The Incomparable 29th and the

Скачать книгу

office and wrote two post cards, then drove out to Mex, we all meeting round the mess table to hear the latest orders.

      April 7th.—Hung about all day in expectation of the promise from H.Q. that they would 'phone to us when it was decided at what hour we were to start. No message came during the day, then after 9 p.m. an officer came in from our Brigade H.Q., saying they were wondering at the boat "why the devil we were not on board". After a little 'phoning we discovered we had been overlooked, and we were ordered to march at once as our boat was to sail at 7 a.m. to-morrow. It was now past 10 p.m. and the men had to be roused from their tents and the mules yoked. We fell in, 124 men and 3 officers, and amidst loud cheers and handshakes we set off and reached the docks about 1.30. We were only allowed light equipment, the men their kitbags, waterbottles, haversacks, and coats rolled in bandolier fashion (i.e. full marching order) while the officers were supposed not to exceed the regulation 35 lbs. of baggage. Most of our equipment we left to come on with the tent subdivision and transport which are expected to sail on the 10th, in our old ship the "Marquette". Thus ended the first four miles of our journey, on this the last stage, while to-morrow we sail north, presumably for Gallipoli, but some say Smyrna, to join in what will be a most bloody affair—so we have been warned by Lord Kitchener who, in an address to our Infantry Battalions, has said that the work before us will be hard in the extreme, and that he had reserved our Infantry as the finest Battalions in the Army for this arduous job, and told them that they must be prepared to face great hardships and great sacrifices. In the 86th Brigade, to which our Ambulance is attached, we have four veteran Battalions, 2nd Royal Fusiliers, 1st Lancashire Fusiliers, 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and the 1st Munster Fusiliers. This Brigade was described by Sir Ian Hamilton as the flower of the British Army. All have served nine or ten years in India and all have smelt powder.

      April 8th.—At 10.45 a.m. the Cunard liner, the "Ausonia" (better known at present as B4) cast off, and with the help of two tugs we were soon out on the open sea. She had sailed from Avonmouth on March 16, the night on which we were booked to sail, and in the Bristol Channel some suspicious craft suddenly appeared. She at once altered her course and the two attendant torpedo boats gave chase to what was taken to be a German submarine. We had been told that the reason for our not sailing on the same date was that our boat was not in, but our captain afterwards told us he had been lying to for a whole week, but the presence of this submarine was the real reason.

      The forces for the present expedition against Turkey have concentrated in Alexandria, and are at present over 100,000 strong, mostly British but also largely French. To-day the pioneers of this huge force have set sail, and as far as I can gather our boat was the second to go out. We are doing 14 knots and in two or three days should reach our journey's end. The day is beautiful and the Mediterranean its deepest blue.

      I have been having a talk with the captain of the "Ausonia". He has only 64 tons of water on board, while he should have had ten times that amount. There are no pipes laid to the docks and the whole of the shipping has to depend on six water lighters which carry 60 tons each. At present these are totally unable to supply the huge number of transports in Alexandria. The half of these are flying two flags beside each other to denote a shortage of water. In both the ground is red, the upper with red diagonal stripes while the lower has a yellow cross.

      I find the cooking on the Cunard line very superior to what it was on the Red Star. Here it is as good as in a first-class hotel.

      April 9th.—At 10 a.m. we were opposite rocky land to port. Some say this is the island of Rhodes, others Abydos, but not having a map of the southern part of the Archipelago I am unable to give an opinion. About 11.30 we had land to starboard which a naval man assured me "was Rhodes right enough". He pointed to a camel-backed hill and said, "If there is a lighthouse opposite the middle of that, then I have no doubt about it". It was there sure enough when examined through a field glass.

      A short time after leaving Alexandria I found by the compass we were steering 20° to 25° W. of N. while all this forenoon we have gone due N. I have been out on the deck watching an engineer unit preparing posts for barbed wire. At present they have poles 12 feet long; both ends are being pointed and a pencil mark is drawn round the middle of the pole. They can thus quickly make two pointed posts by means of a saw, but they expect to find the long poles useful before that happens. They will lash their shovels and other tools to these, and two men can carry them on their shoulders.

      After lunch I had a conversation with my new friend, the captain of the "Ausonia". He tells me the island on our port side was neither Rhodes nor Abydos. The most interesting piece of news I got out of him was that our destination was Lemnos, but that he expected that it was merely as a rendezvous for the whole force, and was only 48 miles from Sedd-el-Bahr, on the south point of Gallipoli. His view is that we will land a short way north of that. He is against its being so far north as the Gulf of Saros and the narrow neck of land there. He thinks the preparations against our landing there would be too complete by now. He is in distress over his shortage of water as none is to be had in the small islands. This shortage of water got me into trouble with the O.C. the troops on board at general parade this morning. Many of the men had not shaved for two days, and some looked untidy and unwashed, but all put this down to their being denied water to slake their thirst, which must come before washing and shaving but the order was "see that it does not happen again". I advised one particularly hirsute chap to lower his shaving brush into the sea to-morrow at the end of a string.

      It is a remarkable thing, noted and spoken about by us all, how seldom the thought of home enters our minds. I merely note this as a curious fact. There is no excitement about the "bloody errand"—as some one called it this morning—we are on, so that that is not the cause. Perhaps it is just as well for us that we have worried so little. There is far too much pity lavished on us when we go forth to war.

      The officers are in a state of wild excitement to-night. Wishing to have a game of baccarat some of them asked Whyte and myself to join them, which we did willingly, feeling that it was possibly our last night in civilisation. I did not understand the game but ended 7s. to the good.

      April 10th.—Reached Lemnos about noon. We passed numerous islands in the Archipelago, many small, and none showed signs of life except for an occasional lighthouse, but all the larger ones are inhabited, and grow currants, figs, and grapes in abundance.

      Lemnos has a huge roadstead, open to the south, and at present protected at the two southern points by big guns and searchlights. A long arm forming the inner harbour extends to the right, and here a large number of ships is lying, eight battleships being among the number. We and another transport are anchored in the middle of the roadstead, awaiting the arrival of the other members of the expedition. It is said that over 100,000 will arrive from Egypt. The greatest warship afloat, and one that figured largely in the bombardment of the Dardanelles two months ago, the "Queen Elizabeth," lies a short way off on our starboard. The whole is shut in by steep hills, rough and rugged, some of which must be over 1000 feet high. The land between these and the water looks well cultivated, the brilliant green of young crops being a relief to our eyes after our long voyage. We have seen nothing but sea, rocks, chalk and sand since March 18. I see no chance of getting ashore, but nothing would delight me more than a scramble to the top of the highest peak away to the west.

      I was asking a Royal Naval Officer on board if our occupying Lemnos involved any breach of neutrality, belonging, as it does, to Greece. Although Greek, it has been leased by Turkey for years, and we have in reality seized it from the latter.

      In the afternoon we entered the inner harbour and cast anchor in the middle of a number of transports. This inner harbour is more or less circular and is about three miles long and two wide.

      April 11th.—Several transports have arrived since we entered yesterday. When I looked through my port-hole at 6 o'clock this morning the surrounding country looked very fresh, and free from all haze, and the bright green of the crops and grass on the hill-sides would have done credit to old Ireland.

      After lunch I met Lt.-Col. Rooth of the Dublins, who gave me some authentic information concerning the proposed military landing on Gallipoli. The covering party for the whole expedition is to be our 86th Brigade. The Munsters are in the S.S.T.

Скачать книгу