Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/24/1 - December 1915 - Part 5

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Another came down into / sea but
fortunately close to / Grafton wh
picked / plane & / man up - The
air cushions inside / lining o /
planes keep them afloat for a little.
The sea planes can some of them fly
very fast but they cannot go to any
height - they have gone to Salonica
& Sampson  & his lot are returning
to England on Thursday.
One air man who had been over
there of late told me tt he did not think
Helles could 
get away.
I don't think this is the general opinion.
[Shorthand symbols]
(Fryberg of N.Z. Now a colonel.
Chorley Richardson - now a brigadier)
Abt / most remarkable thing
done so far in / air ws in one o /
flights in / direction of Chanak Kawak
bridge or Uzun Kenpren A machine
gave out, & / pilot had to land in 
a marsh. Before doing so he dropped
2 bombs on / nearest rly stn but the 
 

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3rd bomb apparently wdn’t drop
& he had to alight with it.  He came 
down in / marsh, [*set fire to / machine*] & started off towards
/ sea in / hope of getting away
somehow; but as he did so he
noticed tt a brother pilot had seen
him & was coming down to help
him. As he had an ^The fugitive bethought him o / unexploded bomb
in his burning aeroplane.  He at once
turned back, crept to within 30
yards o / plane, & there lay down on
his stomach & began firing w his 
revolver at the bomb to explode it.
He finally blew / bomb up just as 
the other man ws getting near him 
- much to / others astonishment.
The second machine, I believe, for
a moment wheeled away but finally
settled.  The pilot o / wrecked machine
scrambled aboard; & they were up 
& out of reach before / Turks cd
get to / spot - a very wonderful feat.
I believe tt No 1 wing o / R.N.A.S
is in Flanders - but most of naval
wings are in England.

41
Anzac, they say, is a difficult
place to observe as it is so hilly & hills
all show flat to an aeroplane.  But
/ big Turkish camps against / Anzac ^ (e.g. behind  Gun Ridge )make
no attempt at concealment as they
have their tents & bivouacs absolutely
open to view.  It is a bit hard 
sometimes to distinguish Turkish
hospitals from above & our aviators
have to be very careful not to bomb
them.
Xxx Nevinson & Ward Price having 
gone to Salonica left  their servants - two
good fellows (but simply children) from
Munster Fusiliers - w / officers'
mess at the base here.  Turner came
in this morning w glowing details
of their Xmas dinner.  "The officers
sent us out plenty of beer, Sir, yes Sir,
& wine, Sir, & they asked us to be sure
we had enough, Sir" - "and I went out^ got hold
of a bottle of brandy" - put in Maloney
...."and I went out for a walk, Sir,
after lunch - Yes, Sir," babbled
Turner, "and I fell over a rock and

42
lay there till six o'clock and 
two men came along & helped me
back and the Sergt. Major helped 
put me to bed, Sir"- Or it may
have been the Sergt. Major helped him 
back - I forget.  Anyway he told
it bubbling over with giggles &
seemed awfully proud of himself.
I suspect he rather acted to himself
a good deal more drunk than he
was - he seemed to remember
too much about it.
Dec.28. ^Our Mudros Helles Ferry didnt go^. All day on Anzac
Magazine - Saw Butler who gave 
me a letter from Birdwood to the 
Kings secretary asking for a 
message from H.M. to preface
the magazine.  Lt. Tuck (of / photographic
branch dept), who is a connection of 
Raphael Tucks, gave me some 
fine photos.  Dined w Gen. Birdwood.
He has wired to Kitchener asking
if he can be connected again 
w / Anzac troops.  There is

43

nothing for him to do at Imbros.
Dec. 29th Sailed this morning at 9. o'clock
by trawler (1000 & something) for Mudros,
with my small army. Barker, Colles,
& Crozier, artists; Bazley who has 
acted a clerk & has typewritten the
whole screed; & Griffin, Ross's 
batman - all good chaps tho'
Crozier is the softest & most
sensitive of the three.
We Old Lawrence handed me
out last night just before I went to 
bed a five ∧or six stanzas about our
graves in Gallipoli - well thought
out & exquisite (as one wd expect
from / old chap) in sentiment.
Almost / last thing was
that that good fellow Hatterick (Chernsides
batman) arrived from Alex with £12
worth of stores for me - films, developing
powders, waterproof, gum boots.
The latter I am leaving w Lawrence.

