[27/11/1915]
Fri.
Dear May,
Posted letter on board yesterday, also sent cards etc. Route march this afternoon & general leave for about 4 hours. Not much of a place & smaller than I expected. Low, dreary looking hills all round & the township is by no means attractive. The few things we bought were considerably dearer than in N.Z. or Hobart. Being cut off from the other states probably accounts for this. Sat. Steamed out this afternoon. Have had lovely weather. Developed 2 spools & washed our clothes. Expect fresh water to be cut off today. Brass band transferred to other ship when in port. Sunday. Getting very warm. We are beginning to look for the shadey spots instead of the sunny ones. Printed & finished batch of pts. Our orchestra – 2 alberts 2 clarionets, flute & piano – played for the church service this morning. They are officially recognized now & the authorities bought music for them at the last port of call. We miss Hammond (piccolo) who shifted with the band. He is a good natured chap & is great company. Had roast pork, boiled onions & plum pudding for dinner today & cake for tea, & sausages for breakfast.
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Monday Settling down to work now. Physical drill 1/4 to 6 till 1/2 past, squad drill 9.30 till 10.45 & from 1.30 till 2.45 & signaling from 3.15 to 4.15. Owing to shortage of space we can’t do much & usually have to split the sections in two & work as shifts so that we only work half the time we are on parade. Preparing for athletic competitions this week. After being a fortnight on the water they have just brought out a big supply of skipping ropes that have been on board all the time for the use of the men. Started work today repaired 4 watches & have been promised several more. Orchestral concert tonight. Tue Weather calm & getting very warm but not uncomfortable yet. Stretched canvas awnings over top deck ready for the tropics. Repd three more watches. Price of tinned fruit at canteen almost doubled owing, they say, to the higher prices they had to pay for supplies form the last port. D. Coy’s washing day today – 1 bucket of fresh water to 4 men. Fortunately I did my washing when in port and had as much water as I needed. Since then we are allowed just sufficient fresh water to wash in & there is a man at each tap all day to watch it. The salt water is no good for washing – feels quite rough & won’t take the dirt off & even with saltwater soap we can’t get up a lather. We are only allowed fresh water between 5.30 am & 9 am.
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Wed Orchestra getting on well have two more violins, including one of the Chaplains, & a rather good pianist. Have a concert every evening on the boat deck – songs, choruses & instrumental selections. They take on well & help to keep things lively. At dinner today a chap opposite us was showing us funny red marks on his arms & chest – tonight he went into the Hospital with measles. There have been several cases aboard chiefly among the men down the hold. Generally speaking the health of the men has been good. Thurs Hargest’s got ‘em. Slight headache yesterday & in Hosp with speckles today. Have had an easy day. Everything in hold has been sprayed with disinfectant walls, beds, bedding & everything in our kits. Last night all D. Coy were allowed to sleep on deck & I suppose we will continue to now to the end of the chapter. So far it is just nice & warm & we knock round in shoes, shorts & shirts & spend the bigger half of our time at various sports. We haven’t had a drop of rain for just on a fortnight & we are having a great time. Received pay today – £1 – the first since leaving N.Z.
