Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/21/1 - November - December 1915 - Part 3

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if Ts had attacked. We held it under
worse conditions in Aug. & these regiments
(24 & 23) are good.

Turks come in every day, surrendering
on a/c. of cold, shortage of rations etc.

---

I moved into Army Corps H.Q.
today as I ws coming to Imbros &
wanted to leave my things safe & the last
of the 1st Divn ∧HQ is leaving the Gully. It ws

fairly calm last night & perfectly smooth
today, but not one bit of work cd
be done bec. / last pinnace steam boat had bn
sunk (the man in charge turned left her
stern on to / sea & she ws driven
ashore & sank by / pier - the officer
in charge ws warned tt this wd happen
but he wdnt moor her / other way.)
The last horse boat ws also ashore so
there ws literally nothing to work this
army's cargo ∧communications w, after / first
big blow (first from S.W., then from NE)
except one dinghy. This morning
we expected to find / sea simply covered
in / small craft trooping back as usual
like ants from Imbros - but not
one came. Hour after hour nothing appeared
At abt 11 the dinghy took off Gen Godley
& staff (had to leave their luggage) to a

15
solitary tug wh took them off & put /
matter before B'wood. I cdn't find
out if any more ∧ships were going or no -
the Naval Transport Military Landing
Officer, Maj. Chamberlain, thought
they might. Presently / Post Office got
word tt one trawler was coming -
the Military Landing Offr didnt know
of it. The Post office was going to send
the Headquarters mail by it, but
apparently missed it for I saw none
on board. Maj. Milner & Capt Pain
(who are coming over) arranged to
come w me; but when w got do
I afterwds was first got word tt no trawler wd
go at all bec. we had no means of
reaching her; then tt a trawler was
might go coming ; then that a trawler might go;
then tt / trawler ws in - had bn in
for hours - but it ws very doubtful
if anyone cd go by her as there ws
no means of reaching her; then tt
a boat wd go off to her at 2.45. I
went down abt 2 & there were Milner
& Payne. They sd tt a small the dinghy
was only to do one trip & to take 3 men
& no luggage. They werent going to leave
their luggage - naturally - & so they decided

16
not to go. I ws the 3rd man - & the M.L.O.
threw in Bazley with me - but we left our

kit bag for Milner to bring, if he would 
- I'm sure he will if possible. The difficulty
ws / danger of swamping / dinghy. But
/ sea ws so calm tt Bazley & I both got
in - first, by being on / spot - & three
men climbed in after - w all their
kits; & we cd easily have brought
our kit bag. However, they're right
to take every care.

The trawler Captain let me travel
in his cabin - where I was warm.
Beachy never fired a shot at us. We
had a beautiful trip over; & then,
at Imbros, (or rather on / way there, from 
/ trawler Captain) discovered why there 
had bn no small craft from Imbros
tt morning - I had bn wondering
why / Navy hadn't 100 ∧steam pinnaces
ready to step in & do / work after these
rough days have wrecked all ours
at Anzac. - And I still wonder -
but there were 9 steamboats at Imbros
to go on with. Only the NE gale
had made a cleaner sweep of
Imbros than the SW gale made

17
of Anzac. The blizzard was fiercer.
The middle steamer o / breakwater
had been smashed to bits & disappeared;
& the 9 pinnaces were all high & dry
on a huge bank of weeds. The big
condensing steamer ws ashore; the
canteen steamer ws ashore; the torpedo
boat had broken adrift from / Arumba
& gone ashore - The motor lighters
had sunk (the Beetle sank either
here or at Anzac). In fact Suvla

The Greek canteen yacht ws ashore;
the Jessie ws ashore; the bumboats
were all sunk; the pier ws half
washed away; & the road for a
quarter of a mile ws deep in seaweed
& water pools.

The light wh I saw last night
ws clearly / warships searchlight
giving light for their efforts in getting off
/ big condensing ship. Our ∧water pipes at
Anzac had frozen & so had / water 
reservoir at Imbros; so tt Army
H.Q. (it is Army H.Q. now - G.H.Q
at Alex or Mudros, w armies in
Egypt, Gallipoli, & Salonica) - ws short
of water.

If this happens after our first

18

storm & blocks us from doing any
work at all now tt we have a
perfectly smooth day - what is going
to happen later when we have 2 months
of intermittent gale?

Why didn't they provide their
breakwaters when they cd (if
they intended to stay); & provide
their spare craft so tt they cd use
/ fine days. Even now if they
had 2 or 3 ships onto ∧each of wh they cd
sling say 8 or 9 pin small steamboats
when / weather became rough they
cd save these boats & take them
straight back / moment / weather
moderated.

The chief hope now seems
to me to be to use Suvla as /
base for Anzac. It's only 2 hrs by
mule transport. I think they must
have decided on this, for they have
a corps in formation the "Anzac -
Suvla tramway corps."

