Cecil Mills Collection - Wallet 1 - Part 3 of 12

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nothing to do with the training of the Coy. 
Hamilton & myself are running the show. 
Newby has succeeded in making himself 
distinctly unpopular aboard. The West aust. 
chap counted him out today, much to his 
indignation. There is a big chance that the 
officers will do something worse than that 
before long. He has got all our backs up - as 
Ships adjutant, he can cause a lot of 
pinpricks. However we must all work out 
our own salvation, as we are all very junior 
officers. I got on as Orderly Officer again tonight. 
My beat this time is 10 to 2 both night and day. 
We are having a lot of Orderly Officer business 
but with 6 n.a officers onboard, it will be 
on duty 1 in 5 days instead of every 3rd day. 
I have felt very depressed today, as if something 
was the matter with you or Johnnie. One has 
a very helpless feeling out on the ocean, as even 
if I positively knew something was the matter, I 
would be utterly helpless, with every turn of 
the screw taking me further away from you 
& our next port of call about 6000 miles away

3  
The sea is fairly calm now, but we occasionally 
get a big roll. They say there is nearly always 
a swell in the Indian Ocean. The sea is a 
delightful blue, & the old hooker cutting through 
the water makes the real snow white foam. 
Pettie it would be a delightful trip if you & 
 Johnnie were with me, but our trip together 
will come later, when you come over to meet me 
when it is time for me to come home. It is 
beginning to get warm now. When we left 
Melbourne it was, 2 blankets & an overcoat on 
the Bunk, today the fans are up & in use 
& the shade awnings & wind sails for the lower 
decks are also in use. I must go down to my 
mens deck tonight to see what it is really like 
before I go on Orderly Duty. Vaccination started 
today. all the Officers & 100 of my men were 
done, so I suppose we will all be feeling pretty 
crooko in a few days time. Then we have to be 
inoculated against typhoid a couple of times as 
soon as we get over vaccination. No more tonight 
old Dearest: I wish I could hold you in both my 
arms & give you a great big squeeze. Good 
night old Pettie Girl

4   6/11/15 
Nothing startling to report the last 2 days. It is 
warming up gradually. I was fortunate in getting  
Hamilton, one of our Officers, to get me a pair of 
Khaki pants at Freemantle. Quite a decent fit for 
the large price of 5/11. They are dashed handy & so 
comfortable. If we have to go into shorties, it will 
not be a great sacrifice to cut them down. Today 
the cabin stewards collected all our dirty togs & had 
a washing day, so really a chap does not want 
many togs on board this hooker. It is still 
beautifully calm & the sea as blue as ever. It is 
very nice looking over the side at night. There is 
a great amount of phosphorescence in the wash 
of the ship. There was a bit of trouble on board 
today with one man, that might have ended in a 
riot, but his own Officers marched him off & got 
him safely in the cells. He will be Court martialled 
as there are 6 serious charges against him, 2 of 
which he could be shot for. If the case is deferred 
until we reach Egypt, he is sure to be shot, as he 
punched a Non Commisioned Officer, & also incited 
other men to mutiny. Had Boat drill again this 
afternoon, the men soon get into the way of it & there 
was practically no confusion in getting the men to 
their stations. It is weird travelling along day 
after day & not seeing land or even sighting another 
 ship. Our first port of call from Fremantle will be 
Suez. Wish we were going to Columbo, but perhaps I'll

