At Sea

Fear hag-rode the U. S. Army Transport Chateau Thierry into San Francisco last week. Mumps, influenza and Death were aboard, and at San Francisco were hospitals. The boat had left Brooklyn a fortnight before. On it were 125 first-class passengers, including 13 members of the U. S. House of Representatives. There were also 950 enlisted men under command of Brigadier General Henry G. Learnard who was to transship some of his detachment at Honolulu for service in China. The ship's crew numbered 147. Altogether there were some 1,200 people on board, and three Army doctors to care for them in sickness.

Three days from Manhattan influenza developed among the enlisted men. At the ship's pharmacy the bottle of famed C. C.* pills was set aside and the bottle of aspirin tablets put ready. Sick men went to bed until the hospital was full; then they were placed in cabins. At Panama 167 were sick of influenza. Eleven men developed mumps, infectious disease that added to fear aboard. To restrain the epidemic officers forbade enlisted men to mount above the main deck, first-class passengers to descend from the promenade. Continuous entertainment kept morale up.

Running under forced draft the Chateau Thierry reached San Francisco, from New York by way of the Panama Canal, in 13 days, 22 hours, a record run. At San Francisco, the shipboard epidemic was under control. Only 75 men still suffered. Ambulances took bed-ridden cases from the dock to the hospitals. Undertakers called for four.

*Compound cathartic.