Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his wife, 1914 - Part 2

3

about a mile & buried him. The Minataur
& the Sydney steamed away south
& the Melbourne came up from the rear
& took the Sydney’s place. We were
greatly interested in this. We found
out afterwards however that the Minataur
had left us for good . All lights  on
board had again to be darkened
9^th Nov  Considerable commotion took place
amongst our escort today. About 9:30 am
we noticed this Jap boat on our right flank
start off at tremendous speed with
columns of black smoke just pouring
from her four funnels. She fetched a
compass right round in front of
our columns & went off at a great
rate down the South West When 
she was nearly out of sight she
stopped & came back to her place.
During the afternoon got a wireless

message from the “Orvieto” our flag
ship. German Cruiser name
unknown beached herself to save
herself from sinking. Sydney is
searching northwards for ”Colliers”
We are quite nearing the “Cocos” or
Keeling Islands which you will find on the
 

4
map a bit more than half way from India Fremantle to Colombo
It was on one of 

these Islands that the German had
run herself ashore. This was the
meaning of the commotion this
morning. The Jap had got a wireless from
the Sydney & started off to help but it was
all over pretty soon.
10^th Nov, Today is a very xxxxx
hot ^& disagreeable day. Only about 87 degrees but very muggy
We got further news about the fight
yesterday. It appears that the German
Cruiser Embbn "Em^bden" was smashing
up the Wireless Station on the Cocos &
cutting the cables to Australia. wh
The wireless people there called for help.
The "Sydney" heard the call & set off
& caught her & had a lovely splendid little
fight. Eventually the German had to
run ashore with all her funnels &
her masts shot away. The Sydney
left her then & went off after her
collier and found her, took the
German crew off & then sunk
the ship. The then went back &
made the Embden surrender & took
off the crew. The loss of the Germans
 

5
[*See back
of 1st page for Page
6.*]
was severe but we have no particulars
Some of the Sydney men were hurt
but we have no particulars of that
either. The night ^following was dreadfully hot
& a terrific thunderstorm took place
about midnight.
That brings one to this morning. It
is pretty hot again today. The first
day out of Albany I was very lonely
for you & my dear bairnies. So I got out
your photo & fixed it on my cabin. It is
a great comfort to me my darling
to see your dear little sweet [[?]] face
smiling at me every day. God bless & keep
you my  own dear one. I got the wire
at Albany all right & guessed what had
happened even before I got your letters
explaining. Every day I think of you & of our
dear little pets & I am very happy & cheered
up by all the loving thoughts that call up but
of course I would like to be near enough to tell you
all I am thinking of you. If you should never see
your old man any more dearie you will at least be able
to remember this that during all our wedded life your
old man was more happier & more content that ever before in
his life & he never had found a single fault in you or regretted
for a single atom of a minute that he  loved you & wedded
you & I should like my laddie & my Dhusack to know
that he is xxxxxxx& paying back to you all the happiness & love
 

.6.
14^th November. Here I am again you dear old
sunshine darling. There is nothing much
to tell you about since the last day. We
had rather good fun with Father
Neptune on board yesterday. They
Those who had been across the Equator
before tog togged up with beards etc
& directed all those who had not been
across before in a big canvas trough
of Salt Water lathered their faces with
paste & shaved them with a wooden
razor etc. You could buy exemption
by a contribution to sports funds.
I bought full exemption as you
may guess. I had to stop the
thing amongst the men at last
it got too rough & they were
losing their tempers over it.
I am enclosing two papers. One is
a list of all the Ships with us &
the times of their departure from
Albany Harbor. The other is a
copy of the wireless messages
we received about the time the Sydney
sank the Emden. Please put them
away safely. I would like you
to keep the piece of the Argus with
all the War news & particularly of
the Second & any of their Contingents
 

7
leaving Australia or about their
train training. If you have time you might
get all the back papers from the
Argus office since we left & if you
have no time to cut out the page
just pack all the papers as at any

rate the page or pages about the war
in a box. You see we dont know
what is going on at all at all. We
heard by wireless yesterday that
two British ships had been sunk
off Valparaiso by the German
cruisers there. I should like to be
able to read all about things when
I come home again. I forgot to
thank you for the ribbons darling. I got
a surprise when I found them all nicely
sewed on the card. You were a darling
old pet just like you always are to think
of that for me. Now thats enough reason
now isn't it wont you come cuddle up
close & put ^ your dear little sweet head on my
shoulder to tell you how much you love me
Little wife Little lovie sweet wife - I love you just to 
millions Don't forget to tell me you love me when
you write me a xxx big fat loving letter. Tomorrow
Sunday at 2 p.m. we ought to be in Colombo & wont
my eyes be just jumping out to see a dear
long letter from you for me. I will put close
this letter into its envelope now in case
it is wanted in a hurry tomorrow
because they sometime close the mail
[*before we get into port but if possible I will try to

add a word or two more. We expect to leave Columbo

again Monday afternoon. Now puff up your dear old face

& let me kiss your bright eyes & xx cheeks & [[?]] hair. Bye my 

sweetest darling girlie. Kiss  my [[?]] & Dhusack & Baaby & Nana for
me & give them heaps of love but keep always the
best for yourself my dear one
 

