Ralph Henry Barbour

“ Most of the men off duty were already there, which, since a submarine operating on the surface requires but few men to handle her, means that the forward battery compartment was crowded from bulkhead to bulkhead. Nelson and Martin plumped in amongst them, stumbling over a confusion of legs, and subsided on the edge of a bunk whose occupant, sprawled fully dressed therein, only grunted as they collided with his ribs. ”

“ Nelson pulled his boots on with difficulty, rocking about on the bunk, and had just succeeded when Martin climbed down from above like a monkey, yawning and blinking, to subside at Nelson's side.
"We're up, aren't we?" ”

“ Nelson's appetite was fifty per cent better than at noon. They had "submarine turkey" for supper, a viand better known to Nelson as canned salmon, and bread and butter and apple-sauce—also canned—and enough coffee to float the boat. The big coffee urn was always simmering and always on tap, and the amount of the beverage that was consumed during twenty-four hours aboard the Q-4 was awe-inspiring. Some of the men seldom passed the galley that they didn't stop and pour a cupful of it down their throats. And, or so Nelson thought, it wasn't awfully good coffee at that! ”