4 5 
have the luck to see that place on my way home or 
at least when we go on our trip to England. 
I was round at the Soldiers concert tonight & 
Claridge recited a couple of Kiplings, & I got 
raked in to sing a song.  An officer always 
gets a wonderful reception. One would think he 
was Harry Lauder coming to light. altho we do 
roar them up a treat at times, they seem to like 
us to turn up at their shows.  Sunday 
another fine warm day. Just had Church 
Parade, & it was a very nice service. It is 
jolly hot, being properly dressed up, but I'll get  
into cooler togs after lunch. I have got pretty 
pally with a chap named Walker that who came 
on at Freemantle. He is a Son of the old Moderator 
of the Presbyterians in Sydney. Brother of your old 
pal Alison Walker]. His name is Stuart Walker 
& knows you.  We had a great old yap this morning 
& he seemed very pleased to hear news of you & 
Dougan & Harry. He is such a handsome chap, 
about the finest type of man on this ship.  He is 
a mine Manager in W.a. The birds were all 
dressed properly in uniforms this morning & they do 
look a nice crowd of men. although there are 
some outlaws on board, the majority of them are 
pretty decent chaps. The sisters are all nice girls 
& look after us pretty well. They always have tea laid

6 
on at 11 o'clock.  at 4 it is in the Saloon. 
The food is still very good, and strange to say there 
is not the ship taste about things.  all the chaps 
are barracking on about writing, saying I can't 
post it for a long time yet. I'm satisfied my 
vaccination has taken. My arm is getting very 
irritable. There will be some sore arms aboard 
about the end of this week. I'm looking forward 
to one, but hope it will not be as bad as last time. 
12 o'clock just struck, so I must go & have a look 
at my mens tucker & see how they are getting on. 
More later on sweetheart.  Later on. 
a little more before I turn in. Forgot to mention 
in the earlier portion of this letter, that I won the 
Sweep on the Melbourne Cup. It was pretty hot 
getting the sweep up myself & scooping in the 
1st prize. £4:10/-. Of course I came in for a 
lot of barrack, they all reckoned it was a bally 
swindle. anyhow my trip in the Boat will not 
cost me anything. That £4/10/- will pay all my 
tips and sports funds & I should land in Egypt with 
as much money as I started with & then have 
about £8 pay to draw. There is a big sacred 
concert on tonight up on the Boat Deck, but I am 
not going on top. Would sooner have a bit of a 
read down here in quietness & then go for a blow

7 
before I turn in. Walker reckoned he would 
have known you by your photograph, but he 
liked the snap of you with Johnnie better 
than the one we had taken at the Melba. Perhaps 
the photos when they are finished will be better 
than the proofs I have got, as they are very 
rough. I would like a nice iced whisky 
squash tonight. It is nice and cool in the 
breeze, but very humid if one gets out of it for 
a minute. Considering we are in the tropics it 
is not too bad. We will probably cross the line 
on Thursday, but I'll be able to tell you about 
Father Neptune's visit in this letter, as I won't 
be posting it before then, unless an aeroplane 
calls on us & as we are thousands of miles from 
anywhere that is not likely. It is funny not 
to hear any war news at all, but really it is 
a relief. Nothing to worry about when we don't 
get any news. I suppose it is getting on for 
tea time with you now. I hope [[?]] Darling that 
you are comfortable at Mrs Wragge's & that 
Dear old John is keeping as fit as ever & giving 
you no cause to worry. A big hug for the 
two of you Dearie Girl. I am dying to get a 
bit of news about you both. Nothing else seems to 
matter to me, except it's all you & Johnnie.

8  9.11.15. 
Well old Pettie. We've had a pretty rotten 
time the last 2 days. Must have run into the 
tail end of some sort of a disturbance. It has 
rained, the way it used to rain in Queensland, & the 
humidity has been something awful. Everything was 
dripping wet in my cabin this morning when 
I woke, as tho the rain had been coming in. 
It blew pretty solidly last night & it still comes 
along in gusts, but it appears to be dying down 
a bit. Fortunately there is not much sea on, but 
what there is jerks the old hooker about solidly. 
Worse than a steady roll. We are all getting 
to know one another pretty well & we get off in 
twos now & again & yarn about home to one 
another, nearly all the officers are married men 
situated much the same as I am. so we can all 
sympathise with each other & with the girls that 
so bravely let us come away. Dearie, each day I am 
away from you, makes me realise more fully what 
a comfort our boy must be to you. I think & think 
& try to picture what he will be like when I get 
back to you again & somehow I don't think it 
will be a very long time either. Time passes 
very quickly on the boat. There is always some 
matters of detail to be attended to, although we are 
not doing much drill. The last 2 days it has been out

