Diary of Wilfrid Wanostrocht Giblin, 1914 - 1915 - Part 4

Feb 22^nd Encamped at Abbessia, in the
desert just beyond the Barracks about a
mile & a half from Heliopolis Palace Hotel
but if you want to go across there is
no road & the desert sand is very tiring
to walk over. Round by road takes only a
quarter of an hour by motor but you
cover quite seven miles. We arrived
here last night from Port Said, having
handed over the Convent to the Sisters who
were agreeably  surprised to find it so clean
& free from smells, lighted with electric
light &c. We had spent about ₤200 & made
a decent place of it but the money
frightened Headquarters here & when
the Turks fell back they drew in their
horns & as we were one of them
naturally our show was over. We
expect to take on work here at the
Aerodrome Camp 1½ miles the other
side of Heliopolis. We had just
settled down in Port Said & paid our
mess subscriptions to social & sports
club, knew some nice people &c
& here we are torn up by the roots 
again. Port Said is now quite pleasant
to stay in. At the time of the year every

day is perfect, here in Cairo it as rather
hot in middle of day but very cold at
night. My new British warm which
Ronald forwarded out from Burburys
is very comfortable. I was afraid it would
be too heavy for this country but I can
still wear it with comfort after sun down.
It cost £5.5.0 & will have to be paid
for out of next Kombok dividend. Ron
said in his letter he could have got one
with quite a stylish lining for £14.
I tried a game of lawn tennis at
Port Said with Boddam. Both of us found
it difficult to not play royal tennis shots
which were useless. I felt very funny
as it was the first time I had been 
out of my uniform since leaving Tasmania.
(Except at night when ever I was using
pyjamas.) I called on board the
Matura & saw Mr & Mrs Simpson
& their family. It was very nice
to see them again. Mrs Simpson tells
me Besser came up to London to see
them off & she looks very well & quite
young.
I got a third letter from home &
one written between before the last one truly
the mails are irregular here

March 3rd Have left Alexandria today at 2p.m. on
Troopship Molda 7800 tons for port unknown,
probably Island of Lemnos & the Dardanelles. Four
transports Suffolk, Ionian, Nizam & Nevanka,
left yesterday morning with Australian troops.
We have on board 1^st A. Clearing Hospital, 1^st
A. Stationary Hospital, 3^rd Field Ambulance with
Transport Details, Butchers & Bakers etc. The
Brigadier of force is Col. McClagan &
Brigade-Major, Major Brand  in the Ionian.
The rest of Australian Divisions will follow
later. I received my first instructions to
move on Feb 26^th from D.M.S. Force in Egypt
General Ford. We made all ready, expecting
to entrain on 28^th. No orders came. I went
to Headquarters on March 1^st & found out that
we had been forgotten. A special train that
afternoon took us to Alexandria where we
embarked at 12 midnight. Our baggage was
loaded on ship next day. I had to
take over medical stores for formation of
a temporary Advanced Base Depot. Tried
to find Bernard Radcliff in Alexandria
where I heard he was sick but could not
find the hospital he was in.
Last Saturday I met a very interesting
man who sat next to me while dining with
Col Cameron at Shepheards. He was Col Owen
at present a Brigadier. He has been serving at

Ypres in France. He gave me an a good
deal of information about artillery, he being
an artillery officer.
March 4^th I had considerable worry 
yesterday through Captain Mattis failing to
come on board at proper time prior to
departure of troopship. Fortunately he
returned at 2.20 & caught us up ug
in a boat. I ordered him to his cabin
on his coming on board & later heard
his explanation. He had been taken
astray in a cab & on his finding the
mistake & redirecting the cab the horse
fell down & broke a shaft. The whole
trouble would have been avoided if he 
had returned to ship at 12 noon instead
of staying in Alexandria to lunch. I
will not risk anything by giving
him leave in future.
We have a most comfortable
ship in the Molda. She is British Indian
Line & with comfortable cabins good
cuisine & excellent waiting is a marked
compared to the Australian 'Kyama'.
My Goanese cabin steward waits
on me like a valet. We had a
very smooth & pleasant voyage among 
the Grecian Archipelago to Lemnos
arriving there at 6.30 a.m. on Saturday.
The harbour is a wonderfully protected one
being completely landlocked. We found

