Everybody Sea-sick

We have terrible weather for the last few days cruising the Albanian coast South towards Valona. It seems winter wants to dominate once more and the Adriatic is showing her bad side again. We are running on the surface and nothing can be seen, neither friend nor enemy. The air in the boat is so thick you could cut it with a knife. The boat's exhaust is constantly being washed over and the stench and smoke pollutes the inside of the boat every time. To make things worse, the hatch cover has to be closed otherwise we get splash after splash down into the boat.

More than half the crew is already seasick. Even the Second got it really bad.He is affected front and back. Otherwise he is usually sea worthy.When he is up in the tower he has to pull down his pants again and again. When he is below he continually visits the "quiet place" behind the engine. The Commander was inclined to return to the station but the Frigate-Lieutenant resisted as much as he could. He said, "It is going to work out. So what if the pants get messed up sometimes." We did not care either because the air was anyhow no air anymore. Besides, we wanted to see an officer with full pants for once...funny!

All of a sudden, a loud laughter from the engine room. The Frigate-Lieutenant stood at the afore-mentioned place pulling up his pants. Behind him, an instructor on his knees and wiping his face with his sleeve. The Engine Master stood on the other side of the diesel and was bent out of shape laughing. What had happened? The Second was on the throne when the instructor came with utmost urgency. The Second flushed the bowl in a hurry but did not get to blow it with compressed air while the other came running with his pants down. At that moment a heavy roll of the boat and the guy slipped and landed next to the bowl on his knees. The poor fellow was just in the right spot at the right time when the contents of the bowl was also agitated by the roll and he received the whole mess on his face. He was given two liters of fresh water to wash.

I too was sea-sick at first but that was caused by excess wine consumption on the day before departure. We had a birthday celebration. After my stomach was emptied I laid in a new base with canned smoked meat and it held. I was always hungry. For the thirst I sucked on lemons.

In the meantime the boat made its way through the stirred up sea and more and more people got sick. Finally, only the Commander, the engine Master and I remained. The cook brought us our chow and then he too disappeared. We had "milk rice." First the Commander spooned it up in the tower. Then the Engine Master, who sat on the commode while he ate. Finally I got the pot in my hands. I clamped the pot between my knees and shoveled as hard as I could until it was empty.

We were continually on duty for thirty-six hours. No relief was available because everyone was lying around sick. They just couldn't get up. Despite that the Commander decided to dive. The crewmen gathered what little strength they had left and manned their diving stations. It did not take long to get to thirty meters. Now it got a little more lively below. I slid off the chair as Stieber came to relieve me only to hear the words from Novotny, "Na, Servus! Those three have devoured that whole pot of milk rice. It was meant for sixteen men!" Then I was gone.

When I was shaken awake the boat was surfacing. The air was very bad inside and everyone was gasping like fish. Later the sea calmed down a little bit and we could leave the hatch cover open. Things improved rapidly. We were heading North again. At Durazzo we developed engine damage...a cracked cylinder. Now we had to return. Even though we ran on electricity at half power we made good speed with the current.