Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/36/1 - December 1915 - January 1916 - Part 3

19
Commdr. Sampson has
jaundice very badly after
dysentery & is in bed.
but the rest -
Commdr. Williams HMS Mars
       ..         ..         .. over NTO Anzac
Surgeon Irwin Cornwalis
L^t. Smith, Canopus.
Pay Master Leith, Canopus.
Engr. Lieut Radmore Mars
Lieut Bridge, Skirmisher,
Lieut Davis              )
--        Allsop             ) RNAS
--        Thompson    )
are a very merry lot - 
Tonight Irwin told a first
class ghost story wh happened
to him at Cambridge when
he borrowed a bone from
a church vault there to
make his student-skeleton
complete & for 3 nights
running something or other

Geelong sunk
by collision
 

20
came after it. He's a
dependable chap but
(tho' I'm a believer in some
of these things) I shd have
sd this story ws absolutely
impossible because I dont
believe in that sort of
ghost at all - unless he
had been such a very
trustworthy witness.
Certainly that makes one
hesitate a bit.

Tuesday Jan 4: News today of
the sinking of 4 more ships,
including Oswald & Geelong.
The Oswald has been running
as a transport to Suvla Bay.
Beautiful warm weather.
The time passes wonderfully
easily with this happy set
of chaps - mostly yarn spinning.
Davies is a wonderful little

21
raconteur - as neat a humour
as Ashmead Bartlett made
a thousand times move precious
by his modesty.
I wish I could put down
here one in any dozen of the
stories they told of the work in
the air & the fun on the air
grou aerodromes: How "the
bosun" - an old petty officer
who ws being transformed into
a pilot - used always to
fetch up at Margate or
Deal when he wanted to go
to Hendon -  How He had carefully
aimed his machine before
starting & the only way
he cd explain the accident
ws tt "one of they stokers
gave the machine a twist
at the last moment" - just
as he ws shoving her off -
He was given three lives. But

22
on the third occasion when he
started for Harwich &
was not heard of until a
wire arrived from Dover
asking for two mechanics to
put the machine ready to
fly again after a slight
accident - he met his
Waterloo. The air school didnt
send the mechanics - it
went down itself in force
to see. There was the
machine hopelessly crippled
by a charge though a
sort of a line thicket.
The "Bosun" had chosen
to charge this hedge in the
midst of beautiful open
country. The explanation
of the whole accident, as he
put it, was that "You see,
if it 'ad been a ordinary
'edge there wdnt 'ave been she wouldnt 'ave 'urt

23
no 'arm to the machine
'erself at all - but yer
see this 'edge wasn't a
ordinary 'edge - it ws a
extraor'nary 'edge." And so
it was.
Then there was Fight
Commander de Courcy
Ireland who always
came down with half the
universe around him & 
the lands nearest telegraph
line, for choice, hanging
like _^a cats whiskers around the
front of his machine . The
Admiralty Admt sent over a
very anxious _^& urgent inquiry to know
why there was such a big
casualty list of aeroplanes -
& a huge repair bill - Davis
went over & when he came
back he met Ireland.
"I told 'em," Davis reported,

24
that the German machines
were very numerous &
active; then there was the
weather,- the clouds made
us fly very low & the German
shooting ws very good;
& then we had Ireland.!!
" 'Oh Ireland's there, is
he - that explains it!' was
what the sd / Admiralty
cove" (he added). Ireland
rose to / bait beautifully.
It isn't only at Anzac
tt we fired on our own planes.
It is quite common in France
& Flanders & one o / worst
experiences our airmen often
had ws in coming down over
their own trenches. Germans
& ourselves always use
their own aeroplane marks
on / wings - it is far too
risky to copy the Enemy's

England
Tremendous force of

pub. opinion
to wear khaki.
Not v many
young men of

good appearance left.

---

Leave
& the

birth rate.

----

Prosperity

of

workers.

----

Britannic
Marseilles Staffin Hotel. West
Bullock ploughing
Man who explained he ws from Yser
Restaurants close 2 - 5
Cafe de Paris
First sight of new fashions
England - more khaki in

[[?]] than in Ex

Appeals on walls

to soldiers, etc.

* x I think the place

began with a W -

near St Omer.

Fighting over Conscr.
It is our flag

[shorthand]
Searchlights over London
Exceeding kindness of war office
Smart's wonderful office.

Crowded 5 Aus so Divns
Smart looking chaps

Arnetts [shorthand]

Messenger at W.O.
Hough says boys work better with
young girl teacher than in peace
take is seriously
Class wh doesnt is the rather derelict

class.
 

25
Week in London getting thro Anzac Mag.
Worked thro night of Frid. Jan 14 & night of
Sund. Jan 16 - War office (Kenny & Traill
& Gen. Cockerill) arranged for me to
visit trenches in France - everyone at war
office was exceedingly nice to me & to other
decent pressmen, couldn't be nicer.
I just caught 8.50 am train to Boulogne.
was met at Boulogne by car- Vauxhall
which took us at tremendous
speed to -.^x Capt Rey (Press
correspts live there in a chateau
in a beautiful garden country w
old moat - house is not old but
beautiful remnant of old house is opp.
front door.
The country ws much like
the English downs. After a bit we
reached / F A light rly ran
along / roadside. We passed
many military motor cars
all going same way. The first
sign of being near front ws a

? St Omer
Russell Reuters
Gibbs Chronicle & Teleg.
Phillips Express & M Post.
Tomlinson D. News & Times.
Thomas - D. Mail
 

26
double line of telegraph
poles in military white & black
Hand drawn diagram
Then a number of
British cavalrymen
w chain mail on their
shoulders - evidently quartered
in / villages; there were some
French repairing vans along
/ road; we met no French
civilians exc. young boys & elderly
men.
At last we saw the
churches & woods of  ____  ___
& swung to / left to our chateau.
Col. Wilson made and all
/ others - Phillips, Gibbs,
Thomas, old Russell who
ws in Gallipoli, Tomlinson & Col Wilson
& Reynolds _^& Coldstream made me
splendidly welcome.

An idea is abroad in London - &
clearly here also - that the Turks
were bribed to let us go away easily.
An M.P. told Dr Shaw (W.A.) that he
knew the amt paid & the man it
ws paid to. Of course there is not
/ slightest foundatn for this.
 

27

It ws a miserable blowy
wet day. But what a life
compared w / one in Gallipoli
- comfortable drawing room,
great tall dining room - 
tennis rackets, billiards.
Everybody very interested in the evacuation.
Jan 18. Tuesday.
Started at 9am. with
Thomas, escorted by Coldstream,
for trenches around Kemel.
From the hill at K. you generally
get a view from / sea past
Ypres & into / far South. Today
it ws Scotch mist & fog especially
on / high land - & you cd see
no distance.
The first thing tt struck
me ws / enormous processions
of Army Service Cars - Great
communities of them lived by /
roadside under / big trees -

28
just off / paved way - w
sacking protecting their wheels
from rain _^& incidentally keeping / road
beneath more or less dry for
the driver to play w his engine.
They are drawn up close
under / trees for their rest ( /
journey I believe they make in
2 days) & the road is left absolutely
clear for all traffic tt comes &
goes all day upon at. The drivers
& other transport men live in a little
clear space between / boxes
inside / car & at night it is
quite homely to see / lamp _^above / drivers seat turned
w its face looking back into the
cosy interior. The villages seemed
to be lined w these great cars.
Each car has now two
symbols on it - one big
coloured patch on / side [diagram,
& a symbol over / xx
peak o / hood [diagram] or [diagram,] & so on