Diary of Herbert Vincent Reynolds, 1914-1915 (second diary) - Part 2

January 1915
deal of interest & amusement this
afternoon. A large canvas tank

was fitted up on the aft well deck

during the morning, & when the

proceedings comenced was filled with

water into which everyone was

ducked as they came in for their share

of the ceremony, needless to say everyone 
Mond 11^th did not under-go this treatment, as

it was too great an undertaking to put
every one on the boat through, never theless 
a great number went through it,

& got a doing according to their standing

officers & N.C.Os were the victims in

most cases, it was an opportunity that

very rarely comes along & the best was

made of it. The two principal

characters, Mr Beresford the ships fourth

officer as King Neptune & W.O. Cosgrove

as his barber were extremely funny, as

also were other characters as assistants.

The treatment meted out to those going

through the ceremony was by no means

gentle, it meant being introduced to

his Majesty who put some very amusing

questions, & not receiving a satisfactory reply

would order his assistants to conduct

Mond 11^th the guest to his barber, who seated the

victim on the edge of the tank with

his back towards it, ^ he then proceeded to lather

him head to foot with a mixture of 

flour & treacle & water then with a

great wooden razor scraped it off him  again.

this having been got over, so many dips

in the tank, generally 3, was ordered by

Neptune & the victim found himself

tipped backwards into the water, &

given enough tossing about in the tank

January 1915

to quite realize that water is not

altogether his right element. Having 

gone through this a chap thinks to

himself no doubt it is just as well

we dont cross the line too often.

However it was a very enjoyable

afternoon, to lookers on at any rate,

but I don't think those who went

through it minded very much, anyhow

which if they did, they will not make

much of a fist of things ahead if they

did, rough play is not in their line

& they are in their wrong place.

Wed 13^th. Arrived & anchored outside Colombo

harbour early this morning, moved into

harbour & took up a berth at 8 30am

along with other boats of the fleet, the

three White Star liners proceeded direct

to Aden our next port of call.

This harbour is an extremely pretty one &

from what we can see of the city from here it

also appears to be very pretty, there are some

fine looking buildings in it, & we are all

very much disappointed at being given no

leave here. A few natives were allowed on

board to sell postcards etc, they done a

great trade too, we have been able to buy

coco nuts, fruit; & other articals from small

boats along side the ship. To those of us

who have not been outside of Aussie before

this harbour presents a very strange & interesting

scene. The coaling of the boats is carried

out by means of barges from which

natives carry the coal in baskets, up

planks laid from the barges to the

coal chutes of the boat down which

they tip the coal into the ships
bunkers.
 

January 1915

Thurs 14 Most of our time today was spent

watching what was going on around us,

the jabbering natives alongside in the

coal barges & a few who came in small

boats diving for coins thrown overboard

created a great deal of amusement.

The water here is a peculiar yellowy

green colour due to the shallowness of

the harbour & the stiring up of the

mud by the larger vessels. About

midday we moved outside the harbour

again & anchored. A mail arrived on

board today but I was rather disappointed

there being only one letter for me.

Frid 15 The searchlights on shore were very

busy last night & kept swinging to &

fro directed out to sea, as their beams

swung past one boat or the other they

revealed every detail clear as day.

Soon after day break parties of natives

came out on rafts constructed after

the style of an outrigger canoe, & gave

some very interesting exhibitions of

swimming, & diving for coins thrown into

the water, we spent a few very

interesting hours watching their feats

in the water, there is no question about

them being very clever, one fellow in

particular being remarkable for the fact

of him being minus an arm, a yet he

was so active & successful in his diving as 

any of the others, on recovering the coins

from the water they place them in their

mouths & continue diving & swimming with

their mouths full of coins, the number which

they can hold in this way is astonishing.

Much to our amusement they gave us

some samples of their native tunes. Several
 

 January 1915

of the natives climbed on board & xxx dived

from the lifeboats on the top deck for 1/-,

whereupon others got on board eager to repeat 

the performance at the price, but unfortunately

for them the Bo'sn arrived on the scene

with a rope end, the result was we got a free

exhibition of high diving. xxx At about

9 am a steam launch came alongside &

handed over a few chaps who got ashore

yesterday before we left the harbour. At 10am

we weighed anchor & set out for Aden our

next port of call.

Sund 17 Church parade ay 10 am. Sea dead calm

have encountered nothing approaching a rough

sea so far. Rather puzzled at travelling about

due north.

Mond 18 Inoculation again today (second Para Typhoid)

Changed direction today & are now steaming

almost due west.

