Photostat copy of diaries of Benjamin Bennett Leane, 1915 - Part 16

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will love their soldier boys, even

if it isn't a Turkish bullet that

takes him from them. if some 

of the fellows keep all the 

promises they have made there

will be several cases of

bigamy One chap wrote to

four different girls in England,

telling each the same tale

of affection; and by the 

same mail went one to 

Australia with the assurance

of his steadfast love. And

I expect after a few months

in the trenches she will be

the only one he will think

of. For my own part I made

many friends in England,

including a few very nice

girls; but there's only

one girl who matters, and

that is the one in dear old

Australia, who has every bit

of my heart except the part

that does the pumping.

Thursday July 29th. Ordinary routine.

Passed a hospital ship on its way to

England; also a barque which was

becalmed and lay idly, with sails

flapping listlessly, waiting for a breeze.

Friday July 30th. Was awakened by

the guard at 4 am as the swabbers

were beginning to wash down the 

decks; so took my blanket and 

pillow up onto the boat deck. The

sunrise was most beautiful, with

all the most delicate tints imaginable.

And away to the north was the 

coastline, whether of Sicily or

some other island. I am not

sure, but on it could plainly

be seen a volcano with a thick

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plume of gases rising from its

crater. A little later we

sighted the island of Goza,

and presently Malta itself. As

we approached closer we were

met first by a submarine, and

later by an examining ship. We

entered the harbour at about 7am,

and were immediately besieged

by dozens of bum boats. The

bumboats here are more picturesque

then those of Colombo, Aden, and

the Egyptian ports., being built

more after the fashion of the

Venetian gondola, many of them

also having canopies and gay

cushions and curtains. However

they were soon ordered off, owing 

to the fact that enteric is rather

prevalent on the island just

now and consequently the fruit

which the men were beginning to buy

was a serious menace. I should

very much like to have bought

a few of the lace scarfs etc which

some of the boats contained, but

unfortunately, I have not the

necessary. At present all that are 

left are about twenty boats

containing boys and men who

dive for pennies. They are very

skilful, and will dive to a 

considerable depth, remaining

out of sight for a considerable

period, in their search for the

coffers. It is rarely _∧ that they lose

them. During the morning two

French cruisers came into the

harbor, and a hospital ship

moved out.  We are moored close

in to the powerful wireless station,

which lies next the big military

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hospital. The sun's heat is very

fierce, and I should think

the summers here would be

very trying, for there appears 

to be very little vegetation.

It makes me think very kindly

of the grassy meadows and

shady lanes of England.

I have just heard that we are

to take 114 more troops on board

here, who they are I don't know

probably returnees from hospital,

like ourselves. Perhaps there 

will be some Australians among

them.

Later - We left Malta early

this afternoon, without taking

the additional troops on board.

This was on account of the

enteric. I was told that

over a hundred cases came

from Gallipoli by the last

hospital ship, and that

seventy died on the way

over. I do not wonder that

fever has commenced over there,

for the heat must be terrific, 

and the hundreds of dead

bodies lying about, and those

which have been buried in

shallow trenches and are 

thrown out again by every

shell that falls, all tend 

towards an epidemic of this

kind.

Saturday July 31st. This morning

we had a short lecture on

the geography of the Mediterranean.

During its course I found

that the volcano I had seen

was mount Actna, on Sicily,

while the island which we

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passed during the previous

afternoon was the island

of Panteleria, which some

200 years ago was an

active volcano. It is now

used as a convict settlement.

This afternoon we had an

alarm (a false one). The men

turned out and assembled

at their stations very quickly.

There was a rumour current

that we were to be turned

out again during the night,

so I took my life belt on

deck with me but nothing

happened. In any case it

is as well to be prepared, 

for we are now right in

the danger zone as regards

to submarine attacks.

Sunday - August 1st 1915, - We are

evidently running to schedule, for

today the speed has been reduced

to about eight knots. We also

run a zig zag course - this of

course as a precaution against

submarine attacks. It is

frightfully hot tonight, and even

though I have been sitting

up on deck with only my

pajamas on I have been

perspiring freely. We expect

to disembark at 9 am tomorrow

Monday August 2nd - Noon.

I woke at about 4.30 am to find

the ship well within sight of

Alexandria. We anchored inside

the harbour shortly after breakfast

and are still there, and no

orders yet to disembark. There

is a great deal of shipping in

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the harbor, mainly transport
and shore ships. There are
also four hospital ships __
the "Letitia", "Formosa" "Soudan"
and another whose name I can
not see.
Tuesday August ^3rd _ Egypt once
more ___ and may the stay
be short. Intense heat, flies,
sand, and niggers. We
disembarked at 2.30 pm today
and proceeded by train to
Mustapha Pacha Barracks. I
stayed behind to see the
loading of the motor transport,
and was unable to catch
up with the boys, so I decided
to take a tram to Mustapha
on my own. Acting under
the directions of a policeman
in each instance I
got on three different cars,
only to be told on each "No,
no Mustapha. "Nother tram".
So at last in disgust I hailed
a garry and told the driver
to go to the starting point for
Mustapha trams. Luckily, just
as I reached there I saw
the tram with our fellows
just pulling out, so I
cut after it and caught it.
It was about 5 o'clock when
we arrived here. It is a very

extensive camp, the greater part
being under canvas. Fortunately
it is right above the sea, and
the swimming is great. But
there are no oil sheets, few
blankets, and poor tucker.
It is a big drop from ship
conditions, but the Australian

