Dear Father,
We have been lying here since yesterday morning and expect to leave for the front tomorrow afternoon. We made a two days trip from Alexandria and had fine weather all the way. As far as we know we made the trip without escort, but early in the voyage we mounted a submarine guard of armed men. This seems to be a pleasant little island, fertile and with a good climate. In the harbour there are up to a hundred vessels of all kinds. Warships, transports, hospital ships for the most part. We had a great reception from the Jack tars as we steamed in yesterday. We brought a few Frenchmen out from Alexandria with us but we dropped them tonight as we did also the Engineers who transhipped into a smaller ship and left for the Dardanelles under cover of the dark. It is likely that we will depart in the same boat tomorrow night. It is only a five hours run. These boats are painted grey and carry a few light guns. They leave here just before sunset and run their cargo of men accross, effect a landing, and are back for more next morning. They bear the marks of shrapnell and rifle fire but usually go through without much loss. The 'Mauretania' is in harbour here as was also the 'Carmania' (the boat the sunk the 'Cape Trafalgar')- she sailed out today. Two fresh troopships came in today, one with a lot of Indian trips the other with a lot of Scotchmen from home.
Lemos [sic] 3/6/15
There is a mail going ahsore, this is porbably the last opportunity that we will have before we go forward. We will have a chance of doing a bit soon, some of us will come out of it all right, we will all do our best.
Love to all, Rawei
No comments:
Post a Comment