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Friday Held our sports meeting today & have had some great fun. Weather is perfect but rather hot for that sort of work. Programme has been varied & so far we have got off boxing, quoits, skipping, cock-fighting, pillow-fighting, tug-of-war & obstacle race. Owing to large entries (80 in one event) we couldn’t get through everything today so have to finish several events tomorrow & get through a cricket tournament, sack race, hopping race, fancy skipping & lazy stick. It has been the best day of the trip & the men are in great spirits tonight. There are no prizes given – it’s just a competition among the companies for most points. So far D. is doing well but don’t know how we will get on tomorrow. We were sure of the lazy stick but our man got a rather bad time in the heavy weight boxing. He won but has been in Hosp ever since. I have been in two events today. In the pillow fighting I lost 2 out of three goes, in my heat in the obstacle race I was first to the end but we had to take a bite out of a treacly bun hanging from a rope before we won the race and being naturally handicapped with a small mouth I got the treacle all over my
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face & in my hair but I haven’t got the bun yet so I lost the heat. It was great sport. We had to crawl under a large rope net tied down to the floor then over another net hung about 4 ft from the floor then round the end of the deck over another net & under a large canvas sheet on the floor then run about 12 yds & take a bite out of the aforementioned bun. I got a few snaps of it & if they come out any good you’ll get a better idea from them. We had to run it off in a great many heats so that we got plenty of fun out of it. A man has to be pretty good to win right through as he is up against perhaps 50 of the best men out of the 1600 on board & there are so many rounds to be run – semi-finals, demisemi-finals etc, and of course only one man can win. Sat Slept on deck last night – it’s nice & fresh & cool but we have to get up early as they hose the deck down between 4.30 & 5 am. This morning all D. Coy were vaccinated so we’ll probably have an easy time for a few days. Our boxer is out of Hosp today & doesn’t look any the worse of his willing go. Continued our sports this afternoon but haven’t finished yet. B. Coy is leading with 25 points & D. 2nd with 21. A. & C. are fairly close but Artillery & Vets are away down.
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A win counts for 5 pts & 2nd 2 pts. I had 2 more tries today, in the hopping race I managed to keep in for the semi-finals but had to join the great majority. In the sack race I had the luck to win right through & lift our total from 17 to 22. It was the only thing I hoped to do any good at and was lucky to get a fairly good running every time. There are a few events to be decided yet but I think B. Coy will win. A trophy valued at £2.2 has been donated for the winning company. In the skipping D. Coy won with 115 – not bad on a rolling deck. Had a good tug-of-war pull today between officers & B. Coy. There was great excitement & much good natured barrack for “stew” & “ham-&-eggs” & the stew won. Sunday. Bit of a sensation this morning when it was rumoured that a man had jumped over-board during the night but the anxiety was ended when the various units called their rolls & found everyone present. Exactly what happened it is hard to say but those who were awake say that a man went tearing through the ship yelling & then disappeared. The alarm was given & the ship is supposed to have turned round two or three times looking for him. I remember waking up & thinking I had heard someone let out a terrifying yell, & before I went to sleep again
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I noticed that we were running against the wind that had been with us all day & I sat up & pulled my blanket over me and thought no more about it. The officers have evidently satisfied themselves about it & I suppose we’ll hear no more of the matter, but it is generally understood that it was a man suffering from either a night-mare or some form of mental strain, but who he was or how he got back has not been made known. Today has been sort of tropical – would call it hot were it not for the fact that I am afraid of using up all my superlatives before we reach the climax. Had a fairly heavy shower this morning early & it has been scorching all day. Developed 2 spools of my own & 3 for other chaps today, but the heat nearly got the best of them before I could get them dry. However they came out fairly well. You’ll notice the intensity of the light & the contrast between sunshine & shadow. In case I forget later don’t lose the run of any of the prints I send as we do a good deal of exchanging & many of the best of the prints I send are off other chaps negatives. Only 7 o’clock but too dark to write although it is only a few minutes since the sun set. For about a week now all lights have had to be screened so as not to shine out to sea, so that we can’t do very much in the evenings.
