Letters from Frederick Warren Muir, 1914-1915 - Part 1

S.S. Afric
"at Sea"  
Thursday
Dear Mum,
We left Kensington at last on
Sunday & went aboard the Afric about 12 o'clock.
Rather to our surprise we sailed about 5 
o'clock the same day. The weather was rather
rainy & rough when we got outside the heads
& soon turned up the more susceptible stomachs. I
spent a rather miserable time on Sunday night
& Monday but had quite recovered by Tuesday.
The weather sinse then has been glorious & the
sea quite calm. Although we are beginning
to roll a bit now that we are entering the
Bight. We did not call at Melbourne as we
expected as I will have to post this at albany
where we may arrive on Saturday or Sunday
After this I may not get a chance to post
another letter for some weeks. We have aboard
here the 1^st Battalion, the 1^st Army Service 

Corps & a couple of companies of Engineers –
in all there are about 1500 soldiers aboard
so that although the "Afric" is fairly large there is

not too much room. However there is this advantage

that there is no room to drill so that is more 

like a holiday trip than anything else. We

spend most of our time on deck reading & 

sleeping. The food & quarters are a great 

improvement on Kensington. We get here such 
unaccustomed luxuries as butter & milk & 

pepper, mustard etc. also an occasional 

pudding or two & we get soup for dinner & 
cold meat & pickles for tea. You would smile if 

you could see me now with a close hair

crop dressed in an unspeakable suit of blue

dungarees & white ^cloth hat & canvas shoes. We sleep

in hammocks which are quite comfortable when you 

get used to them.. We have concerts on deck every

night which are arranged by a representative

of the Y.M.C.A who is travelling with us, so that the

voyage promises to be quite pleasant. We 

have a daily newspaper published on board

I am sending you a couple of copies to have a 

look at. There are also plenty of books & magazines

presented by the f people & news agencies & which are 
looked after by the YMCA. I got hold of a 

magazine the other day with "from Dapto" written

in it. I do not know whether there are any of our

own magazines on board — I may strike some before

the trip is over. We have passed a couple of

the Australian battleships but have no regular

escort with us yet. We will pick this & the rest of
the fleet up at Albany. The "Suffolk" with the 2^nd

Battalion on board left before us but we passed her

on Monday. I will write as I get the chance but

I suppose that there will be rather long intervals between

my letters on voyage.

With Best wishes to everyone

Yours affectionately

Fred

E COY. 1^st BATT. 1^st Infantry Brigade
ADDRESS

at Sea 1914. 

Dear Mum,

I suppose you received some of 

my previous letters as I have not had them returned. 

We have not received any letters yet but hope to pick

up a mail at our next port. We have plenty of

news to tell but cannot tell it owing to the strict

censorship. The voyage is not proving as monotous

as we feared as there is plenty to occupy us. There was

a boxing tournament this afternoon which was rather

slow but helped to pass the time. We have struck

the hot weather properly now & things are very
hot & steamy. We sleep up on deck at night
& have discarded al clothe except trousers &
& have discarded all clothes except trousers &

singlet. However we are all in the best of 

health & spirits. I will write again at the first 

opportunity & will send a full description of 

the voyage when we reach the end of it. I suppose

it will be nearly Xmas when this reaches you

so will wish everyone at Unanderra a

merry Xmas & a happy new Year I am

[*posting some cards which I had hunted on board to

all I can think of but you might pass my wishes on 

to all I overlook,

Yours affectionately

Fred*]

Cairo 10 December 1914 

Dear Mum,

At last after seven weeks on the water we are 

again safely on dry land. We were very surprised when
they informed us at Port Said that we would land at
Alexandria & proceed to Cairo but we were not very sorry

as the voyage was beginning to grow rather monotonous.

We were blessed with exceptionally fine weather all the

voyage. The roughest day we had was the day we left Sydney.

most of the time there was not a ripple on the water & it was

calmer than Sydney Harbour. I was seasick for a couple

of days after we left Sydney but soon recovered my

equilibrium. We arrived at Albany the Sunday after we

left Sydney. We were one of the first boats to arrive

but the others came drifting in at the rate of 3 or 4 a 

day. The New Zealand fleet and escort arrived on 
Wednesday & anchored with us in the harbour, our

fleet consisted of 28 boats & the New Zealanders had 10

boats making a total of 38 without our escort, this 

consisted of the Australian cruisers Sydney and Melbourne

1.

the British warship "Minotaur" the flagship of the China station

and a big Japanese Cruiser. We went ashore at Albany one 

day for a march. It is a pretty little place with a fine

harbour. We marched all round it & broke off for a while

& then returned to the ship. A fire was discovered on the

"Afric" the next morning which created some little excitement

but it was soon put out although it did about

£500 worth of damage. We left Albany again on Sunday

after being there a week. The ships were formed up in

three lines with a battleship on each flank. We had

to keep all our lights covered when we left Albany on 

account of the Emden being loose somewhere in the vicinity.