The 54^th divn are still waiting
at Anzac beach to be evacuated -
the hospital on these cold nights is
taking some of them in; its not
really correct - but you cant have

19

them frozen. Th

Those at Anzac cant get away;
& those away cant get back. The
trawler 696 had on board abt 20
Australians who were sent over to get
canteen stores for their units. One alone,
(NZ Signal Coy) got £200 worth. They
put these on board last Saty & sailed.
Landing at Anzac ws impossible.
They have bn on board 6 days
trying to land & now are still there.
The trawler ws sent up / Gulf of
Saros / day before yesty to look after
a stranded fleetsweeper (together w /
Theseus & 2 destroyers). In going up
there she had / seas washing clean

over her & some o / canteen stuff
cdnt ws washed away. Five o /
men were landed today in / dinghy,
but not a lb of stores & I doubt if
/ stores can be landed tomorrow. They
were talking of putting them off again
at Imbros.

I for There ws a light in
/ window of our little Imbros cottage

x at Anzac

 

20 
- it looked so snug - when Bazley
& I got there. I ws very beat - w my
heavy overcoat, & I suppose /
jaundice has pulled me down a bit.
We f I found / lower room dark but
a light in / upper - & there ws
poor old Ross, in bed w an overcoat
over him, & very much in / middle of
a heavy attack of jaundice - worse than
mine was. Lawrence in Alex buying winter clothes.

I am writing this over a warm ∧wood fire -
simply hugging the hearth - after a nice
dinner; appetite, thank goodness,
means jaundice has pretty well gone.
It is better than last night, Last night
though when I turn my front to / fire
my back becomes v. cold, & when I
turn my back my knees begin to freeze.
One's breath makes clouds of steam even
over this fire.

However - its better than last night.
Last night - after walking abt all day
in order to keep warm - I had a 
hurried dinner & got into bed as quick as I cd -
but not before my feet were getting frozen
(I wrote a few pages of diary & you
cant do tt w impunity). Bazley
boiled me a t mess tin full of salt water - 
and warmed my water bottle before /

21

kitchen fire & then poured / water quickly
in (it is a fine big stretcher bearers bottle,
made in Australia, w a little pannikin
over / big g bung & covered w khaki
felt). He put this in my sleeping bag & then
I crept in. I ws determined to sleep
warmly for once. The sleeping bag so I
took off my coats & boots (wet of course)
& gaiters, & put ∧on my pyjamas over /
rest of my clothes. I took off my
socks, 2 pair - they were wet of
course; & hung them over my hurricane
lantern to dry (the nearest thing to a
fire one has is this reading lamp).
I put on 2 pairs of dry socks instead,
& a leather balaclava (it's really an
airmans cap) over my head & ears -
& crawled in. The hot water bottle
ws beautiful. I pulled up the biscuit
box (wh makes my chair) to / bedside;
stood it on end, w / lamp on it just
sock by my head, & / socks on /
lamp; pulled / great ∧head cover flap of my sleeping
bag right down over my shoulders &
head leaving just space enough to see / 
page of my book & nothing else. Pulled
/ blanket (wh covered / sleeping bag)
right over my hands so tt there ws
only one thumb exposed - & then
settled down to read / life & voyages
of poor old Captain Cook. At last

(there ws a shell ∧from Beachy got into a
heap of them / other day; it set
a tarpaulin ablaze & some
men at once hurried & put it out 
- pretty plucky of them.)

 

22

for / first time in 3 days I ws able to
read without being frozen - I ws
just decently warm. There ws /
I had a leather overcoat-lining (a detachable
one for motorcar journeys) over my pyjamas;
a piece of flannel (∧in wh mother wrapped
my birthday billy) round my shoulders;
then the sleeping bag - kangaroo skin & fur
inside; tarpaulin outside, of a sort; then
a rug doubled over my feet to my
waist; then a blanket - a big one,
singly; then my thickest coat & Jacks
overcoat over my legs & feet -
all this plus 2 vests, warm shirt,
cardigan, mittens, pair of ∧under pants,
riding breeches & 2 socks - well -
wrapped up so, like an Arctic explorer I
A managed to keep my wretched old
circulation (wh is abt / worst on /
peninsula) going; And for once I ws
really warm without a fire. Far down
below me I cd hear the pick pick pick
of / men excavating 15 feet below a chamber
for the bombs. There are 48,000 bombs
underneath my dug out & if they went
up they'd alter / whole shape o /
hill - but thank heavens they've
got them there & not (as for the last 6 
months) abt 30 yds across / gully
under a few feet of loose soil heaped
on / roof. And so I read of / fate of

[Business card]
Gibson Battle & Co. Limited.
535 Kent Street.
Sydney.
J. W. Mackie.

 

23
the poor old Yorkshire seaman, the
matter of fact Cook. who found / most
important part of my country &, I
scarcely think realised what he had found.
If he had bn told tt 127 years later
his barren discovery wd be sending
to / Mediterranean 300,000 of best
troops / British nation possesses
he might have bn a little more astonished
at himself for discovering it.

I now know why our men are on
¼ rations of water - a cup of tea
for breakf. & one for tea, none at 
midday. They have bn collecting snow
& melting it down. And today I
saw them filling water tins in any dirty
water tt collected in a low lying sap
from off these poisonous hillsides.
I suppose it ws for washing & boiling 
- but they wont boil / water tins.
However - on ¼ rations you cant
expect much else of them. It makes
you angry w / people who havent
provided water. Birdwd has tried
hard eno!

They say tt / Indians on / Suvla
plain were standing partly in water
yesty. They seem to bear up pretty
well - but / Egyptians are cracking