100 Years Ago: The Journey Begins

"Early on the morning of July 13th, one hundred and ninety-nine men, accompanied by Col. Bryan, Maj. Eagleson, Capt. Plummer, Lieuts. Kantner, Denno, Van Den Bosch and Lybecker, put on their packs and started on one of the hardest hikes that we made. The men had just been issued their woolen uniforms and hob-nail shoes, and the march up over that long hill and down to the boat landing on that hot July day was about all that we could stand.

Pier 29, East River, New York. 
New York Public Library Digital Collections.

At 11:30 we went aboard a small river boat and started down the Hudson River, arriving at Pier 29 at the foot of Brooklyn Bridge at 1:30. We got off the boat and then had to stand in line with our packs on for two hours before our turn came to go aboard the boat. The Red Cross served us with coffee and doughnuts while we waited on the dock. The other fifteen officers were left at Pier 59 to go as casuals on the S. S. Baltic in the same convoy.

We went aboard the Karmala in command of Capt. Flannigan, U. S. A. The ship was formerly a British freighter in the P. & O. service, and had been used to carry cattle, and was not fit for anything else. The quarters were all very crowded and foul smelling, and the men had to spend most of the time up on deck. The rest of the ship's passengers were Base Hospital personnel and anti-aircraft troops.

Red Cross Base Hosptial 50 Photograph Album, 1918-1919.
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, PH Coll 387.

It was not until the following morning, Sunday, at 11, that we left our moorings at the dock and started down the bay and joined the rest of our convoy, which had assembled there. The convoy consisted of twelve transports and a cruiser. While we steamed down the bay a huge dirigible balloon and two seaplanes flew overhead, and several sub chasers accompanied us until dark, and then turned back."

Like other vessels requisitioned as North Atlantic troop transports, the Karmala was painted with a wartime camouflage pattern known as dazzle. The dazzle pattern was not intended to hide the ship completely, but to make it difficult to estimate a ship's speed, direction, and dimensions. Every ship was painted a unique pattern to prevent them from being recognizable. By breaking up the ship's traditional coloring it served to confuse German U-boat rangefinders.

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References:

1. United States. Army. Base Hospital No. 50. The History of Base Hospital Fifty: A Portrayal of the Work Done by This Unit While Serving in the United States and with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. Seattle, Wash. : The Committee, 1922. Page 66.