9 
of the question & from now on, the arms will 
be getting sore from vaccination. I thought I 
was going to be pretty bad again, but the irritation 
has died down again & I hope it will not come 
back either. While I think of it, please send 
Hicks [[Ashwin?]] a cheque if you have not 
already done so for the things I got there, about 
£3/15/- I think it should come to & if the Defence 
Dept does not pay £8/8/- into your a/c each 
2 weeks dating from 29th October, write to the 
District Paymaster, Victoria Barracks, Melbourne at once 
& rouse on them. I suppose by the time you receive 
this, you will at least be thinking of getting over 
Sydney Wards. In fact you may be there, as it 
will be another fortnight before we get to Suez & goodness 
only know when I'll get a mail back to you, but 
I know there will be a big budget sailing along after 
me by this time, that I will get long before you 
get this one. The fountain pen is running dry, so 
please excuse me for a few moments. The chap I 
have chummed up most of all with is Claridge. 
He is a good old sort & Hamilton the other 
Officer in my Unit is a good sort. There are only 
about 2 chaps that I dislike & of course there are 
always a few one does not care one way or the 
other about. The sisters are not too happy since 
leaving W.A. The matron joined up there with 2 
other sisters & she is stirring the others up a bit. They are 
not bad sorts at all & they are not acting the giddy goat

10 
with any of the Officers, tho I did see one of 
them getting a bit of a squeeze from one of the 
army Clerical Sergeants one night, when I was 
visiting the Hospital as Orderly Officer. I go on 
as Orderly Officer again this next 4 hours. Go on 
at 2 AM & finish at 6 AM & do the same again in 
the afternoon. Daresay I will have a pretty wild 
passage for the dog watch. No more now old 
Sweet Heart, Got a few odd jobs to attend to. 
Wednesday 10/11/15. 
Just 2 weeks since we came aboard this old 
Hooker. The time has gone by very quickly, only 
hope it has gone as quickly for you, but I don't 
expect it has. Did not have a bad time on the 
2 to 6 Watch this morning. The rain held off, 
but came down in torrents after Breakfast, so "No 
Parade' was sounded for the third day in 
succession. It has since come out nice & fine. 
Will give the boys a chance to get their wet things 
dry. Lots of the blankets got wet through the men 
sleeping up on deck. These blighters take their own 
wet ones down to the Troop Deck, then at night 
collar a dry cot belonging to some one else.  Oh they 
are [[livid?]], some of them. The watch Percy gave 
me went mad during the storm. It gained 2 hours 
the first day of it, so I allowed it to run down. 
Started it going again today and it appears to be going

11 
OK again. I will be sorry if anything goes 
wrong with it. The wirless was going full 
tilt during my watch this morning. 
The O.C. Troops has been busy as he can stick 
with the Code Book all the morning & we are 
all curious as possible to know what the 
news is. Eight days now without a word of 
the outside world & I really think an argus 
would bring a good sum at auction. We are 
all busy speculating as to where we are all going. 
The latest bright idea is that the Mullah has 
arisen again near Khartoum & that 
we are going against the Fuzzi Wuzzis. As a 
matter of fact I suppose all the wireless messages 
the old man got were very harmless & referred 
only to administrative matters.  We passed our 
first ship since leaving Freemantle this morning,  
a troopship going back to Australia for 
another cargo of birds. I did not see it, as I 
turned in again at 6 o'clock & had a sleep 
until 8/30. It was bad luck that just as 
we got close to it, a heavy rain storm blotted 
it out of sight. No more now, must go down 
to my Troop Deck & have a look round, & see 
how uncomfortable the men are. Had supper at 
3.30 with two of the sisters & wiped up the tins 
of Crab.  By Jove it did go well, but a glass of beer would 
have improved it.