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| THE CITY IN THE SKY ? |
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| An investigation of a strange vision 97 crewmembers of the LST-410 ship had during World War II, whilst in the Mediterranean. Below is a letter to the National Geographic Society from Mr. S. Barnes (crewmember). |
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| Washington DC, USA / Dated : August 1992 From Mr. S Barnes Dear Sir, A few days ago I came across a small advert in the National Geographic Society Magazine. This prompted me for the first time to put into writing after nearly 50 years, an experience I, and the crew of a Tank Landing craft, had in the Mediterranean during the last war, bordering on the supernatural. This was directly related to an article in the National Geographic Magazine. I still have no rational explanation of what we saw. Why didn’t I write earlier ? My only excuse, I was always going to write tomorrow or later, I was in no hurry, I had no fears about forgetting details about what I saw, and 98 of the crew of the Landing Ship Tank 410. So I contented myself from that day to this, telling people, my wife, family and friends, but never writing till now. What also prompted this letter is that I am nearly 71 years of age, if I don’t write, then this fantastic experience will never be known. On our return from the Mediterranean to England, I read an article in the National Geographic Magazine which not only confirmed what we saw, but gave dates and details of similar sightings from years ago. It was the information in your article which prompted this letter and the expression - bordering on the supernatural. I drafted on rough notes, the full story many years ago, these I use now. My story starts in New York docks in 1943, where I first saw the ship I was to serve on for the best part of the last war. The ship was an American built Landing Ship Tank, its number 410 (LST 410). The ship was commissioned by the Royal Navy crew of which I was a petty officer electrical mechanic, the ships company totalled 98 officers and men. Some weeks later, we left New York and arrived in the Mediterranean at the close of the North African Campaign. The piling material for our first invasion. Sicily on ‘D’ day, July 10th 1943. This was followed by the invasion of Salerno on ‘D’ day, and later the invasion of Anzio again ‘D’ day. A few months later it was back to England and the ‘D’ day invasion of France, June 6th 1944. It was approximately July 1943, whilst in the Mediterranean the following occurred. We were steaming at our normal speed of 10 - 11 Knots, position East of Malta, (well out of sight of any land). At approximately 9.00 am I left the dynamo room which was in the bowels of the ship and made my way to the upper deck, to see what the weather was like. It was a beautiful day, the sea was calm, the sky a deep blue colour, except for a low bank of cotton wool clouds which formed an unbroken wall on our starboard side. A few moments, and back to the dynamo room where a faulty governor on one of the diesel generators was producing varying voltage. Approximately one hour later, a clattering on the iron ladders, told us someone was coming into the dynamo room. It was one of the seamen from the upper deck, who attempted to convey some information to us by pointing excitably upwards with a pointing finger, and attempting to shout over the roar of the diesel generators. After several attempts at lip reading and putting our ears to his mouth, we took the message to imply ‘had we seen the City in the Sky’. More excited gestures and he was gone. With visions of cloud formations which vaguely resembled a city, the long climb up the vertical ladder, a second climb onto the upper deck, the opening of a water-tight hatch and the job in hand, I stayed in the dynamo room. Some 20 minutes later, another visitor, this time one of the engineers from the engine room, who extremely excited mouthed ‘go on the upper deck, see the City in the Sky’. This definitely indicated something different. Collecting my steel helmet, life belt and respiration, I climbed from the dynamo room and was soon in brilliant sunshine on the upper deck - completely blinded, after the dim lighting on the ladder. As I regained my sight I saw 40 - 50 of the ships company lining the guard rails on the starboard side, all gazing up to the sky at an angle of approximately 40 degrees, likewise the gun crews on the gun platforms, the lookouts and the bridge personnel. On the starboard side resting on the top of the cotton wool clouds, was the most beautiful city I have ever seen. The city looked about one mile away, in full colour, like a gigantic colour television screen, but approximately one mile wide. (My original notes did not contain the words colour television - as they were not invented then). The city was positioned on the clouds with the rear of the city higher than the front so the whole was in elevation. Now the hard part. How to explain in ordinary words how fantastically beautiful the whole city was. There were ‘buildings’ the very, the very name an insult, these were glistening white