Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/16/1 - August - September 1915 - Part 6

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& Gulf of Smyrna. To patrol
these we have raised a motor
boat flotilla consisting of 2 or
3 boats - the Bessie, the
Eumalla - old pleasure boats
fitted with 3 pdr or maxims.
The Boats are under Mr 
Hadkinson, a member of a
Smyrna family, who had a
big farm in Macedonia before
/ war. He is a genial cheery
white haired chap exactly like
a typical Admiral & he
manages his little fleet
exactly after the style of an
Admiral - flagship, the
Eumalla, French built
twin screw motor boat abt 8
knots, 3 pdr & one maxim
gun, captained by her owner

We have shut up a
German submarine in
Aivali with mines &
nets.

62
Mr ^Bowring Toms (L^t. R.N.M.B.R.)
Well, today we landed &
went for a 3 or 4 mile
walk through Turkey. We
sailed to Pyrgos I, near
Aivally, & went ashore on
the mainland. Turkish
soldiers sometimes visit /
place - they say there is a
garrison of one ^Turkish officer &
45 men on some hills wh
you can see about 2 miles
away - otherwise / Turks
leave Aivali & its 20,000
inhabitants alone. They
know these are well armed
& muster abt 2000 rifles.

Well we steamed into
the beautiful lagoon like
harbour between the islands

63
- the little circle of Islands
wh almost surround the
promontory on wh Aivali
stands - The hills were
the faint distant purple of
an old fashioned dropscene
or oleograph - water glassily
smooth, reflexions exquisite
- dimpled purple & blue &
red, & yellow. We went
ashore under / wing of
an ex-brigand, "Captain
John" is the only name I
know him by, or "Little John".
He is always thirsting to be
in it. He was found by the
Eumalla the other day
within reach of the rifles of
the Turks, in his boat, 

64
with one sound companion,
one with a bullet thro' his
brain & another injured
with some bullet wound.
Then A report had come thro'
tt / Turkish soldiers had been
illtreating women of Aivali
by forcing them to give up food.
So He waded straight in & shot
some, but he went too far &
was nearly caught.

He was a brigand in
Anatolia before / war - 
with a Turkish band, who
chiefly attacked rich Beys &
then gave most o / ransom
to the ^poor people who harboured
him or whom / Turks

65
suppressed. He ws eventually
caught by / Turks - abt
300 men got round him &
he had fired off all his
ammunition. The Turks
by one of those extraordinary
lenient judgements of theirs,
let him off w 10 yrs. The
first thing he did on getting
out was to go off & find his
betrayer & shoot him.

During this war he
has been a captain of
our ruffians. He wore carried
a belt w a double row of
cartridges & a Lee Enfield 
magazine rifle. Under
his coat ws slung a pair of
binoculars. He wore a

66
fairly well made dark
brown suit, blue putties
& a sheepskin cap

Sketch - see original 
- his eyes were
blue & looked at you
very steadily. His cheekbones
were high. I dareday he
knows he has a terror of a
name amongt / populatn
& makes a bit of money
out of the information wh
he chooses to give or not to
give.

He took us abt 2 miles
- on / Turkish mainland -
to a fruit farm where /
proprietor sat us down
under a shady pergola &

67
filled us up w pomegranite.
The place reminded me of
an Australian irrigation
farm at Curlwa, or
Renmark. Fishermen
dynamited some mullet
for us & then speared them
(^a dynamite cartridge
I believe costs 1 fr. so that
the method is an expensive
one if you dont get
many at one cast.)
Two of the French

A prisoner - Turk -
was taken / other day &
sent across to an island
w some of these guards on it
it. They are not friendly to

Sketch - see original

68
till he cd be removed.
The scallyways are not
friendly to / Turks after
Phoikia - when they went
to take him off he wasnt
there. "Oh, he escaped,"
they said - "we dont know
where he is." They were
told that they must tell /
truth. Well - they had
cut him up into three
pieces - that ws scarcely
small eno' for a Turks.

We left bread for these people
at one small isIand - Gumno.
They came down to / beach &
waited for our dinghy - in every
sort of piratical garment, exactly
like so many scallywags out of
Treasure Island, all bandoliers &
knives & rifles - snider cartridges

69
& British Lee Enfield cartridges.
When the boat delivered / bread there
were a dozen of them there to
receive it & a tremendous
altercation arose. I cd see our
Gk boatman shrugging his shoulders
& gesticulating - I don't know what
the trouble was - the bandit
whom he brought back was
most mild mannered altough
he looked black & fierce enough.
We took off a couple of spies that
John had captured (or suspected)
rather sheepish young men they
looked. The military governor
had chosen them (they were Gks)
to watch the motor boat's
movements & report - just as
our guards watch for their
submarines, I suppose.

One incident in / life of the

70
motor boat patrol ws when she
spotted one morning, opp. Mitylene,
the periscope of a submarine
abt 3 miles away - flashing
& turning in / sun - very pretty -
like the eye of some curious
inquiring monster. It flashed &
flashed for 20 minutes. The
Eumalla ws much too small
fry for it - it ws waiting for /
Albion; & must have had
notice tt / Albion ws to leave
Iero tt morning. Presently
out / Albion came. The 
motorboat had signalled to her
to beware of submarines &
she was off like a flash.

The skipper comodore of the motorboat
flotilla says tt / navy ws
warned by / French some days
before / Royal Edward ws