We had by this time quite settled down to life on the

boat. Owing to the limited space available we could

only drill about 3 hours a day & the rest of the day 

was at our own disposal. We were divided up into

messes of 18 who dined at the same table & slept together

Two of us took turns each week as mess-orderlies, whose

duty it was to get the meals clean up the tables & sling

2.

the hammocks. The food was much superior to what we were

accustomed to at Kensington. We got soup for dinner &

butter. We had bacon & eggs for breakfast on Sundays

& taken all round the food was very good. We arose

at six o'clock in the morning & went to bed at 9 o'clock

so that we kept very good hours while on board ship

Soon after leaving Albany it got too hot to sleep

between decks so we took our hammocks up on deck

The days were rather hot but the nights were beautiful

& cool although so mild that we could sleep

without any covering. We had plenty of amusements

on board a glee club was formed also a miniature

orchestra and concerts were given on deck every

Saturday night & sometimes through the week.

We had a representative of the Y.M.C.A on

board who looked after all the sports & also

the library & distributed paper & envelopes free

to the men. We had about 5000 magazines

on board which had been presented by the 

3

Red Cross Society & by the newspaper companies & they

proved most acceptable to while away the leisure hours.

Every Wednesday afternoon was a half holiday for sports 

& we had boxing & wrestling tournaments etc. Every Sunday

morning the Colonel read the Church service as we had no

minister aboard the rest of the day was then our own. on the

Thursday after leaving Albany the R.M.S. "Osterley passed us

She passed quite close to us & her decks & rigging were

lined with passengers who cheered us heartily. She 
seemed quite like a visitor from home but soon passed

us as she was going much faster than we were

She signalled "good wishes" from all her passengers

as she passed us. On Sunday the "minotaur" our

flagship signalled that she had been called 

away on another service & wishing us "good-bye &

good Luck" left us leaving the Melbourne in

charge. On Monday 9^th there was very great

excitement on board as we learned that the 

Sydney had gone off in pursuit of the Emden. 

4.

about 9 o'clock the Melbourne & the Jap Cruiser also left

us & steamed full speed to the eastward. A little later on

we got word by the wireless that the "Emden" had run aground

on Cocos Island while the "Sydney" was pursuing her collier.

There was great enthusiasm on receipt of this news. We had

passed within 25 miles of Cocos Island about 6.30 that morning

& must have almost actually sighted the "Emden". We crossed

the line on Friday 13^th. The day was a holiday & in

the afternoon the event was celebrated in the time-honoured
fashion. Father Neptune came aboard with

his retinue of queens barber etc & after being

received by a guard of honour & paying his 

compliments to the Captain & Colonel set about the

serious business of the day. A big canvas tank had

been erected on the decks & all who had not

previously been across the line were seized & 

haled by Father Neptune & then lather with

lamp black & whitewash & scraped by the Court

barber & then were tipped backwards into the Tank

5.

The weather was rather unpropitious as it rained nearly all

day but we had quite a good time nevertheless. The tropics 

have proved rather a disappointed the blue skies & blue

sea so much written of are no bluer than those we are

accustomed to & the heat is by no means excessive. To be 

Irish the night is the best part of the day here. The air

is fine & balmy & the stars smile upon us although

we have lost the Southern Cross. The Ship leaves a 

phosporent trail behind here & jelly fish & other fish 

create streaks of flame in the water. Sometimes

in the evening we see a shoal of flying fish

which look very pretty skimming across the surface

of the water. The sunsets are almost always gorgeous

& the water in the evening is calmer than the proverbial

mill pond. When we awoke on Sunday 15^th we

found Ceylon was lying on our horizon to the right.
A welcome sight after seeing only water for 14 days

We could see sandy beaches & behind that

mountains with the mist still lying in the valleys

6.