Part IV Summer 1917 to November 1918

Hospitals, Furloughs and Ships

A year and a quarter has passed since the sinking of the UBXXX. During that time several things have changed. It started with a two month stay at the hospital in Sebennico. The detonation of the mine first resulted in a severe nerve shock which luckily soon subsided. But then the stomach pains started. They tried irrigations with a salt solution thinking it was something in my stomach that had to come out. In fourteen days all that was left from the 70 kg body weight was a skeleton. Then, to rebuild the patient. Slowly I recovered but there was still 30 kg missing.

After two months I received a six week furlough which I spent with some farmers I knew near Salzburg. Then I entered the barracks at Pola. Oh God! How it looked there. There was nothing more to eat but dry vegetables with sand. Six men to a loaf of bread in the mess hall. If you had money you could sometimes find something. Outside of that you could possibly buy some bad wine overpriced. The friendships were also in bad shape since everyone had to look out for himself.

Just to get away from the barracks! Then came the embarkation on the old torpedo mothership S.M.S. Alpha…a sorry crate. In its heyday it was an Imperial yacht. Oh, splendor where did you go? No boilers, no heating. Except for the two kitchens it looked more like a jailhouse than a ship. That meant getting away from here too. They did not even have a cantina. If you wanted to buy something you had to go to the cantina of the castle artillery at Fiselar. They were really only a cat's leap away up through the woods but they too did not have much anymore and you had to be nice to them to get anything.

The Alpha lay a good hour from Pola. Closer was the S.M.S. Yama and Stefanie. The first, a telegraph training ship, the second a mine training ship. On the Stefanie you could get soda drinks which they produced themselves. But still, what good is all that drinking if you are hungry? Be it wine, water or soda.

Finally, after a few months the new assignment onboard S.M.S. Szent Istvan. That was something different again. The newest destroyer which was only completed in 1915. Even if the system was the same it was still much better than on the Budapest because the operational areas were below the water line and more isolated. We had much less exposure to the boatsman.

It was January of 1918. My stomach pains got worse. At sick call they threw me out. If the doctor was in a really good mood he gave me a 0.5 liter of "tierkohle" to drink and one day off duty. The food was good for a dog but far too little, especially for someone with my problem. I got skinnier by the day and could almost calculate the time when my pants will go on a walk by themselves. The whole thing became a rotten stink.

The boat's doctor went on vacation. Then came the rebellion of the crew. We wanted better and more food. Also better treatment and we wanted a few officers who were really abusive to be shipped out. Apparently the doctor had smelled that he was among them because he never came back. Everything was promised. Much of the crew was shifted around and a few days later everything was supposed to be taken care of. But nothing really changed. A reserve doctor arrived who sent me to the hospital for a few days and when that didn't help I was transferred to the navy hospital in Pola.