ponds about three inches deep with water and
twelve inches deep with mud. Each field is separated from the next by a mud
wall a foot high and a foot wide.
That was adventure number two. The
Filipinos had a search light and the man in rear carried it so that once in
a while you could see where you were going and then just as you’d become
enveloped in shadow you’d put your foot down on a place in the wall where
the earth had washed away and you’d slip off into the rice and go up to your
knees in mud almost. After about a half hour of that we finally hit the
railroad track and in another half hour we were in town.
I tried to send a telegram to Corregidor
because I thot they probably were a bit worried for us but the office was
closed and try to get these Filipinos to work over time. When we hit the
beach there were three searchlights looking for us and, as I found out
later, the mine planter and two small harbor boats were out. In addition
two planes from Nichols Field were out the next morning looking for the
wreckage along the Cavite shore but that was about seven o’clock and at that
time the wreckage was pulled up under the trees and the dead bodies were
asleep in a nipa shack in Naic.
I’m getting ahead of myself a bit. After I
found that we couldn’t send a message we thot we’d better ward off the evil
spirits as we were very wet and not a darned bit comfortable. The corporal
was the only man who had any money and he only had a peso twenty so with the
peso twenty we bought a quart of square face and proceeded to take a
bracer. It helped a whole lot and we had no bad effects of the trip over
there.
Then we started out to find a place to
sleep. There were a couple of men from the outfit on Furlo and spending it
in Naic with their squaws and we located one of them and he took us in and
fed us and gave us some clean clothes to the extent of a pair of trousers
for each of us to wear that night. All he had in the way of a guest room
was the living room and for a bed he had a straw mat to spread on the floor
and a blanket on top of that. However, beggars couldn’t be choosers and we
didn’t care much anyway. It was a lot better than the beach and I had been
thinking while the squall was trying to swamp us of that good old sailor
ditty about “Many brave hearts are asleep in the deep so BEWARE, BEWARE!!”
and I guess the floor was better than Davy Jones’ locker.
We got up at six and after much fussing
around the squaw managed to turn out some bacon and fried eggs and rice
bread. Then we went out to send a telegram and then hired a river banca to
take us down to the beach. When we get to the mouth of the river we took
off our shoes and started out to find the banca. We found it o.k. and took
our trousers off, as they were very uncomfortable being all mud and sand,
and pushed the boat out beyond the breakers.
We put the sail up but it was no use
because there wasn’t a breath of air stirring. Consequently we had to row
and we made a couple of miles that way. The tropical sun was living up to
its reputation and Drum was about ten miles away. However, the tide was
running out and helped us some and finally the breeze started to come up.
But of course the wind had to be a west wind and we had to buck it all the
way. It finally got strong enough for us to make some headway on but the
darned banca hadn’t any centerboard so we went sideways about as fast as we
did forward.
About noon we met some Filipino fishermen
out in a banca and tried to get one of them to sail our boat and the other
to take one or two of us out in his. We thot they’d be able to sail them
into the wind more skillfully than we could. But they were too damned lazy
to go way out to Drum. Then we saw a banca pulled up on the beach in a
little cove and tried to interest him in a couple of pesos but no soap.
At last we gave up and decided to keep on
if we had to row all the way home. We thot that if we kept close to shore
we’d catch an off-shore breeze banking off the cliffs. No luck there either
but the wind had gotten good and strong by then and we discovered that we
were making good headway on a tack out toward the middle of the bay and thot
if we got out far enough we could tack the other way and make it to Drum. I
was taking a turn on the tiller and when we got out about four miles from
shore I tried to make the other tack but the banca seemed to lose ground on
that tack and as we were getting along all right on the other one and headed
straight for Fort Hughes we decided to go back on it and after a couple of
more hours we arrived on the south shore of Hughes. It was not a very good
beach there so we went around to the north shore and pulled up there.
