Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/38C/1 - Notebook - Part 6
98
Officers Men Horses
3 Orvieto 15 12,130 Headquarters. 2nd Field Coy Engrs. Details. Divisional Headquarters Melb.
27 Southern 10½ 4,769 Light H. Ambulance, Divl Amm. Col details Syd & Melb
4 Pera 11 7,635 Field artill. & F.A. Details - (Chiefly artillery horses) Syd.
26 Armadale 11 6,153 Reserve Park
12 Saldanha 11 4,594 Details of Everything Adelaide
13 Katuna 11 4,641 9th F.A., Details Divl Am. Col. & 3rd Light Horse Hobart & Syd. Drawing only 6 feet.
1 Hymettus 11½ 4 ,606 Train, Syd. Melb. Ad.
23 Suffolk 12 7,573 2nd Battalion Sydney
25 Anglo-Egyptian 12 7,379 Brisb. & Melb.
18 Wiltshire 14 10,390 4th L.H., 2nd Field Ambulance Melb.
7 Medic 13 12,032 3rd F.A. Brigade, 3rd Field Amb. 8th F.A & part of 11th Adel & Perth
11 Ascanius 13 10,048 10th Battn 11th Battn Adel & Perth
15 Star of England 13½ 9,150 2nd L.H. Brisbane
2 Geelong 12 7,951 12th Inf. 3rd Field Coy. Melb & Hob.
17 Port Lincoln 12 7,243 3rd L.H. Adel.
10 Karoo 12 6,127 Signallers. ^ Details of Field Amb. Engr & Inf. Melb
21 Marere 12½ 6,443 Details F.A. & Divn Ammn Col.(& Transport waggons) Melb
6 Clan Mac Corquodale 12½ 5,058
14 Euripides 15 14,947 2 guns 3rd & 4th Battns. & 1st Field Amb. Syd. 2 Guns
8. Argyllshire 14 10,392 F.A. Brigade Syd.
9 Shropshire 14 11,911 2nd F.A. Brigade. Details Divnl. Amm. Col. Melb.
19 Afric 13 11,999 1st Battn & Syd Train & Field Coy. Syd.
24 Benalla 14 11,118 8th Bn. & Coy of Train Melb.
22 Rangatira 14 10,118 Field Artillery. Brisb.
16 Star of Victoria 13½ 9,152 1st LH. Sydney. Syd.
20 Hororata 14 9,491 6th Bn. 7th Bn. Melb. 2 guns
5 Omrah 15 8,130 9th Bn. & L.H. train Brisb
28 Miltiades 13 7,814 Imperial Reservists.
3 Maunganui 16 7,527
6 Orari 13 7,207
8 Star of India 11 6,800
7 Limerick 13 6,827
4 Tahiti 17 7,585
10 Arawa 12 9,372
11 Athenic 12 12,234
9 Hawkes Bay 12 6,800
5 Ruapehu 13 7,885
12 Waimana. 14 10,389
[*convoy aviators.
A British officer*]
103
The British Officer(& a Lunatic at La xxx) (Fight w a lion).
Young soldier who was Governor of a province in Brit. E Africa, after his term ended he decided to go off hunting
with a friend intending finally to go down the Nile to Egypt. (R.O. de Gex was killed by a lion a few days after
they had killed 5 lions there - he made a great fight and tried to gouge out its eyes, after fighting. He had set fire to the bush
where it was supposed to be and stood close to the side of the grass. The lion was much closer to him than x he knew and came at him.
He fired one shot and didn't kill. She got hold of him and he hit her across the head with his rifle and broke the
rifle across her head and then tried to gouge out her eyes. His servant shot her. He was taken to a
settlement, and seemed to be getting well, but died of shock.
A case in point. This soldier ^ X was succeeded by a Subaltern who became Governor of the province. The Sub
was a bit wild. And when he was superseded by the Coll. Office (under whom he was serving) for a civilian
Govr., he went off his head. There was a fearful row & X was recalled by the new Governor.
Now X at this moment was shooting and was hoping that between the War office and the Coll Office (und. each of whom
he ws serving) might lose sight of him and give him the chance of getting his trip down the Nile.
He had found men, one day, confronted by a big blue Eland. He did not have a licence for shooting
blue elands (but only a general licence) and he was not sure if it was not a crime.