on entering that there were numerous
British & French ships present, I counted 19 large
& fourteen smaller craft from battleships
the H.M.S. Pegasus & two others, about eight
transports, several colliers & destroyers &
three submarines. The small town of
Mudros with Greek Church is uninteresting
Several small but more picturesque villages
one with a well preserved wall are
more inviting of inspection.
March 7^th we landed for a practice
disembarkation. I was in command of
troops from Molda. 18 officers & 258 men.
We landed in boats each of which
carried about 50 men. They were 
rather overloaded. On landing we
went for route march across
country till we struck a road leading 
to Mudros. After marching about 
4-5 miles, thei passing Mudros, we
lunched & returned to boats. Re-embarkation
took 3 to 4.30 p.m. The day
was a lovely one, not hot but with
a bright sun & bracing breeze. There
is a snow capped mountain visible from
here to the N.E. probably at least 50 miles
distant. Our first sight of Turkey (Samothrace)
While waiting for the troops to return for

us this afternoon I met some marines
on the beach & asked them about their affair
in the Dardanelles a few days ago. They only
arrived here yesterday morning at the same
time as we came in. It appears that the 
hydroplanes reported that the western
peninsula ren forming left bank of
Dardanelles was free from enemy after 
the bombardment of forts. Two companies
of marines were landed & heavy firing
opened on them killing 21 & wounding 23.
They had to retire as the enemy was
concealed. It is reported that 120,000
Turks occupy the peninsula. Also that the 
Queen Elizabeth is shelling the one of the 
forts over the nearby land the fire being
directed by sea-planes. We are told here
that today the Greek Parliament is discussing
question of joining in the war. The islanders
here profess to be anxious to help.
We have all lights obscured at night.
We are awaiting re-inforcements as something
under 4000 Australians are not enough
to land among 120,000 Turks. If Greece
comes in with 200,000 men it ought to
hasten on events.
March 8^th Still lying here awaiting instructions
Men exercised in boat drill. For afternoon
seven of us officers rowed across to the HMS
Lord Nelson, a pre Dreadnought battleship about 13 years old

She had come in this morning from duty bombarding
some of the minor forts of Dardanelles. We went all
over her being shown around by Lt. Col. Mullins
R.M.L.I. She looked very different from the usual
spick & span warship one sees in time of 
peace. Decks cleared for action, most of boats
& fittings gone, paint work looking dirty
& all paint removed from interior so that
rusty iron formed walls of cabins, all officers
& men in dirty old clothes & unshaven. As we
came on deck the band was playing a double quick 
tune & the sailors, marines, stokers boys &c were 
all running at about 7 miles an hour
round & round the ship in a continuous 
stream. They kept this up for 10 minutes.
She had been hit in three places by small
shells from the batteries. One right on stern
had riddled the thin iron plate with shrapnel
when it burst but did no damage. Another
shot had burst on deck & scattered it fragments
all round injuring one boat, pock-marking
the outside of a 9.2 gun & killing three men
in a sort of look-out-tower about 80 feet
above the water. (Not the conning tower.) We went
into the barbettes of 12 inch gun & 9.2 &
practically all over ship. Then had a yarn to
the senior officers who expected to return to the
bombardment in a short time when they had
effected repair to a leak where a third shot
hit her just below water line.