palaces with turrets and castleated walls in white marble, sat in fantastic gardens and tree studded parkland, bordered with lawns, flower beds, fountains and pools all in fantastic colour. Walking, playing, sitting on the lawns and fountains were many people and families, even children and dogs. Although the ship was out of sight of land, it seems strange, we could see people, let alone identify children and dogs, but as previously stated, we were looking at a city one mile away. The people although very small could be identified as men, women, and children. The ladies were wearing long black skirts which reached the floor like those in Victorian times. On my original report I have made two drawings, one of the city and another of the size of the people. The dog was running all over the place. Through the centre of the city ran a beautiful wide thoroughfare with side roads on each side. Each side road were fringed with fantastic lawns, vivid flower beds, flowers and wonderful palaces. The wide thoroughfare was aligned exactly with the starboard side of the ship, we were all looking along it as it tapered to nothing in the distance. (Even the name thoroughfare or roads are crude in trying to explain how wonderful everything looked). Along the side roads and main thoroughfare, ran a constant stream of traffic, fine looking cabs drawn by a horse, an open coach, drawn by two horses. A type of London scene, but like a Victorian scene. These would stop at the side of the roads or thoroughfare, passengers would disembark, others would enter and the cab or coach would join the main stream. At this point, the comment of the ships company give a much better impression than trying to put this in writing. Such as :- ‘Look at that coach near the two fountains, four people have just got out. That tiny dot must be a dog, its running about’. ‘See that big fountain on the left near the marble entrance on the left, there’s a group sitting under the trees, on the grass. They must be having a picnic’. And many, many more….. Suddenly from the starboard Oerlikan gun platform by one of the gun crew, a remark caused complete silence. ‘Hey, there’s no army transport, it’s war time and there’s nothing’. This remark started a flood of similar observations :- ‘Hey, there’s no motor cars or trucks or lorries of any kind’. ‘There’s no bicycles, buses or trams’. ‘Where are the houses, shops or hotels’. There’s no telephone poles or wires, not even posters or signs’. ‘There’s no theatres or cinemas’. ‘Have you noticed?, there’s no concrete or bricks or slate roofs’. Being an electrical mechanic I looked for the power station or pylons. Nothing! Likewise, gas works or rubbish tips. None! No railway lines, stations or docks. Only the marble buildings or palaces, glistening white, set in fantastic colour, as far as the eyes could see. Now a remark that really describes what we were looking at :- ‘It’s like peace time, but its not modern’. For some three quarters of a hour we stood and gazed and wondered. The city had not changed one fraction. I left the upper deck for the dynamo room (duty called), to check how things were going. Some half an hour later I again stood on the upper deck, the city was still there, just as before. Duty again called, and down to the dynamo room again, to receive another visitor clattering down the ladder after 30 minutes or so, with the mouthed words ‘Come up top - the city is breaking up’. On deck the city had indeed started to break up, just like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle, with some of the parts missing, not from the edges but all over. Some 20 minutes after all that remained was a few pieces, an odd flower bed, some people, a palace, and a carriage, each piece just as bright and colourful as earlier. It was most strange to see, a beautiful blue sky dotted with little coloured irregular shaped pieces, with moving people in some of them. Shortly all was gone, the sky and cotton wool clouds as before. The city became a memory, as we were recalled to England, for the invasion of France ‘D‘ day. We were given five days leave after one and a half years action. On arriving home I was soon telling my adventures during the invasion in the Mediterranean, and of course, the City in the Sky. My mother and father and wife well remember this. Then came ‘D’ day France and then, later, another five days leave. It was on this leave, or the previous leave, which would be approximately two months before or after ‘D’ day, that my father, who was a caretaker in a Manchester Technical College, brought into the house a pile of magazines. These were National Geographic Magazines, going back some 12 months. The college had these delivered to the staff room each month. After they were finished with they were given away. As he handed them to me he said, ‘You can read these, there’s some good reading’. I read several magazines till I came to one, which on the page, had a heading which seamed extremely interesting. ‘Legends of the Sea’; or something similar. I know that just before the heading, was a reproduced old map, with little cherubs in the corners, blowing air into sailing ships sails. The article