Letters from Robert James Henderson, 1915 - Part 1

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
LETTER CARD

Additional postage must be affixed if this card is addressed to
any place outside the Commonwealth of Australia to which the
penny rate of postage does not apply.
A.I.F. 
Passed by Censor No. A9 

Mrs. James Henderson
Raglan St.
Drummoyne.
Sydney.
N.S.W. 

My Dear Mum & family,  Saturday
21st. August
Not much news for you
yet but just a line to let you
know everything is all right & we
are all a happy family. The food
on board is excellent plenty of 
butter etc Porridge, meat & rolls for
breakfast Soup meat and pudding for 
dinner & mea cold meat pickles etc for
tea. Corporals have a special mess of our company
also have a special supper every night
by tipping the cook fish & chips
chicken etc etc so you see life on
board ship is indeed a paradise after
Liverpool. A great many of the chaps
were very sick yesterday & some have
not yet recoved although the sea is
like glass to-day. Hare is OK he
will write. Do not know our first port
of call Will write again soon. Love 
Bob. 

21st Aug 1915

SUBMARINE A.E.1 (NOW SUNK)

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
On Active Service
LETTER CARD

Additional postage must be affixed if this card is addressed to
any place outside the Commonwealth of Australia to which the
penny rate of postage does not apply.
A.I.F. 
Passed by Censor No. A9 

Mrs. James. Henderson.
Raglan St.
Drummoyne
Sydney
Australia 

11 Sept
at sea
Dear family Still going
without any land in sight
and the weather very hot but sea
without a ripple. Some time back
just after entering the Indian Ocean
a large wave broke over the bow of
the ship and broke our hatch & flooded
our mess deck for the time being we
all got wet through rifles kit bags
plates boots & other things all floating
about one of our chaps was carried
off his feet & hurt his head having
to have about 18 stitches in same.
We all more or less got a bit of a
scare but it was some experience I
dried off in the stoke hold. of course
we lost a lot of gear & it all
meant a lot of work cleaning rusty
rifles etc. Wara & self OK except for
a bit of a cold same one has stuck
to me since leaving Sydney. Expect to
arrive at destination in about middle of Sept.
Love Bob. 

2nd A.I.F. EMBARKING
1328 

Tell Dot Austin's
number is 2328
She wanted to know
(1)
At Sea
26th. July

Dear Mum.
Do not know when you will
receive this letter as we appear to be
having a through trip. The last few
days through the Bight have been wet
cold and very rough suited me down
to the ground but some of the lads
say they will never leave Australia again
The food on board is still very good
& the duties not too strenuous
Have been on guard much the same
as on land also in charge of
fatigue parties getting frozen mutton
flour & other stores up from the
hold etc. I believe there is to be
a concert on deck to-night but
will let you know later about it.
We have all sorts of games etc &
plenty of reading matter on board
so as long as one is not ∧^sea sick . . this
is the life. A rather funny incident
occurred at lunch time to -day one of 

(2)
The mess orderlies slipped coming
down to the mess deck with soup
etc for dinner I will leave you
to imagine the result amidst
roars of laughter from the lads.
You never saw such a mess in
your life. Wara is OK and is
writing. We have a canteen on board
at which you can buy all sorts of
things cigarettes 2^d per packet. tobacco
5^d 2 oz tins drinks biscuits sweets etc
at very reasonable prices so we have
some great feeds between meals then
by spending 3^d or 6^d occasionally at the
cooks galley you get a cup of soup
so or some cakes, coffee etc. No more
news just at present will finish this
letter to-morrow. Had a great concert last
night piano out on deck with full moon
shining some of the items were very good
indeed Met nurse Fuller & Crouch ? have had
some talks to them they both very nice
girls to-day has again been very cold
rough & wet in fact most uncomfortable
but suppose in a couple of days we will be
running into hot weather. The officers on
[*board are starting all sorts of sports & competitions for good prizes, boxing
cards and all ships games & when the best of the company's are left
in the finals it will be most exciting & interesting Have not touched at any
port yet & do not know when we will Everything OK Love to All Boby*] 

At. Sea.
12^th Sept 1915.
My. Dear Family,
We are at present in the
red sea. and it is indeed some hot.
After 14 days with nothing in sight but
water we came along the East coast of
Africa and everybody was very interested
and cheerful. We have passed several 
steamers to-day and everything is very 
interesting and new. For instance it is
blowing a young gale to-night which 
seems to hit you in cold & hot blasts
alternately. Up to the present we have
not yet had stopped since leaving Sydney
it is rumoured we go to Suez direct
the and finish our journey to E in the
train. Mumps are the order of the day
on board the ship Several of our
chaps are down with them I hope it
will not mean quarantine when we land.
I have not been able to get four to
play auction bridge but play 500 every
day and night we get some great of fun
out of it. Have come across a chap
named Percy from Queensland brother to 

the dentist in Sydney. We have
had some very interesting lectures on
Egypt from one of the Sisters the 
Parson & one of the Doctors places
to see etc. etc. No doubt you are
wondering where we are and what
is doing but since we have had a
through trip of course you the mails
are still on board. The OC is OK.
and seems to be having a good time.
Tell Jane the Wattle was all right on
1^st Sept. the S.M. got his all right and
was indeed proud. Our chaps are
practicing for their second concert the
first one was a high success, in
fact I have seen worse in Sydney.
at the Tivoli The next time I 
write will be from Egypt as
mails close on board on Tuesday
next. Well there is not much fresh
news on the ship. Trusting you are
all OK at home love to all.
Boby.