But he shot it. It had a splendid head & he was very anxious to keep it.
He ws recalled (^ when / messenger arrived today he ignored xxxx him but when one arrived the next day xx he and his and his companion thought
it wiser to obey). He went in to the capital and being an honest man he reported to the new Govr. about
the Eland. He said "I'm quite prepared to pay a fine or do anything xx else if you want but as the Eland
is dead now I hope you will allow me to keep the head". The Governor said "of course it is a very serious matter and there is a
court to be held soon and if you come up before me I shall have to fine you 1000 rupees or so. but
I shan't be holding the court for a few days x because I am very anxious to get rid of my
predecessor. He is going by a boat leaving the day after tomorrow and if you care to go with him xxx
and look after him and are not here when the court is held I shall not find it necessary to fine you in your
absence. It would be doing us a good turn because we are very anxious to get somebody to go along with him to look after him."
X jumped at it and went by the boat. Somehow they knew that he had some sort of hold over the lunatic
because the lun. had been telling them: "You wait till X comes back from up country and see what he will do".
Well x off they went. The lun. gave little trouble for the first few weeks beyond xxx
insulting the stewards, but as the stewards were goanese it did not matter so much.
He would order a boiled egg for breakfast and when it was brought he would open it and call up the unofficial goanese xxx steward and ask him if he thought it was good. "Smell this!" he would say and then rub it in his face.
[*Told in
First person
from here:*]
Well I managed to sweeten the steward by giving him 5 rupees - he would have willingly had his
face rubbed with an egg every day at that price.
But we had to change at Aden into a Brit. India ship going
homeward. It meant 4 or 5 days in Aden waiting for her and I relished less and less
[*A British officer*]
104
[*There was an Austrian boat*]
the prospect of having my friend at a club in a little place like that (You know what Aden is) so the moment
our ship arrived I hopped ashore and went to the agents and managed to get our tickets changed for an Austrian
boat going to Trieste at once. xxxx (^ I heard there was an Austrian boat in port just leaving - I just had time).
Well we got on board and there, as luck would have it, I found there was, amongst the passengers, a little Indian civilian
going home after a nervous breakdown. In fact he was very much in the same condition as my lunatic
and the two fraternised. They marched up and down all day long telling one another their grievances - each one
telling his own and not hearing what the other chap said as long as he could fire off his own woes. You would
see them walking the deck all day talking of when x they were going to report xxx to the Colonial Office etc. etc.
and I was congratulating myself on having practically got my lunatic off my hands. xx He was extraordinarily
sane on most topics and it was only when you got him on the subject of his province that he went off the rails
- you might travel with him for 3 weeks before you began to realise that he was a bit curious and wonder
if anything were wrong with him.
But unfortunately the curtain came. They quarreled. It was all over a dinner on the P. of W's birthday.
(no, the king's birthday, Nov. 9). My lun. who like most British subalterns was not
at all shy of spending his money xx proposed that they should xx invite all the other passengers to drink the king's health that
evening in champagne. The old Ind. civiln. shied off the proposition at once. My
man called him disloyal and there was a fearful row. It was just about then that we arrived at Port Said.
My friend went ashore and bought of all things in the world a xxxxx swordstick
and a wooden cane. (Oh, I must also tell you that he ^ conceived the idea & began to get very excited about a
lady, an old flame of his, to whom he said he would cable to meet him and sent a wire
from there - that rather took his thoughts off the other subject of the other fellow).
Well he came back on board and xxxx we were getting near our journey's end and I was beginning
to congratulate myself that the xx chance of trouble was disappearing when coming down the gangway one night to dress
for dinner I heard the voice of my lunatic at the bottom of the stairs talking to the other chap.
He was standing outside his cabin. Oh Mr Y, he said, come and see this to my cabin to see a wooden
camel which I have got; It is a wonderful piece of work. The old civilian was
pretty scared of him by this time and he refused. My man exploded and the next thing I
knew was that the old civilian had taken fright & bolted down the alleyway
between the cabins with my man after him with a revolver.
I knew he had this revolver when we went about xx in Brit. E. Afr. and I had taken all hisxxxx cartridges the second day out. When he bought the swordstick I took that away from him too but I had forgottenxx about this revolver. The old civilian managed to reach a cabin and locked xx himself in and refused to come out.
