Letters from James Joseph Makin to his family, 1915-1916, Part 2 of 12

Troopship xxxx 
At Sea, 29/2/16 
  
Dearest Mother & Father, 
As you see we have not yet reached our 
destination but we  are on our way. We 
must send our letters in to the censor by  
tomorrow, so I have left writing until the 
last day. The weather has been fine 
and hot since we left W.A. and the sea 
calm for the most part. Each day now 
is alike and the boat is becoming  
monotonous. We shall all be overjoyed 
when we come to disembark.  I was 
vaccinated a few days week ago and have 
had no trouble so far. Some of the lads 
have sore arms and minor sickness 
through the vaccination, but I felt no 
ill effects at all. We are having an 
easy time, very little drill and plenty 
of time to oneself. Nearly everyone is 
wearing only a singlet and "shorts". 
My legs are fairly brown already. The 
sun is overhead at midday and very 
hot too. One can always find a  
cool spot where there is a breeze. 
I am glad I am not in the A.M.C. 
as they are kept fairly busy on board 
while we have all our time to ourselves.

2/ 
I was unlucky enough to lose my fountain 
pen overboard one night. I had it clipped 
into my pocket but it was levered out by 
the rail as I leant on it watching the 
sea. I shall get another when I reach  
Egypt as they are very handy. I am 
still writing up my diary but news is 
very scarce, each day being practically 
the same. One longs for a swim on a hot 
day but one must be content with a sea- 
water shower. The nights seem very long 
as we travel with lights out, and the 
only pastime is to sing all the songs 
you can think of till it is time to 
turn in. It is too hot to sleep in 
hammocks so we take our blankets on 
deck. We had a concert on Saturday 
afternoon given by the ship's crew. 
It was very successful, and afternoon 
concerts are to be held in future 
as frequent as possible. 
The sunsets are very beautiful and 
we always spend the time between 
tea and dusk in watching the water 
and sky. 
I am always wondering what the 
latest war news is and how Les is getting

3/ 
on and whether he is still in England. 
I am looking forward to some letters 
and papers. Are you getting my pay 1 
from the Barracks alright? I hope you 
I am feeling the benefit of the trip, 
I think, now that it is nice and 
calm, but I did not think I would 
make much of a success as a sailor after 
striking a rough trip to Adelaide. 
Most of us miss a bit of fruit; we had 
some good feeds of it in Perth though. 
It is surprising how light hearted 
everyone is. One would think they were 
going on a big picnic. Anyway no one 
thinks much about the war. The main 
topics are "Where do you think we'll go?" 
or "How long will we be in Egypt?" "How 
much money will I have when I land"? 
&c. Many who brought a few pounds 
with them and only 1/- per day are sorry 
now that they have lost their "roll" 
gambling. We saw the "Karoola" at 
Fremantle, inward bound with 400 returned 
soldiers on board. I suppose I have 
passed Jack Scanlon on the water 
as he left England about the middle of January.

4/ 
Everyone at my table is writing letters 
this afternoon. I have got to write 
a few more this afternoon before tea 
as I go on guard in the morning 
and will not have another chance. 
I should be able to find more 
news for my next letter. There is 
certainly not much  to write about just 
now. Am sending a few lines to 
Harry and Essie this time. 
Remember me to Mrs. Spence; if I 
had Norman's address I could look 
him up if I got near him in Egypt, 
also Gordon Stirling. 
Will now conclude with love to all. 
Your affectionate son, 
Jim

9th / 21st
  
Zietoun, Cairo, 
Egypt., 10/3/16 
  
Dearest Mother and Father, 
I arrived safely in Suez two days ago and 
came by train to Zeitoun, a camp several miles 
from Cairo, last night. As it was midnight 
when we arrived here I am unable to say 
what Cairo is like yet, but before long I hope 
I shall be able to tell you all about this ancient 
city. My first impressions of Egypt are more 
favorable than I hoped, and so far everything it has 
far exceeded my expectations. 
We had a splendid trip over, the water being 
smooth right from W.A. and the weather 
perfect. We are very glad to hear news 
of the war again. Three or four weeks news 
are a blank to us but we are just about 
putting two and two together now and forming 
an idea of the situation. There is great 
excitement about the big offensive in France 
and the reported departure of the German 
fleet westward. Let us hope it will 
soon meet its Trafalgar. The Germans 
must be making their last big effort; 
perhaps the "situation is desperate". The 
news from the Balkans and Persia is 
better than when we heard last, and

2/ 
the death of Enver Pasha from the assassin's 
hand shows that things are only "middling" 
in Turkey. We have no idea of the losses  
of either Germans or Allies in the recent 
attack on Verdun, but the German loses 
are said to be very high. 
It is too soon to form an opinion 
of the camp just yet but the reports of 
Australians here say that it is a "good 
home". No one has any idea how long  
we shall be here but it should not 
be very long I think. 
We disembarked at Port Suez at 9.30 
am. yesterday and waited for a train 
till 4 pm. We ran straight through 
Suez, and one could only get a hasty 
impression of this town. There are some 
fairly large buildings, - white in color 
and which appear to be built of a kind of 
cement over a wooden framework. 
There are one or two straight streets; the rest 
are narrow irregular alleyways in which 
natives in their gay-colored flowing 
garments move aimlessly along. Close 
to the line railway one got a glimpse of what 
looked like coffee or drinking houses; 
chairs and tables are set both inside and

3/ 
out, and natives clad in many colored 
gowns and red fezes sit smoking and 
drinking. There was not much to  
see once out of the town and the 
train sped merrily on through semi- 
desert country. Here and there one 
could see that Britain is not taking 
any risks with the Canal. There were 
many camps - "Tommies," Indians, and 
Australians, and endless camels with 
their native drivers. Even as we dashed 
through, the wonderful spirit of the 
Allies was evident. Here one sees a  
team of Tommies trying their skill 
at soccer with an equally keen team of  
Indians,  unmindful of the heavy 
going of the desert sand or of the dust 
and grit stirred up as they 'mixed it' 
with a will. 
As we stopped at each siding 
money-thirsty natives boarded the train 
and tried to show their skill at bargaining 
in their sales of "ollangies" or "orrringies" 
with the too - suspecting Australians. 
The oranges were a boon after the dry 
biscuits and cheese with which we 
had been issued for the day's rations.

4/ 
The railway carriages (3rd class) are very 
crude compared with Victoria's. The only 
thing in them is a hard seat and a  
light. Their are doors at each end and 
a division down the centre like a Tail car. 
There was not much room when we settled 
down with full marching order, sea-kits 
and rifles. We were about 7 hours in the 
train and when we arrived in Cairo 
we were mighty glad to get out and have 
a stretch. We walked about a mile to 
the camp, were housed in 2 huts (100 in 
each), got a couple of blankets and 
turned in about 1 am. We were up 
again at 6 am but anticipated an 
easy day. 
There is a mail closes today, so  
I have taken the first opportunity 
to send you these few lines. 
I have not time for any more so  
I shall close with love to all 
From Your affectionate son, 
Jim 
  
P.S Tell Harry I have not time to 
write this mail but will write next 
week for certain. Am sending a 
cable this afternoon.