44
At about 5 we arrived in Mudros
harbour in / midst of a most 
exquisite sunset.  We reported to /
Europa - sent her mails on board
w a message to say we had some
cases for her.  For two hours (tho'
we had mails & troops for /  Aragon)
she kept us knocking around, waiting
for the cases to be taken off.  Every
half hour or so a voice wd come
from / Europa: "Trawler!"  "Aye-aye
Sir!" - "What sort of cases are 
they."  Our skipper ws a bit deaf but
eventually we would shout back tt
they were "large cases".  Then an
interminable pause - I knew what was 
happening well enough - The information
was going along its slow course to the brain of
the ship & wd presently come back ponderously
back along / same course.  It did. 25 minutes
- then. "Trawler! Are they empty cases?" or something 
equally inquisitive.  After 2 hrs our 
skipper (who, I must say, tho' restive
ws exceedingly diffident abt asking the

2
I didn't see why I shd be spoken to 
in tt way so I presented my letter
from Gen. Birwood abruptly & let it 
stand at that.  He didn't had his 
back up at once but everyone else
I saw on / ship ws exceedingly nice
- Maj. Delme Radcliffe, Col. Armstrong,
Capt Erskine Murray - & before I went
to bed (in a sumptuous bed after a 
sumptuous dinner & looking forward
to a superlatively sumptuous bath)
I had had a quick passage to
England fixed up for me by the 
steamer Wahine (an o ^ a USS Co of NZ boat
if you please) with a request from /
A branch of L. of. C. to pass me on 
as quickly as it cd be done!
(By the bye what I though ws the 
Arumba in Imbros ws our old Pacific
friend the Oruba - I thought I
recognised those two lines of upperwks).
------

45
1  P.T.O. →
authorities anything but wd edge his boat 
off & pretend to go, in / hopes of getting a
hail decision from / Europa to attend to
his case,) went close in & asked: "May
I go to / Arragon & transfer troops & mails."
The immediate answer was "Yes!"
So he did. It seemed He was a fine friendly
∧patriotic chap - but I really think half o /
trouble of these skippers is tt they are afraid
to stand up to / big ship & tell her what 
is / matter w them.
We went onto / Arragon -
climbed up / rope ladder onto / vastly
towering deck (wh ws simply lumbered
16 ft deep in mail bags) w awe &
hesitation. I found my way to /
ships adjutant & found a supercilious
boy of 22 - looking like a junior clerk in
a P & O office (wh he probably is)- sitting there.
I told him who I was & where I wanted to 
go & sd I had 5 men attached to me.
He told me what I wd do - sleep on /
Arragon & report to as there ws no boat off
& report to Anzac ("You’ll see Gen Godley”)
next day. I sd "But what abt / men."
"Never mind / men " he sd curtly.

46
May 19.
Be Thompson o / Flying RNAS on
May 18 flying over Anzac abt noon
looking for a gun in / Dardanelles (no -
trying to spot the Canopus or some 
ship onto / Barbarossa wh ws
firing at Anzac ^ but the Canopus just cd not reach her^.) Saw two valleys
in front of Anzac position simply
full of troops. 
[Hand drawn diagram- see original document ]  He flew for
2 hrs over / position trying  
to get his observer to put /
guns onto them but they
cd not make him realise / importance.
Later when they descended at Imbros
he himself reported it to / general
concerned at G.H.Q - & reported so 
strongly tt they sent up a second
aeroplane. This went up & reported
v. strongly - when it came down 
(or before) it ^Anzac reported that hostile
aeroplane had bn flying over
Anzac for 2 hrs - our men


47
have bn firing at it.
The Genl sent back. “The aeroplane 
reports tt your men failed
to hit it.” It ws flying at
abt 3000 feet, too.


Davis V.C.
Persia