105
There was my lunatic standing outside with his revolver in his hand roaring with laughter ^ (he was a bit of a sport and he saw the humour of the situation). Silly old rotter, by God I frightened the life out of
the old bugger", he said. We had to get the Captain and a number of the ship's officers down there before we could persuade the
civilian to unlock his door and come out.
Naturally the skipper was anxious to get rid of us at the first possible moment. He was going to lock up my
lunatic and put him ashore at the first opportunity. But I managed to bring him round in the end to
leave us alone ^ by xxxx undertaking to keep him in his cabin till we got to Trieste. xxx I put
it to my friend that xxx the captain was very angry with him for chasing the other man and that it was not xx wise to
had asked us to remain in our cabin for the rest of the voyage in order to avoid meeting the other man -
I said: "The other man is a lunatic - you ought to have seen that - he really has no responsibility for
what he may do." I managed to keep him there by playing bridge with him for 2 solid days -
you may imagine that I have refused bridge ever since. We played bridge morning noon and night until the ship
got into Trieste. I was never so glad You may guess I was glad when Trieste appeared on the horizon.
At Trieste we had to get into the train. You know that train. It takes about a day and a half
and in that time you have to go through about 6 different countries. Of course to begin with I lost him in Trieste.
Ten minutes before the train was due to start I had not found him. I was standing on the xx step of the carriage with his luggage and
mine inside watching the platform for him, but I could not find a sign of him. About 3 minutes before the train started
I saw him. He came rushing up the platform with a paper in his hand wildly waving it and rushed up to me
shouting "There's hope". It was a telegram from the lady.
We had trouble at every one of those border towns that we passed. He decided not to open his luggage for anyone. What right
[*had they to doubt the word of
a Brit officer?*] What right have these rotters to look at our luggage, he asked. He said he was damned if he were going to open his box
for any of them. We The foreign officials didn't tumble to it, they thought that he was just an ordinary Englishman
and the English are all mad. I had to do the best I could x to explain things away. When We got
to Calais in the end - we had left bits of his luggage scattered round half Europe
[*at various customs houses*], but we ourselves got thro'. xxxxx We got into the train to xxx London. I was
fagged out & went to sleep in the corner of the carriage.
In the rack was a helmet case of mine and in it beside my helmet was a bowler hat.We had I had bought it in London just before xx starting out. We I had started unexpectedly and I xx took the
hat w me in case I wanted it. When I got half way there I realised that it was useless
and I once or twice meant to leave it behind. But xxxx I kept it until I got to
B.E. Africa and, having got it so far, I determined to bring it back with me. So I carried
that bowler hat all round the world for 18 months without being able to wear it. But now we were
approaching London it ws going to be of use for the first time.Well When I woke from that sleep in the corner of the train I found that
my lunatic was looking very ill. I have been feeling very bad old chap he said - and there weren't
106
any stewards or basins about so I thought you wouldn't mind if I used your hat!
His father met us at the xx station. Poor old chap he couldn't understand it at all. He couldn't see why it should have
happened. That was a rather pathetic ending to it all. He ran through a lot of money in London (his lady
friend turned up to meet him. I heard of him afterwards in the Transvaal. He was farming and for all
I know he may be there now.
Brit. Officers in S.A. set to map out degree squares - Authorities
wanted 4 to make a map. Sent up G. because the other squares
were all prepared except abt 20 miles along the line between the
two sets of degrees. They had surveyed the rest at 50 miles a
day. It turned out this 20 degrees miles was all mountain. That ws why
it had bn left.
Officer who wd do anything for service, "Even make love to X's wife".
Suppose xx X were an old man who married a young wife who
ws trying to do her duty & keep his home happy, but had found out her
mistake. O. makes love to her, not in earnest. She thinks him
in earnest, at length breaks down, smashes up happy home,
gives away her country - & then finds he doesn't care two pins.
Could this possibly be right?
(Story of fly from Australian bush carried out to sea.)
Story of microbe war on human race.
WD.'s opinion: 3 ^ of the most [shorthand] officers in the army - Haig, Sen. Dorrien, &
Curly Hutton. C. Hutton never waited an instant to make
up his mind.
De Lisle used to read service to his troops in S.A. "Now, men,
what hymn wd you like?" Popular w Australians.
