Thomas Whyte Collection - Wallet 2 - Part 10 of 12

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writing one one of the marble card tables.
We are envied by all who are in the know.
A collier came alongside this morning
& delivered water & some preserved
vegetables. The tucker has been much
better the last couple of days.
Wednesday 17th A funny incident happened
this morning. About 20 sick (all those in
the hospital on board) were being towed
ashore by a pinnace. A Greek bum boat
was alongside one of the gigs selling fruit
The pace increased & the owner let go to
pick up the next boat. Somehow or other
the Dago got jambed & his boat fully
stocked turned turtle. The fellows could
hardly pull him out for laughing.
At He gave one agonised look at the
keel of his boat with matches nuts orange
Turkish Delight etc floating round and
burst into tears. All the way ashore he
tore his hair in real Greek Dago fashion.
The climax came when one of the purchasers
asked for his tuppence change. He had
a hired man aboard but he jumped onto
the gig when the boat was filling. He was
most unconcerned, smoking his cigarette
& gazing round as if it was quite a
pleasure trip.

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There were half a dozen cases of measles
among those taken ashore. Four are from
A company two of which are in our platoon
Archie Smith & Swann. It is only German
measles. Fisher has tonsolitis but expects
to be back again in a couple of days.
The news this morning only concerned
France nothing about the Dardanelles or
Russia. I believe they have made good
progress in the former place if they have
not actually got right through.
More boats in to-day but no word of the
rest of our division. It is rumoured
Sir Ian Hamilton is to command this
expedition & is to arrive to-day.
Nothing official about our moving or
the arrival of the rest of the division.
Most of the French force must be
here by now.
Thursday Had a day with the heads. We must
have seen ½ a doz Generals at the same time
this morning. The new scout 'Phaeton arrived
yesterday with Sir Ian Hamilton & staff
aboard. They ran from Marseilles in two
days, quite easy for a 36 knot boat. She is
a new class built for scouting & destroying
destroyers. Not heavily armed, nearly everything
being sacrificed for speed. We took the

93
brigadier off to her on his own. At
the same time a couple of British Generals
& their staffs & 2 French Generals with their
staffs arrived on their official visits to
Sir Ian. The saluting that went on among
them was never ending. We were not
kept waiting long as the 'Phaeton' moved
off after the visitors had hurriedly got
aboard their small craft. The sailors said
she was going up the Dardanelles sightseeing.
Coming back the Brigadier told us that
we would be here for some time as
the French & Naval Brigade & marines would
probably move first. He also told us that
the Queen Elizabeth was heavily engaged.
A large number of shells struck her yesterday
but only bounced back into the water.
This new elastic armoured steel must
be wonderful stuff. One shell only did
any damage, entering the a ward room
possibly through a porthole. No casualties
were mentioned.
To-day has been a bit rough making rowing
difficult. They took all the morning to take
the battalion off, as each boat has to make
3 trips, some 4. We had quite a rough time
rowing the brigadier round to several
of the Castle boats this afternoon.

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This evening four of the Castle boats
and the Royal George went out. Nobody
seems to know where they are bound
for. I think there is R. M-L. I. on all.
The officers were all supposed to wear
web equipment & rifles for the first
time. They didn't play the game though
as they only had overcoats in their packs.
B4 got a cheer mixed with jeers when
he appeared with his. Unfortunately
he had noticed a great 12lb tin of bully
somebody had slipped in when his batman
wasn't looking.
There were some nurses aboard the 
al Nirvanha. A hospital has been established
ashore so perhaps Gay Burns is there.
I haven't seen any of them but next time
we go to Mudros I will have a look out.
Still no mail. Have found out there
is a weekly mail with Egypt & Castro which
lies somewhere on the other side of the island.
It comes overland from Castro to Mudros
but there has been no military letters yet.
Perhaps they don't haven't let the headquarters
P.O. know where to send ours.
Friday Last night I had just finished this
& had time to undress & settle down comfortably 
when in came Sgt Tomlinson

95
The crew was wanted to take the Adg.
& the two interpreters we have with us, ashore.
Some Greek had run amok & been laid
out by one of our chaps before doing
any damage. The local police were kicking
up a shindy. The wind had increased
so those heavy gigs needed some pulling
against the head wind. It took us nearly
2 hours solid pulling to get to the newly
constructed 9th jetty. We got back to the
ship at 2.30 am. We have been off all
duty to-day as a reward.
There was to have been another attempt
at night landing in the morning but
I expect it will be cancelled as the wind
is still strong. At no time have the waves
been large enough to cause the slightest
movement of the Ionian but the gigs
being so high out of the water, catch it all
& make it only possible to move very slowly
against it.
The Castle liners all came back to-day
having only cruised outside the harbour.
To day comes the official news that the
Invincible Ocean Irresistible have met with
misfortune with no loss of life but a French
cruiser sank with all hands in 3 minutes.
The trouble seems to be floating mines.

