Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/41/1 - March - April 1916 - Part 5

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is right. It fancy mean living
up to the highest brain pressure
all / time; & I fancy White
will find tt it wears him out.
 Xxxxxxx [The French Hospital ship
Portugal was sunk in daylight
[*31.*]
by / gunfire of a german
submarine at 8 a.m. This
day off / Anatolian coast.

31 March. Every one on board has
to wear or carry his life belt
all l time. The lifebelts are of
a sort I've never seen before
this war, filled w Kapoc.
you wdnt think it ws / sort
of material to hold you up
but if does.
We were passing very
land this morning - coasting
along / north of it. I didn't
realise what land it cd be
 

54

A fleetsweeper - one of new class -
the Veronica, was keeping pace
with us on / starboard side
 

1 55

until high up in l sky like a I saw
floating cloud what I took to
be a floating cloud but what
turned out to be a snow covered
mountain top - & Therefore ws
Crete. This is (first time I
have come North of Crete. The Veronica a fleetsweeper
We got our boat stations
this day- I am in charge of No 8 a,
- an inside ^a collapsible boat
in the inside row. Ross has
14 a, down astern. Poor old
Budden has 8 or 10 D -
a collapsible packet under
another collapsible in the
row behind mine. There are
generals in the D boats as
well as in the first ones - so
that there is no favour. We,
on the boat deck,
have to swing No 8 boat out first
The boats crew gets in up there,
the main part o / men get in
 

1 56

from / deck below. When
No 8 is lowered & away we
get out no 8A; & so on.

We had just finished
our parade & I had reached my
cabin, slung off / lifebelt, &
ws handing out some bookplates
& / Anzac Book, to Chernside
when the whistle went again,
- 6 times ws / sign for danger from submarine
"Hallo - that sounds like
/ real thing," sd Chernside.
There ws no walking this time.
Every one was trotting briskly
along buckling on life belts.
There ws no disorder - I
reached my boat in under
a minute & found half /
crew there looking over / side.
 

1 57

"Man overboard!" they someone
sd.
"There he is," sd another
pointing astern. The helm
had been put hard over &
/ ship was swinging slowly
round. I thought ^tt for a
moment I did see something
khaki coloured on / waves astern,
The just where our satin
wake began to circle. The
Veronica was turning too
We circled round - it
takes a big ship ages to
turn - & the shining ribbon
of our wake must have been
nearly a mile away parallel
to us when I someone
again said excitedly "Look- there
 

58
he is!" Following his arm I
again saw two objects of some
sort on / wave - brown or
red- probably l lifebuoys. But
the officers on / bridge were
looking in a different direction.
When I looked again I had
lost the objects in / water.
We circled slowly back into
our old course - 20 minutes
since we started - & no
sign of anything. Four thousand
eyes, I suppose, were scanning
/ water for a sight of him.
But nothing. We had been
half an hour - the cruiser
ws signalling to us - these
waters were very dangerous
the ships head was working
back into her old course
 

1 59

xxxxxxx Everybody ws sinking in
spirits - the idea of leaving
him out there, perhaps
watching us dis g turn to
leave him & fighting for life
ws more than anyone cd
contemplate - & then suddenly
a man from / boat ahead
of mine shouted "There 'e is!"
& pointed. The man next him
saw what he meant. I Little
Col. Gibbs next me sd: "There
undoubtedly was something there" -
The man who saw him whistled
shrilly & shouted to / bridge
- the ^ships officers clustered to /
side o / bridge - one ran
back to / charthouse &
/ ship swing round a
second time. We could not
 

1 60

see him now, I went for
my camera but they must
have bn watching / right
place; because when I went
for my camera & came back
he had already passed
us, close by. The Veronica
had wheeled too. We lowered
a boat, & they pulled off,
& just under / veronica's
bow we saw them pick
him up -
Then / boat came back.
There ws not any cheering.
As they boat came quite close
one sailor cd be seen sitting
across a white object in / bows
 

1 61

& another doing something chafing it w
his hands. They were doing
artificial respiration. The
white bundle showed no
sign of movement. In
dead silence / boat passed
along below beneath our side. So he
did not know he had
bn rescued, after all.
The man ws dead.
He had just been a prisoner - for
drunkenness on / ship;
he asked his guard for leave
to go to / latrine & as
he went, deliberately
jumped overboard. Probably
he ws half mad at / time.
But The difference between
German & British methods
came in upon one then. [The
 

1 62

Germans - for God knows
what reason - yesterday
morning sank a hospital
ship; the Portugal. One
of their submarines steamed
round her - she was
painted as a hosp. ship &
recognised as a hosp. ship
by / Turks. This submarine
steamed round her off /
Anatolian coast, & fired
shells into her until she
sank - Nurses, passengers
& all. What devils aim they
had in view God knows -
or the devil may.] And here
were we, for / life of one
drunken soldier, poor chap.
endangering the lives of 3500.
And every one of those 3500 wished
 

1 63

it so. They were very angry
w / man who caused /
trouble but they were all
anxious to save his life at
/ imminent risk of their
own. They knew there ws
something in tt man tt ws
worth saving - & I think,
in spite of its apparent
want of logic, / British
instinct is more valuable
than tt of German in / long run.

April 1.
This day our wireless
caught a faint S.O.S.
signal - with a latitude &
longitude given. The latitude works
out as somewhere in
Switzerland. But rumours
have been going round all