107
AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
The British Officer
Young soldier who was Governor of a province in British East
Africa, after when his term ended he decided to go off hunting with a
friend intending finally to go down the Nile to Egypt. (R.O. de Gex
was killed by a lion a few days after they had killed 5 lions there -
he made a great fight and tried to gouge out its eyes, after fighting firing.
He had set fire to the bush where it was supposed to be and stood
close to the side of the grass. The lion was much closer to him
than he knew and came out at him. He fired one shot and didn't
kill. She got hold of him and he hit her across the head with his
rifle and broke the rifle across her head and then tried to gouge out
her eyes. His servant shot her. He was taken to a settlement
and seemed to be getting well, but died of shock.
A case in point. This soldier X was succeeded by a Subaltern who
became Governor of the province. The Sub was a bit wild. And
when he was superseded by the Col. Office (under whom he was
serving) for a civilian Governor., he went off his head. There was
a fearful row. X was recalled by the new Governor. Now X at this
moment was shooting ^ and was hoping that between the War office and
the Col^onial Office )(under each of whom he was serving) might lose
sight of him and give him the change of getting his trip down
the Nile. He had found means himself one day, watched by confronted by a big
blue Eland. He did not have a licence for shooting blue elands
(but only a general licence) and he was not sure if it was not coloured.
But he shot it. Ithad a splendid head and he was very anxious to keep
it. He was recalled (when a ^ the messenger arrived he ignored him but
.../2
2.
when one arrived the next day he and his companion thought
it wise to obey). He went in to the capital and being an
honest man he reported to the new Governorment about the Eland.
He said "I'm quite prepared to pay a fine or do anything else
if you want but as the Eland is dead now I hope you will allow
me to keep the head". The Governorment said "of course it is a
very serious matter and there is a court to be held soon and
if you come up before me I shall have to fine you 1000 rupees
or so. but I shan't be holding the court for a few days because
I am very anxious to get rid of my predecessor. He is going
by a boat leaving the day after tomorrow and if you care to
go with him and look after him and are not here when the
court is held I shall not find it necessary to fine you in
your absence. It would be doing us a good turn because we are
very anxious to get somebody to go over with him and look after
him. X jumped at it and went by the boat. Somehow they knew
that he had some sense of hold over the lunatic because the
lunatic had been telling them. "let's wait till X comes back from
up country and see what he will do". Well off they went. The
lunatic gave little trouble for the first few weeks beyond
insulting the stewards, but as the stewards were goanese it did
not matter so much. He would order a boiled egg for breakfast
and when it was brought he would open it and call up the unofficial
goanese steward and ask him if the he thought it was good.
"smell this!" he would say and then rub it in his face.
Told in first person from here:
Well I managed to sweeten the steward by gividng
him 5 rupees - he would have willingly had his face rubbed
with an egg every day at that price. We had to change at Aden into
a Brit. India ship going homeward. It meant 4 or 5 days in Aden
.../3
3.
waiting for her and I relished less and less the prospect of
having my friend at a club in a little place like that
(You know what Aden is) so the moment our ship arrived I
hopped ashore and went to the agents and managed to get our
tickets changed for an Austrian boat going to Trieste at once.
(I heard there was an Austrian boat in port just leaving -
I just had time). Well we got on board and there, as luck
would have it, I found there was, amongst the passengers,
a little Indian civilian going home after a nervous breakdown.
In fact he was very much in the same condition as my lunatic
and the two fraternised. They marched up and down all day
long telling ane another their grievances - each one telling
his own and not hearing what the other chap said as long
as he could fire off his own woes. You would see the m walking
the deck all day talking of when they were going to report (?)
to the Colonial Office etc. etc. and I was had congratulated myself on at having
^ practically got my lunatic off my hands. He was extraordinarily
sane on most topics and it was only when you got him on the
subject of his province that he went off the rails - you
might travel with him for three weeks before you began to realise
that he was a bit curious and wonder if anything were wrong
with him.
But unfortunately the curtain came. They quarreled.