96
The Turks or rather the Germans
float these mines down the Straights with
the tide, causing the men of war to move
out each night.
The library was opened to-day. The 9th
Orderley room where we sleep is being used.
However we have still got our tables &
lounges & as it is only to be open for an hour
each day it will cause no inconvenience.
I got hold of a book by Mc Cutcheon 'Nedra',
this morning & have finished it. It is
a most perplexing book, but I expect you
have read it.
It has struck me that the reason of the
others getting the chance of removal before
us is the want of transports to bring up
the rest of the Division. I surmise that
the opportunity of 4 transports near Egypt
was the cause of the 3rd Brigade moving when
they did it did and were was intended as a reserve for
the marines that landed. Finding that it was
premature to attempt it at present & the
other forces arriving complete, they naturally
would get pride of position. I believe there
are over 2000 transports engaged & just at
this time they would have none to spare
from the Channel.
Saturday The Dardanelles rumours yesterday

97
were not quite right as we found out
this morning when the official news from
the 'Hussar' was posted up. The Irresistible
& Ocean & 2 French boats were sunk and
the Invincible was damaged by a 
howitzer battery but successfully beached at Tenedos. This happened Thursday.
We had a lecture this afternoon about
the war. It is estimated there are 18000
German officers & non coms among the
Turks. You see Germany has been frighten
ed all along Turkey would say 'Kismet'
when the bombardment started & make
it an excuse to declare peace early
to save Constantinople; which is quite
on the boards I think.
There is a rumour among the officers
that Sir Ian Hamilton has declared
he wont table the proposition without
half a million men.
It has been blowing a gale to-day. There
has been no chance of any crews going out.
Each company in turn had a sort of
route march round the ship. Being
off all other duties except the crew I have
been reading all day. I struck an old
bound volume of the Cornhill.
A mail closed today. Through Keith Green
I was able to write you more than the

98
regulation page chiefly extracts from
this diary letter. How I hate writing letters
that I know are to be censored. I quake
when I think this one might be.
All the boats have two anchors out, but
the waves are not strong enough to
cause any motion. The wind is howling
through the rigging in a most mournful
way. This storm will stop all operations
in the Dardanelles. until
It is wonderful what can be done with
bully beef. The past 3 days since our cooks
have taken over the galley they have made
different kinds of stews with it, quite
palatable they have been.
The lights have gone out so it is Goodnight
again my Darling.
Monday night I didn't write yesterday. There
didn't seem anything of interest to write about
& then paper is getting short.
A couple of the Oceans crew have been attached
to us for signalling purposes until they get another
ship. It appears they had plenty of time to get
off the Ocean taking 3 hours to sink. Some
of the crew, excited, jumped on to the decks of
the rescuing boat & broke their legs.
The two sister ships easily distinguishable
Agamemnon & Lord Nelson with the Queen

99
Elizabeth came in last night. A shell pierced
one of the funnels of the 'Liza. We haven't heard
much of the last engagement.
The storm blew out yesterday. The crew
had a trip to the Hussar after war news
& to the 3rd Brigade boats. In the afternoon
the wind was blowing nearly as strongly
o from the immediate reverse quarter &
has kept up to-day. The gigs have been so
badly knocked about that I believe they
are not to be used for taking troops ashore
anymore. The companies have been taking
it in turn to exercise by running round
the ship.
This afternoon General Birdwood who
arrived to-day in the 'Doris' came aboard.
The Doris has been engaged bombarding
Smyrna. Whether she brought mails from
with the General remains to be seen.
Four weeks to day without a line. That's the
hardest part of all.
One of the chaps who was recommended for
one of those commissions in the English
army got hold of the what he says is
reliable information that nearly all
those recommended had been granted.
I hope my luck changes if we get into
any action.

[100]

[[I'm]] getting a veritable book wor[m].
[Yes]terday I finished that volume of
[Co]rnhill & to-day Jess by Rider Hagg[ard].
[Th]is is not bad reading though the en[ding]
[se]ems too sad. I think I would have finished
it another way.
When at the flagship yesterday they gave
us some London Times & copies of the
Malta Daily Chronicle as late as March 10th.
Here I am at the last page. I will have to
[pu]ll back on sheets of paper. When I get
[a] chance I will post you the two books
of carbon copies in case any of the letters have
gone astray.
This might be a worlds record letter 44 page[s]
so far & not chance of posting for some 
[t]ime. I forgot to number Saturdays censored
letter C4. These censored mails will be weekly
going ashore on Mondays to the local post office
where they are sent to Castro & thence per
steamer to Alexandria via Athens. They
should [arrive] in time to catch the following
weeks Australian mail which leaves
on Tuesdays generally.
I will end up this page as a letter & the go
on with a No 19 on whatever I can get
hold of. Goodnight my Darling Angel
from your ever loving boy. Tom