No difficulty was encountered, however, and the danger zone once passed, the trip continued at an average rate of 9 knots an hour. The Edward Luckenbach was a 6100 ton cargo vessel converted into a transport for the Naval Overseas Transportation Service. It was manned by an American naval crew. The vessel was an oil burner and trouble was experienced with the engines, whereby the speed of the vessel was retarded. It was feared at times that the engines would give out before port was reached. Slow, but sure the troops were brought to friendly shores. It might be noted in passing that on the next trip made by the Edward Luckenbach as a transport, the vessel became crippled through the breaking of her port shaft and her main journal and had to be towed for 600 miles into the harbor at South Boston, Mass. Outside of the monotony, the trip was an uneventful one. The first two days were attended with fine weather and calm sea, but the third day a rain and wind storm developed. Bunks, down in the hatch, collapsed and things in general were topsy turvy all night. Sea sickness was rampant. It was a case of six meals a day for the next three or four turns of the clock--three down and three up. The high sea gales blew for several days in succession. Mess line was the only formation of the day while K. P.'s and Hatch cleanup were the only details furnished. After thirteen days on the water, land was sighted late in the afternoon of Tuesday, May 27th. It was a welcome sight to the soldiers to see New York's famous sky-line in the distance. A mist hung over the harbor and it was 5 p. m. when the outline of the Statue of Liberty became plainly discernible. As the Edward Luckenbach was piloted through the roadway of commerce that thronged the harbor, the U. S. S. Leviathan steamed majestically seaward, carrying a cargo of soldiers to France to relieve members of the Army of Occupation. Following the triumphal entry into New York harbor, the vessel cast another anchor and remained undocked for the night. Thus the boys spent one night within the beam of Miss Liberty, whose drawing power had been distinct in memory for many a weary month in France. A big welcome had been planned for the soldiers on the Edward Luckenbach. One of the police patrol tugs, bearing the sign: "The Mayor's Reception Committee," came out to meet the transport. The river tug had as passengers a band, besides many friends and relatives of soldiers aboard the transport. A noisy welcome home was sounded as the patrol boat encircled the steamer several times. Cheers, and tears also, greeted the 311th boys when the Herman Caswell, a water front yacht, that had been chartered by three hundred excursionists from the Hazleton, Wilkes-Barre, and Scranton districts of Pennsylvania, encircled the Edward Luckenbach, with St. Ann's Band of Freeland, Penna., on board, playing "Home, Sweet Home."