Memoirs of Lloyd Moss: 1928
I came upon one little back street that had a host of old weapoon shops. I brought back a 41-inch sword that was supposed to have been used by the Imperial Palace Guard. Well anyway that seven days passed by very, very quickly and when it was time to assemble and the U.S. Legation compound we found that we were not to return the same way that we had gone up. It turned out that in our absence the Marblehead had moved to a new position off the coast from the city of Tientsin. So we took another train to Tientsin, arrived there in the afternoon and were told that we would be picked up the next morning in a Marine Corps truck. Tientsin is a large and important city but at that time it had no access to deep water. The modern part of it was built by the British and some of the streets were built in the form of a crscent like in London, Bath, and Edinburgh. I never went to sleep at all that night, but I did explore the city from end to end. In one of the night clubs I met a couple of White Russians that I had known in Shanghai so we had a reunion and I learned even more about the place.
At nine the next morning we assembled at the U.S. Marine compound and rode in an open army truck down to the coast town of Tangku and there went directly into one of our ship's motor boats and chugged across a wide stretch of muddy sea water called Tangku Bar. The Gulf of Chihli is so shallow here that the Marblehead had to anchor way over on the horizon so it was a long ride through the mud-colored ground swells to reach our ship at last. Very soon after, we were underway for the port of Chefoo which was just a few hours further down the coast. There was some kind of threatening action going on there between different Chinese army units and the Americans needed the reassuring sight of the Marblehead. We were there long enough to send a boat ashore with a couple of officers and an armed squad of men aboard. This ended with our taking a few missionaries aboard and carrying them down with us to Shanghai and safety. We didn't linger long in Shanghai because the time had come for us to head back across the Pacific. So after taking on fuel and supplies we headed back to Honolulu at standard cruising speed.
It seemed such a let-down to be back in such a quiet well-ordered place as Honolulu that I hardly went ashore at all. The spell of the Orient had gotten into my blood I guess and I kept thinking of all the excitement back in the East. Then an unusual thing happened. Word came by inter-ship mail that on the U.S.S. Trenton which was going to replace the Marblehead in China, there was a 1st class electrician who wanted very much to go back to the States to be near his family. He had applied to his commanding officer for permission to change places with another relectrician of the same rating. At the time I was only electrician 2nd class with no chance to move up because the Marblehead had a full complement of 1st class. Well, I thought I would try for it anyway so I started the legal papers going on my ship and there was correspondence back and forth and it seemed as though there would be just too much red tape to make the swap possible. Finally, on June 21st, the Marblehead was on maneuvers off Oahu when word came down to me that I was to prepare to leave the ship instantly. Then along came the Trenton on her way to Shanghai. I was ushered aboart a lifeboat with all my possessions - including my 41-inch Chinese sword strapped to my seabag. The boat was lowered into the water, rowed over to the side of the Trenton, seamen lowered lines for me to tie my gear onto, then they dropped down a rope ladder and I scrambled up to the deck the best I could and the ship was underway again before I had time to salute the officer of the deck. Since the two ships were identical cruisers I had no trouble fitting into the new routine. In a day or so I was given the examination for 1st class petty officer, passed it O.K., and I was on my way again.