It was about four o’clock then and we’d
been out since eight and when I put my trousers on, we being back in
civilization, I discovered that I was plenty well sunburned. I went up to
see Nicholson who wondered who the beach comber was. I hadn’t shaved for
three days and my clothes were slimy after the journey in the rice paddies
and I had left my shoes on the beach at Naic. However Nick took me in and
after telephoning Major Putney I took a fresh water shower, put on some
clean clothes of Nick’s, had a dash of blackberry brandy and proceeded to
make myself comfortable.
That was the end of the voyage but I’ve
heard nothing but that ever since. They spent about five hundred dollar’s
worth of fuel and juice for the boats and searchlights looking for us and
they were out all night. I’d much rather have had them spend some of it the
next morning to come and tow us home but they didn’t think about that. I
thot for a while we might have to spend another night out.
I decided to spend the night at Hughes with
Nick and Madeline and take the Monday boat back to Drum. I even
contemplated going to Corregidor for a party I had been invited to but my
sunburn told me no and Bill Chamberlain, the other officer at Hughes was
having a small party for some friends who were over for the weekend and
Madeline was throwing a picnic the next day.
Then when Monday came around a typhoon had
started up and Captain Brand who was out at Drum, called up and told me that
I might as well not return that day as they would have to lower the lifeboat
for me and otherwise the boat would not have to stop there at all.
Wednesday was the next boat day and the typhoon was so bad that they didn’t
run.
Friday I went over to Corregidor to see
Connie* and Marge and while I was there the Captain called up to say that
the battery at Mills was due to go on guard the next day and could I stay
there to go on as O. D. with them. I told him I could and very glad of the
opportunity as Lee Hughes and his wife, Mildred, had asked me to spend the
weekend with them and go to a party they were throwing Saturday night. So I
stayed and borrowed some uniforms from Lee. Sunday Hammy Ellis threw an
impromptu party and we all went to the movies that night.
Today I came out here and discovered that
Friday while the waves were still high a Filipino soldier disappeared.
Evidently he was down in the sally port all alone and a big wave came along
and washed him out. Everyone was down below at dinner and consequently the
thing is a mystery. That’s the only possible solution.
This page is where I branch out into
individual letters. That tale was too much to think up anew for everyone so
I made a couple of carbon copies. The other two copies I think I’ll send to
Marge and Grace. Please pass this on to Ben and Ev and I’ll be spared the
labor. I’ve been working on it for three hours now. I think it’s the most
exciting experience I’ve had so far and I’m not anxious to have it happen
again very soon. We didn’t have time to get scared because the only times
there was any danger we had to be on the job thinking and doing other things
than considering whether we’d go to heaven or hell.
At first I thot I wouldn’t tell you about
it till I get home because I don’t want you to worry about it. There’s no
need to worry because I’m well convinced that as long as you use your head
in a banca you can’t come to grief. It was certainly well tested out that
night and even if it had swamped we’d have been able to hang on to it and
sooner or later we’d have either been picked up or drifted in to shore.
Well old timer I think I’ll drift along to
bed and finish this tomorrow.
There’s not much left to say. I received
your letter Saturday after it had spent a week at Fort Drum while I was at
Hughes and waiting for the typhoon to blow over. It was scheduled to come
within thirty miles of Manila but changed it’s course and drifted off into
nothing. However it managed to sink the Mayen, one of the inter-island
boats that goes by here quite often.
However, I was darned glad to hear from you
after the silence. Guess it was mutual.
When is the brother going to step off? He
hasn’t beaten me yet. Not that there are any prospects in sight and I’m off
of the idea for a good year.
Glad to get Evie’s address. She must think
I’m supposed to guess it and what’s the use of writing her at home for you
all to forward to her when I can write you a letter and you’ll forward it
anyway?
Well I think I’ll dash along and write some
other letters. Will write you with the usual regularity which you may know
now is not so irregular as that to which you have been accustomed.
Madam Putney sends her love or something.
Also give mine to the gang.
Love
Frank