It was all over a dinner on the P. of W's birthday. (no, the
king's birthday, November 9). My lunatic, who like most British
subalterns was not at all xxxx shy to about spending his money proposed
that they should invite all the other passengers to drink
the king's health with that evening in champagne. The old Indian
civilian shied off the proposition at once. My man called
. . . /4
4.
him disloyal and there was a fearful row. It was just about
th n that we arrived at Port Said. My friend (?) went ashore
and bought, of all things in the world, a swordstick and a wooden
camel. (Oh, I must also tell you that he conceived the idean
and began to get over very excited about a lady, an old flame of
his, whom he said he would cable to meet him and sent a wirefor from there- that rather took his thoughts off the other subject
of the other fellow). Well he came back on board and we were
getting near our journey's end and I was beginning to congratulate
myself that the chance of trouble was disappearing when coming
down the gangway one night to dress for dinner I heard the
voice of my lunatic at the bottom of the stairs talking to
the other chap. He was standing outside his cabin. Oh Mr Y,
he said, come to my cabin to see a wooden camel which I have got.
It is a wonderful piece of work. The old civilian was mad scared
of him by this time and he refused. My man exploded and the
next thing I knew was that the old civilian had taken fright
and bolted down the alleyway between the cabins with my man
after him with a revolver. I knew xx he had this revolver
when we went about in Brit. E. Africa and I had taken all
his cartridges the second day out. When he bought the
swordstick I took that away from him too but I had forgotten
about this revolver. The old civilian managed to reach a cabin
and locked himself in and refused to come out. There was my
lunatic standing outside with his revolver in his hand
rolling with laughter. (he was a bit of a sport and he was
the . . . . . of the situation). Silly old rotter; by God I
frightened the life out of the old bugger", he said. We
had to get the Captain and a number of ship's officers down there
before we could persuade the civilian to unlock his door and
come out.
. . . /5
5.
Naturally the skipper was anxious to get rid of us at the
first possible moment. He was going to lock up my lunatic
and put him ashore at the first opportunity but I managed to
bring him round in the end to leaving us alone by undertaking
to keep him in his cabin until we got to Trieste. I put it
to him there that the captain was very angry with him for chasing
the other man and had asked us to remain in our cabin for the
rest of the voyage in order to avoid meeting the other man -
I said: "The other man is a lunatic - you ought to have seen
that - he really has no responsibility for what he may do." I
managed to keep him there by playing bridge with him for 2 solid
days - you may imagine that I have refused bridge ever since.
We played bridge morning, noon and night until the ship got
into Trieste. You may guess I was glad when Trieste appeared
on the horizon.
At Trieste we had to get into a train. You know that train.
It takes about a day and a half and in that time you have to go
through about six different countries. Of course to begin with
I lost him in Trieste. Ten minutes before the train was due to
start I had to find him. I was standing on the step of the
carriage with his luggage and . . . . . . inside watching the
platform for him, but I could not find a sign of him. About 3
minutes before the train started I saw him. He came rushing up
the platform with a paper in his hand wildly waving it and rushed
up to me shouting "There's Hope". It was a telegram from the lady.
We had trouble at every one of those border towns that we
passed. He decided not to open his luggage for anyone. What
right do they have to doubt the word of a British officer? What
right have these rotters to look at our luggage, he asked.
. . . /6
6.
He said he was damned if he were going to open his box for
any of them. The foreign officers officials didn't tumble to it.
they thought that he was just an ordinary Englishman and the
English are all mad. I did the best I could to explain
things away. We got to Calais in the end - we had left bits of
his luggage scattered round half Europe at various customs houses.
but we ourselves got through. We got into the train to London.
I was fagged out and went to sleep in the corner of the carriage.
In the rack was a helmet case of mine and in it beside my helmet
was a bowler hat. I had bought it in London just before setting out.
I had started unexpectedly and I took the hat with me in case I wanted
it. When I got half way there I realised that it was useless and
I once or twice meant to leave it behind. But I kept it until I
got to B.E. Africa, and having got it so far, I determined to
bring it back with me. So I carried that policy out bowler hat all round
the world for 18 months without being able to wear it. But now
we were approaching London it was going to be of use for the
first time.
When I woke from that sleep in the corner of the train I found
that my lunatic was looking very ill. I have been feeling very
bad old chap, he said - and very . . . . . . . your absence (?)
about us I thought you would'nt mind if I used your hat!
His father met us at the station. Poor old chap he couldn't
understand it at all. He couldn't see why it should have
happened. That was a rather pathetic ending to it all. He
ran through a lot of money in London (his lady friend turned
up to meet him. I heard of him afterwards in the Transvaal. he
was farming(?) and for all I know he may be there now.
110
Hand drawn diagram – see original document
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