contained, (I’m thinking many years ago), the Flying Dutchman, Sea Monsters, Giant Octopus, The Sea of Dead Ships (Sargiasso) etc, But one title stood out which I remember) :- The City in the Sky. This certainly made me sit up! It read, ‘For many years, Ancient mariners sailing in the Mediterranean, have reported seeing a most beautiful City in the Sky’. I think there was a description, there was certainly a list of dates when the City was seen. The sightings read, 50 years ago 75 years ago, 110 years ago, and even 150 years ago. These dates are as near as I can remember. This of course was fantastic; to hear that the crew of the LST 410, were not the only ones to have seen this ‘City’. But not as fantastic as the next few lines which hit me straight between the eyes. This simply stated that in all the sightings of the City in the Sky, each ancient mariner reported that ‘It was a City not of their time. A City at least 100 years in the past’. I was shaken, as again I recalled the words of the crew of the LST 410, ‘Hey there’s no motor cars or lorries etc etc’. Also the ladies in their long Victorian type skirts, Cabs and London type horse drawn coaches and ‘It’s like peace time, but it’s not modern’. No power stations, railways, or gas works. Surely any city or mirage of our time, would in the three or more hours on viw have at least some present day aspect. There was none! Not even the modern motor car. To conclude with a technical question, which to me, is just as fantastic as the above :- On reading this report, the city was in view from approximately 9.00 am till 12.30 pm, when it finally broke up. As stated previously the city was positioned with the main thoroughfare pointing directly at the ship on our starboard side. The city was in view for approximately three and a half hours. The LSTs speed was approximately 8 / 9 Knots. Total distance would be approximately 40 miles. At no time did we see the city in any other position or angle; but from the first sighting at 9.00 am, the main thoroughfare pointed exactly at the starboard of the LST 410 and remained like that for the whole duration. At 1.00 pm when the city finally broke up, one would have expected to see the city in the distance (if at all); but it wasn’t. It was still in the same positon on our starboard side. I freely admit, that if I had received a letter as this one, a city 100 years or so in the past, which was capable of keeping pace with a warship, Id have very serious doubts, but then again, what about the many previous sightings, the ancient mariners. I wonder did it keep pace with their ships? Why did this city position itself so exactly on the clouds, that we saw it from its best viewing point - straight through the centre? And, as we steamed at right angles to the city for 36 - 40 miles - for the city to have been in the same position, could only mean one thing. The sighting must have turned to keep itself aligned with us, or moved with us? The latter seems more feasible. If the city had turned, we would have seen the city as it broke up Astern! To conclude : I have no explanation at all for what we saw, only that the above is a true and exact account of what myself and the crew of the LST 410 saw. Unfortunately due to the excitement of the invasion of France, the original National Geographic Magazine was mislaid (Circa 1944). I would dearly like to have any information in your archive regarding the sightings before and after and the dates. What would really be fantastic, would be to match these accounts with any you may have. As previously stated, this account was copied from my original. I have a pencil sketch of the city also, showing the layout. A final thought - could this sighting is added to the others (old mariners sightings). I am aged 71, the sighting was nearly 50 years ago. Does this make me an old mariner? Finally, just a few points which later come to mind :- The city during its total sighting time did not fade, shimmer or move in any way. The people cabs dogs did move. Very solid with no fancy colours. Square construction in general. The palaces were constructed of marble or similar, with walls terminated at the top as sketched or similar. There were no :- 1. Flagpoles. 2. Signs. 3. Posters. 4. Seaside. 5. Docks. 6. Ships. 7. Round Towers. 8. Apex Roofs. 9. Brickwork. 10. Concrete. 11. Spires. 12. Minarets. 13. No colours of any kind on the buildings. On reflection : the direction of the traffic was on the left! As it is in Britain. The sighting took place whilst in the Mediterranean. It is impossible to convey the massive size of the city when drawing it on an A4 piece paper. There were hundreds of people in the city moving. All moving! A few years back I contacted our first lieutenant, aged 93 and nearly blind. ‘HE REMEMBERED THE CITY’ !!! Mr. S. Barnes BEM BSc Hons. Ex PO Electrical Mechanic. LST 410. MAPIT WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM ANYONE WHO KNOWS ANY INFORMATION REGARDING CITIES SEEN IN THE SKY. PLEASE NOTE : THE ABOVE DETAILS DO NOT COINCIDE WITH INFORMATION REGARDING TEMPERATURE INVERSIONS / MIRAGES OR FATA MORGANAS. |
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