(8)
Sunday morning 9.30 am. Here
I am again just adding a few words
to close up.  At daylight this
morning we came in sight of the
lighthouse on Dundra Head &
later of that at Point De Galle. We
got close enough to the latter to
see the outline of the houses & a few
spires of churches etc. All the interior
of Ceylon seems to be just a mass of
mountains Some of them very
lofty right up into the clouds.
There are dozens of little fishing
boats about with a dozen or
so niggers stark naked. They
are like little canoes with
a log ^or outrigger [hand drawn diagram - see original document] lashed to it & floating
away a dozen feet or so at the side
which prevents them capsizing. They
have oars as well as a sail. Well
goodbye now sweetest xx pet
& a million more Kisses for you

& my wee pets from

Didda Donny

"Hororata"
23/11/14
1

Monday
8pm.

Dearest wife,
Here I am again. When last I wrote
we were just about entering Colombo & here
I am again. There will be a chance of
posting this at Aden I hear & we will
be there before daylight or Wednesday &
this must be posted before tomorrow
night. Your dear little sweet smiling face is

looking up at me from your photo now & my
wee bairnies too  God bless you all my darling
pets. I managed to get ashore for a
couple of hours at Colombo after all.
We got there about 2 pm on Sunday &
stayed there all day Monday. On Tuesday
the 1st & 2nd Divisions of the fleet left at
11 oclock. (We) The 3rd Division were still
getting water so as soon as the General
was safely over the horizon we Colonel
Seimens let a few of the officers ashore.
I found it very interesting with all
the little black fellows. They all seemed so

happy but they all wanted "penny" master
& wanted you to come in & look at their
goods. No need to buy master. I went
down to the fruit market & got some
lovely paw paws & a few oranges
etc for Mrs Jones make Major McNichol
 

2
was ashore with me. He didn't get any fruit
but spent £4 on a silk Kimona for his
lady & had it sent back straight from
that shop to her. I wonder if she will get it
all right. I'd have been scared ^to buy for fear they would
cheat me in the price of it. & I expect they
would. While we were in Colombo we
saw the "Sydney" She was not much knocked
about only one shell went right through her
& then four others burst on her deck. A
brother in law of Lieut Johnstone is an engineer
on board her. He came to our ship & told us

about the fight. Only three of their men were
killed & one died later making 4 & there
were 18 others wounded of whom one had his
leg cut off by a shell. But they made a
terrible mess of the Emden. About 200 were
killed & the shells ripped up the deck &
set the planking on fire here all & it burned
up under the wounded before they could be got
off & burned them horribly. Also some wounded
also got overboard & were washed up on the
beach & being unable to get up they were
covered with ^land crabs which were eating
them alive when they were rescued.  A lot
were so dreadfully wounded that all the
Doctor could do was to inject morphia &
 

3

keep them under it till they died. One had all his
face shot away & looked horrible - It must
have been a dreadful sight to see them all
lying about. Dr Pierce the man that was telling
us is the father of that little baby that Mrs
Johnston had out at Camp one day you were
there. We left Colombo on Tuesday night about
dark & next morning at daylight we were off
Cape Comorin on the South of India. Early this
morning we passed Cape Gaudifui "Socotra" which you
will find just off the East corner "Cape Gaudifui)
of Africa. We caught up to & passed the
rest of the fleet on Thursday. As we sail
much faster than the 1st & 2nd Divisions
& there is now no danger from the Enemy's
cruisers. We are going right on I understand
to England & will be home before the
others. I am sending you a bundle of Post Card
Views of Ceylon. I will also address separate
ones to the wee pets children to surprise them.
As you will see the place is very picturesque
& I should like to take you for a trip there
some day. Coco nut trees are everywhere
The Big Hotels are awfully very dear to stay
at but I hear there are others quite
reasonable & lots of Boarding houses
The landing Jetty is very nice fine verandah
its all new like a Beautiful garden & trees everywhere.
 

- 4 -
24th Nov 1914
Dear darling old lady. Just a few more words
this morning. It is very warm these days as
you may guess & not too pleasant but we
are very lucky in that we have not had
a single days really rough weather
& only one or two that it was not really actually
calm. We have only lost one horse so far
a fine big waggon horse that got pneumonia
& died after a very hard fight. Little
Lieut Jutt looks after them as if they were
children. The little horse Mr OConnor of
Kerang gave me has been pretty bad
but is getting better. I made Ken
Walker a full Corporal the other day &
he is doing very well. He thinks he
will be able to keep hold the job all right.
He is looking well & happy. I sent
you a cable from Colombo the other
day I hope you got it all right.
We have just sighted the coast of
Arabia in the Gulf of Aden. It looks
high rocky & mountainous but we are
too far away to see any vegetation. It
is pretty jolly hot here. The air is
just dead calm & the sea like a mirror
We will be in Aden in the morning &
this will be away to you. I hope it
will cheer up ^a bit My dear old girlie a bit
[*xxxx [Omit P..5. of this letter]*]

[*go to p6 which follows*]