Thurs 21 At 2.30 pm a general inspection of the

boat was made by Mjr Baker OC of

troops followed by a kit inspection at

which we had to produce all our belongings.

At about 2 pm two vessels were sighted
away to the north & rather ahead of

steaming in the same direction as us,

shortly afterwards the whole fleet stopped

& the submarine cast off & disappeared

in the direction of the two vessels, after

about ½ an hour's delay we got under way

again while the AE2 continued under

her own power for the rest of the
afternoon, the vessels turned out to be

an auxiliary cruiser & a tramp steamer
making for Aden. The marine growths
& fish are extremely interesting in these

waters, great shoals of flying fish rise
out of the water in front of the ship &

January 1915

skim over the surface of the water, some

go almost 100 yds above the water then

touch the surface & skim off again, at

a great speed, faster than most birds fly.

Myriads of jelly fish of a beautiful

pink & greenish blue colour & about the

size of the palm of a hand float by, &

occasionally large brown objects resembling
a football in size & shape are to be seen

here & there sea snakes up to about 4 ft

in length & of a redish brown colour are to
be seen on the surface of the water, when

the ship gets near they live, & when

the water is calm & resembles a sheet of 

glass as it has during the past few days
they can be seen going straight down
swimming as they do on the surface.

The water in these parts is highly luminous

& the jelly fish pass as a patch of

phosforence in the water after dark.

Sat 23 At about 9am the mountain of rock

at the foot of which lies Aden, could be

seen directly ahead & about 10am we

arrived & anchored in the outer harbour, in
which the three White Star boats along with 

the two that we sighted yesterday were at

anchor. This place is a  presents a very desolate xxxx appearance
look, the town as far as we can ^ be seen ^ from the boats consists

of only a few rows of buildings bunched

together at the foot  base of the mountains on

a ledge  narrow stretch of reef  ground between it & the sea,

with here & there a few buildings perched on the a ledge of rock on the side of the

mountain hills a building or two are to be seen, there
appears is to be no vegetation to be seen anywhere.

At about 3 30 pm the Ayreshire put in an 

appearance. At 6 pm when the fleet weighed

anchor to proceed to Suez, our boat
got into difficulties as the anchor had

 

January 1915
Sat 23^rd fouled the telegraph cable & to get clear
the ships engines were put astern,
the slack tow cable of the submarines then

became twisted about the propellers, & now

we are in as big a fix as ever, at the
first difficulty was overcome without much

trouble but the other  present one is a bit of a problem.
The submarine followed the fleet under

her own power. Preparations were made

without much delay for clearing the
propellors, one of the lifeboats was then

lowered & the ships diving apparatus got

ready, an arc lamp was placed over the 

stern of the ship, but despite all

preparations it was found impossible

to do much on account of the heavy

sea

Sund 24 At about 8am a tug took us in tow

& brought us into the inner harbour
where it proved to be perfectly calm, the

life boat had disappeared this morning, but
it came on the scene behind a motor boat

as we were coming into the inner harbour
where it proved to be perfectly calm, the
life boat has disappeared this morning, but
it came on the scene behind a motor boat
as we were coming into the inner harbour

evidently they had been enjoying themselves

ashore. Church parade was held at 10am

but was interrupted more or less by the 

yells & gibberish of the niggers who came

alongside in small boats & we were prevented

from trading with them, as, a result they

made a devils own comotion about it.

We got a good view of the town from where we

anchored, one can not say it has an
inviting appearance at all, the buildings

in the main portion of the place, which

to all appearances consists of a crescent

of about three rows of buildings, with

isolated ones perched on ledges about
 

January 1915

Sund 24 the sides of the abrupt xxx rock of the like

hills, are mostly of an average of

three stories & are by no means, artistic

in construction being flat roofed & very square

in appearance. Spent a very good

day with the fishing line, managed

to get a few fair sized fish, but the

strange part of the affair was catching

small fish about 3 to 5ins long, without

bait, on the bare hooks, shoals of thousands

could be seen & a line thrown among 

them would land one every time. Where

the ^warm water from the engines splashed back

into the sea, the water was black ^ a mass

with  of these fish. A air diver after

a few hours succeded in freeing the

propellors, & at 3pm they were reported

all clear, however we did not weigh

anchor till 5 pm, & after a delay of 23 hours

set out for Suez at a much greater speed

than we have done up to the present.