94
is usually able to adapt himself
to whatever conditions he
finds, and all things considered
there is not much grumbling.
Wednesday August 4^th __ Anniversary
of Declaration of War by Great Britain.
Spendid news today kiddie.
I went in to Alexandria this
morning to call on Shaw the
chap who changed jobs with
me as Orderly Room Sergeant
The first thing he greeted
me with was - Why haven't
you got your stars up ? It
appears that for about
three months I have been
leading a poverty stricken (?)
existence when I might have
led a life of ease and
opulence. Awful, ain't it ?
My promotion dates back
to April 28^th, so I have quite
a nice cheque to draw. You
shall have some of it  And
what is more to the point I
will be able to allot you
another guinea per week ___
which will come in very 
handy I expect. While I
was there I also met Black,
the O.R.S of the 11^th and he
told me that he had received
a cable that morning to
say that Ray has been
seriously wounded ; i am
glad he is to come out
of the fight at last, for
he has stuck it quite
long enough, but I hope
the wound is not very
serious, and that he soon
recovers. Poor old chap,

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I hope I get  a chance to
see him before I go back
One other thing you will
be pleased  to hear sweetheart,
and that is that I was
mentioned in despatches for
"conspicuous gallantry under
fire and valuable service
rendered during the period
April 25^th to 28^th " It is
very nice to think that
what little you do is appreciated
although it is all in the
course of your job.
I discovered too that
Ted, Allan and Ern, Ted's
two boys and Ern's two boys
are all in Cairo, so this
afternoon I got Ted on the
phone and told him I
would run up to Cairo
tomorrow. I then went
along to report to Capt Rumball,
our new Adjutant (Capt.
Lorenzo is now Major Lorenzo
and has a company) who
is at present in Alexandria
on the sick list . Then I
went back to camp, saw
the Camp Adjutant told
him the news ; and asked
him for an advance of
pay and leave of absence
to go to Cairo. He readliy
assented, but could only
give me 24 hours leave
as he suspects a boat to

leave for the front on Friday
Thursday 5^th ___ Friday 6^th
I _∧ have had a busy two
days of it. Yesterday morning
I saw the adjutant about

98
some pay for our boys
who came back from England,
so he said if I would see
it through, i.e. do the
work in connection with it,
he would advance the cash.
So all the morning I was
busy on acquittance rolls
and paying. The Adj.
was kind enough to compliment
me on the methodical
manner on which it was
all carried out, and
called in his pay sergeant
to see how it ought to be
done. It appears that their
weekly pay is a sort of
scramble ,and takes all
day to get through, whereas
I simply called in all the
pay books, made out the
pay roll in the order in which
the pay books came, and
then fell the men in in
the order in which their
names appeared on the roll.
Consequently all they had
to do was to file past
the table, sign the roll,
take their cash and pay
book, and march off.
again. All the same,
it was 11.30 when I finished
and as my train left at
12 noon I had to rush away
without a change or a shave,
or even a wash. However,
I caught the train alright,
and had a wash and
an excellent lunch on
the train. We reached
Cairo at 3 15 pm. Ted was

100
there to meet me, and had
his motor outside waiting.
He wouldn't let me get a
shave, but rushed me
straight out to Abbassieh,
where Allan, Ern, and Ern's
two boys are camping. We
spent about an hour with
them, and the rushed
back to Cairo to the Record
Offices, as I wanted to get
the Pay Dept. before they closed.
This office is in the same
building. On the way
there we passed that
portion of the Wasseh Bazaar
that was wrecked and burnt
by the Australian boys a
couple of of nights ago. This is
the second time they have
done it. The first occasion
was just before the Dardanelles
business. They will have
it all down soon if they
go on ___ and it would
be a blessing in disguise.
Of course I am not
attempting to justify the
rioting of the boys ; it
is quite wrong, and they
deserve to be punished
for it ; but as I have
previously told you, the
Wasseh (Wagh - el - Birket)
is the rottenest, dirtiest,
most corrupt sore that
any  city ever possessed,
and it would be a good
thing if the whole filthy,
immoral quarter was swept
clean away.
However, I fixed up my

102
business at the Pay Office,
made a new allotment in
your favor, payable from
August 1^st, and drew
₤ 20. ₤ 5 of that is going
to your uncle in return for
what he lent me, ₤ 5 is
a little birthday present
for you, and ₤ 5 I am
sending to the mater to
cheer her up a bit. The
balance is for me.
Then I went back to Ted's
office and he insisted on
divesting me of my straps
and fitting stars on my
shoulders right away. He
also fixed me up with
a new kit throughout___
shorts, shirts, jacket, hat,
[[?]], [[?]], and
even a valise. Being
D.A.D.O.S of the 2^nd Division
he was able to do it all
without red tape. In the
ordinary way I should
have had to requisition
for the stuff and then
wait about a fortnight for
it. He said all my
mail had been sent to
him ___ piles of it ___ and
that he had had it sent
on to the High Commissioner's
Office in London. He also
showed me _∧ the copy of a letter he
had written to the H.C.
asking for particulars of
my whereabouts ,and
urging that the mail be
forwarded on to me. I
expect it arrived the