Other warships lying here  are the Agamemnon?,
Blenheim, Ocean, Dartmouth Ascold (Russian) Victorious
& cruiser Sapphire.
Some are painted in wide diagonal stripes of 
black across the grey, the strips including side
of ship, guns, turrets, funnels, boats & all.
March 9th Another practice disembarkation & route
march of men, under command of Lt. Col.
Sutton 3rd Field Ambulance. I remained on 
board in charge of ship. Two warships
sailed & a messenger liner came in.
March 10th Windy & cloudy. Started disembarkation
(practice) but orders received from the
Brigadier to discontinue owing to severity
of weather. The Flagship Inflexible with Queen
Elizabeth (a super Dreadnought with 15 inch guns)
came in today.
March 11th Four French Transports (one the Carthage) &
one Hospital ship came in at 7 a.m. Later
a Castle liner with General McGregor on board.
At 10 a.m. I landed in charge of disembarking
party. We march through two villages & then
took to the hills & walked for some miles along
the crest of a low chain of hills xxxx forming the
N&S watershed running E & W. Got a
magnificent view to the N & S. To the north
the island of Samothrace looked splendid being 
covered for the greater part with snow. The highest
point is 5000 odd feet & the slopes very steep.
Mt Athos also snow covered was visible to the W.
& the outline of Thrasos to the N.W. The entrance 
to the Dardanelles could be made out & the
distant outline of Asia Minor coast. The foreground
was framed by the Northern slope of Lemnos with its

*by Austrian destroyer

broken outline of bays & hills, the blue
Mediterranean, grey villages with all the
houses huddled closely together, numerous
windmills & masses of volcanic rock with
small patches of cultivation in between.
We met some officers who were with a
battalion of Marines doing some field work.
They informed us that this was the first time
on record where the marines had been 
put into khaki. They had been with the landing 
party which was badly cut up the other day.
Counted 32 large ships in Lemnos Bay. There are
also a good many smaller craft; trawlers &c.
March 12th Troopships King Royal George & Franconia came in
with 'R.N.Reserves" (5,000 about) They are both very
large, one 18000 tons a Cunarder. HMS Terrible  Swiftsure
& a Russian with five funnels also arrived.
I counted 43 ships.  Took the Hospital
for a march over new country, about
8-9 miles towards the W & N.W.
March 13^th Very cold & windy. In afternoon went for a sail
with Captain Davidson in his gig which he has rigged
up with sails. Wind dropped & we did not get
far. The 'Annie Riemos', a captured German
steamer which has been used for sea-plane
scouting & the boat with Major Richards went
on as Medical Officer from Port Said, has come
in having been torpaedoed* near Smyrna.
She was with the Swiftsure & Russian ship during
bombardment of Smyrna. After two days a
truce was declared & during night she was
torpedoed. She was loaded with teak & tea
& so damage was not fatal,. She wired the
Swiftsure  'Am torpedoed. Help.' She got answer

'Am Proceeding (away) Are you in danger' She replied
'In great danger' Later she got message that they
were sending a pinnace. This was in accordance
with admiralty orders not to proceed to 
help of torpedoed vessels.
March 14^th Again sailing with Captain. Took a
photograph of hole in side of 'Annie Riemos'
which is undergoing repair. Also saw the
Queen Elizabeth. Landed horses. Captain
O'Brien & party of five landed to take charge.
Queen Elizabeth & Lord Nelson sailed.
March 15^th I visited Mudros Camp where the
horses are under care of Captain O'Brien & party
of 5 men. The 1^st Australian Stationary Hospital busy
erecting their camp. Saw the new French bakery.
The pier at Mudros presents a picturesque sight
with the great variety of uniforms scattered about.
The Australians & English all in khaki, the French
mostly with blue grey coats (like overcoats) & red
bud breeches, & a few Russian & Greek sailors. I
spoke to two Zouaves, both corporals, one from
Algeria & the other from Tunis. They could speak
no English so our conversation was limited.
The English admiral, Wemyss, is a sporting
looking old boy, with an eyeglass, & 'full
of quaint strange oaths.'
March 18^th Landed with other troops but took a
longer walk by myself for about 10 miles, over
the hills & through new villages. Found a
mound on seashore evidently the site of an
ancient building. The top was th occupied by a