Mond 25 Over 200 on board took bad during the

night, they are suffering from ^potomaine poisoning, it 

is put down to articals brought from the

niggers having caused it. Encountered a

rather severe gale today, been rolling like

a barrel, though it is the nearest approach

to a rough sea we have encountered, very 
few were seasick. Numerous small sandy

& rocky looking islands were passed today.

Wed 27 Medical & Kit inspection, check taken of

shortages of kits. Passed numerous lighthouses

during the night. Speed about 14 knots.

Thurs 28 As we anchored at Port Suez about

6 pm the sun was setting behind low

sandy hills, & the scene was beautiful 

beyond description. The sea which has

been calm all day contained now only
 

January 1915

the faintest trace of movement upon

its oily looking surface, the nearest

description to its appearance is to
a huge sheet of glass below which is

placed a mass of deep blue watered

silk. Here & there a disturbance

on the surface would occur where

a shoal of porpoises xxx dived

out of the water & splashed in again

Sea gulls are everywhere. on the surface

& in the air. After tea we set to 

work bringing up bales of clothing etc

from the hold & barricading the bridge

as a protection against sharp shooters

in the event of an attack (which is

expected,) taking place upon the canal 

while we are passing through.

Frid 29th. The fleet at anchor in the Port 

presented a fine spectacle at

sunrise this morning. Suez is not

a large town it is situated on the African 

side of the canal at its junction with

the Red Sea. The transport A41 arrived

here at 9 am, she was left behind when

the fleet left Albany. At 11 am the

fleet ^commenced to entered the canal, we as usual

being in the rear. HMS Ocean

was anchored at the mouth of the canal

she gave us a great cheer as we passed
her & gave the salute. In the canal

we passed H M S Minerva a light cruiser

& the gun boat Hymalaya at intervals.

Having no searchlight attached to the

bow, we cannot proceed after dark, &

upon reaching the Bitter Lake we anchored

for the night. A French gunboat along with
a few other vessels are anchored here also.
The canal is a wonderful piece of
 

January 1915

work it was constructed by De Lessops

& is 99 miles long it's minimum

width is 120 ft & vessels drawing up

to 29 ft can pass through easily.

Sat 30^th At 8 am we weighed anchor & at a 

very slow speed proceeded up the
canal, after passing a number of

signal stations which are fine looking

& very pretty buildings situated on the

African side of the we entered Lake
Timsah & anchored at about 12 30pm.

The French cruiser Requin is anchored

not far away. An aeroplane has been

flying around here this afternoon.

The town of Ismailia is situated on
the African side of the lake & is

a very pretty looking place, a large

camp is situated at the back of it

N. Zealand & Indian troops are

guarding the canal & are fairly strongly

entrenched. A party of Engineers from

the 3^rd Fld Coy came alongside on a pontoon

raft this evening, they gave us the local

news but were as bad off as ourselves

for news of the war & other things.
Sund 31^st  Two aeroplanes passed overhead about

8 am. At 9 15 am we moved out of the

lake & continued our passage of the

canal, at this section the deepest

cuttings in the canal are passed.

Church parade was held at 10 am but more

interest was taken in the scenery than

the service. At 11 30 am we had to give
way to a French mail boat, this meant
stopping & making fast to posts on the 

bank, two natives & a small row boat are     

picked up at Port Suez for the purpose of
carrying the cables & making them fast to
 

January 1915
31^st the bank. At about 12 15pm the

mail boat passed us followed by about
a doz other vessels one of which was

the Italian man-o was Calabria, at 3pm

we got a move on again & about 5pm

passed El Kantara where a large

camp is situated, here we also pased
the H M S Swiftsure, after passing
Kantara it commenced to get dark

very quickly & we had to pick our way

on to Port Said as best we could, having

no searchlight on our bow to aid

us. On reaching Port Said at about 7 pm 

we passed the fine buildings of the

Canal Coy & anchored in the harbour,
within a stones throw of of the buildings

along the water front. The country

through which the canal passes is

mostly all desert, at intervals a

plantation of firs breaks the monotonous

stretch of sandy waste, there being are only

in close proximity to the canal &, along 

with palms & other vegetation growing

around the signal stations situated

at intervals of very few miles, along

the canal, are the only break in

the yellowy brown colour of the

surrounding desert. The signal

stations are pretty & well built

residences where the official in charge

& his family reside, they are all situated

upon the African side. The section

of canal between Kantara & Port Said

is passes through a huge swamp

along here the canal is not being

defended by troops it is safe, & &
xxx xxx ^ can defend itself. The railway runs
along the African bank in this section.