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We usually sit round in the semi-darkness & listen to the concert from 7 till about 8.30 & then have a tin of fruit & turn in. Monday Struck a sort of tropical shower last night about 12.30. The awnings didn’t keep much of it off so we had to take up our beds & walk. It was the hottest night we’ve had & it was hard luck having to go back down to our bunks in the hold. On deck it was too hot to have any blankets on but the hold was not only hotter but very much stuffier. I hope it will be better tonight, but it’s not looking too well. The showers come up suddenly & last for perhaps an hour & then clear off just as quickly. Very hot today & the sun is practically straight over head. Spent most of the day printing photos, have done no drill. They draw up syllabuses & timetables & allot times & places for various companies for parade but that is usually the end of it – we seldom do as much as an hour’s drill a day. It is an easy life & we can crawl into a shady spot with our pillow & a book & stay there for hours at a stretch. Tue. Another easy day – our Company has to supply all fatigue men required – cooks assistants, guards etc – so that we do no parades today. Less than 1/4 of the men
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are employed & the rest have the day off. So far I have been lucky & have only done an hour’s fatigue work since we left N.Z. At both ports of call a few men over-stepped the mark & were awarded C.B. so the rest of us have had considerably less fatigue work to do but most of them have done their time now so I expect we will have to do our full share of work for the rest of the trip. So far we haven’t passed a single ship since leaving N.Z. although sometimes at night we have seen what looked like lights on the horizon. The trip has not been nearly as monotonous as we expected but of course there is time for that yet. A wireless message is posted up on the order board from Father Neptune saying that he will be coming aboard at the end of the week so we are expecting a bit of fun. It has been much cooler today – a nice breeze blowing & the sea very calm, not even a speck of foam to be seen. Flying fish a fairly plentiful, & have been all the way, they just look like birds skimming across the water. They don’t rise high & seldom go more than perhaps a couple of chain & then dive into the water again. The body appears to be anything up to 10 or 12 ins but at a little distance you would take them for larks or dottrel.
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Wed. For the last two nights we have had a good stiff shower just about bedtime & have not been able to sleep on the top deck & tonight it is looking as if our little game is up. However it is so calm that we can sleep with the port holes open right alongside our bunks. Inspection of kits, arms & equipment today. That with 1/2 an hour’s signalling makes up the day’s work. Albert H finished a big batch of prints after dinner. We have plenty of time but it requires a good deal of ingenuity to obtain sufficient fresh water. You’ll notice many of the prints scratched owing to the warm water softening the gelatin. However we have been much more fortunate in this direction than we had hoped to be. Had yarn to Hargest today – says he never felt at all unwell & is hoping they will leave him there for the rest of the trip. There have been no further cases in our Coy. I feel rather glad I’ve had them. Thurs. Turned in on deck last night after all & had a lovely sleep. Today is our washing day & has been very tame. Our vaccinations are getting rather troublesome but so far are not as bad as we expected. Perhaps having been done before accounts for that. I have sorted out my prints &
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will send them by this mail under separate cover. I have managed to get a print of each of mine & a good many borrowed ones. Those that I have not the negatives for I have marked with a small x on the back & those off Bagrie’s negatives are marked x.B. You’ll find a panoramic view of Hobart in three pieces. There are also duplicates of some of them & if you want more perhaps you or Rodie could run off a few prints. Mail closes at 10 am on Sat & we expect to be settled down on land a few days before Xmas.
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Friday 10th Have had a great days sport. Father Neptune came aboard at 1.30. A big canvas tank was arranged with a platform at one end & most of the officers & non com’s were tried for various offences & pretty well all of them were ordered a shave & a bath. They had a bucket of some pastey looking stuff & applied it with a white wash brush then scraped it off with a huge wooden razor & wiped it on their hair & tipped up the stool & sent them into the water where a couple of chaps caught them & dipped them. Just as they crawled out the other end another chap threw a handful of flour over them. There were some real good jokes cracked & the function was a great success. I don’t think there is any further news. I am in the best of health & with ordinary luck I think I am pretty right on that score. With the exception of the tea I lost overboard the third day out I haven’t had the slightest feeling of sickness since I came to camp. Next time I write we will probably be camped near the Pyramids & expect to spend the Holidays there. Be sure & give me all the Xmas news when you write.
Love to all
Len
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Started page 12 without noticing that I hadn’t finished this one. Excuse dirty paper. The sheets are always blowing away & I have got a habit of holding them down with my feet. Perspiring hands & plenty of dust help to do the trick. I think you’ll read it alright but the censor will probably think it is in code.
