Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/59/1 - September 1916 - Part 10

10
100
what the supremacy of the
British Navy means to them,
& how much all / allies
depend on our Navy.
The first news ws of
course most misleading.
North told me tt, when /
fleet steamed back, & /
Battle Cruiser Sqn made
for the Clyde, they did not
in / least know what
casualties their own side
had had, or the enemy. They
were very much in / dark
except as to what they
actually saw; but they
realised tt / enemy had
come out for some purpose
(they think, now, tt he had a
number of commerce raider
ready wh he wanted to
smuggle out to sea- from the 
Baltic I fancy - & tt this raid
 

10

101
was to cover their depa
breaking out) - they knew
/ enemy had come out,
& had bn brought to battle,
& had struggled to avoid
a battle & finally broken
homewards in straggling
twos & threes to escape from
our fleet. xxx " We considered
we had done something for
wh we might pat ourselves
on / back - we were
rather pleased with ourselves
really, & only sorry because
the bad light had prevented
us from really smashing them up
So it we rather a shock
to come into post at Rosyth
& find everyone going about
with long faces & the papers
being sold with news of a naval
 

10
102
disaster - & find tt people wd
not believe you when you
told them tt the result ws
really rather good than
otherwise"].
But back to the Australia.
I found Crace there in the
Ward Room. they told ae
to the ship was veytitite
Crace, who had bn a youngster
in the Powerful, with a
dark brown pointed beard!
He & the commander told
me tt / ship ws very
much as she had been. Hyde
had left to become Captain
of another ship (^only lent, I am
glad to say, by the R.A.N.)
Darby, old serious Darby,
was still there - but working
as usual, so I did not
see him.
 

10
103
The ship had been taking on about
50 tons of road metal which was spread
over one of her decks - clearly wd
make big shells explained when they hit her
Should not go to the bottom of the ship and burst
in the magazine
I suppose
all our ships have bn
making quick changes.
If the German shell only
explodes when it sets
deep wh the vitals of
a ship & our shells explode
as soon as they get through
the side or the deck this
explains how it is to
German crews suffer far
more than ours - they
begin to show the nervous
strain as soon as ever
we hit them - their firing
becomes wild & scattered
& rapidly gets worse. But
 

10
104
if we take steps to
bring the same result
bursting make German
shells burst in our
upper decks we must
expect / same results.
I wonder if they use a
delay action fuse of
any sort, so tt / shell does
not burst for some fraction
of a second after striking the
first obstacle
My time on board ws
up all too soon - before I
cd see over / ship it ws
time to to. W came back
to Edinburgh; & to London by
the nights train.
It was Saty Sep. 23;
as I had to return on the
24^th Bazley & I worked
 

10
105
all that day. I had to
see Smart about getting
an official photographer
appointed for Australia -
making an experienced
cinematographer who had bn
w / Mesopotamian Expedⁿ
applied for / job.
About 12.30 that night
we were ^nearly finishing our work. The
getting when blinds o / room
were all down, & window
screened according to the
precautions enforced under
the Defence of the Realm Act
my ears caught a dull
distant "crump!" - and
a little later "crump...
.... crump!" It sounded
very familiar. I sd to
Bazley - xxxxxxxxxxxxx
"What's that Noise?". He
said "Yes, Ive noticed
it too several times."
However, it seemed to
 

10
106
be unaccompanied by
other noises - no gun
reports. I couldnt help
xxxxxxxx picturing a long sausage
or two hanging in the
night over the strand
or somewhere in the
city, dropping bomb
after bomb - but as
nothing else happened &
we cd hear, occasional
traffic in / street I put
it down that the guard on
some Underground train
was banging the doors
to - you can hear the
trains in S^t James Park
Station from the High
Commissioner's office.
About half an hour
later, having ticketed
my collection of souvenirs.
& Bazleys, for exhibitn
 

10 

107
in Smarts Australian
Commonwealth window
somewhere - relics from
Pozieres - we wentinto
the street. It was very
dark - unusually dark
I thought.
The street lamps
Hand drawn diagram – see original
were alight but they are
of course always shaded
these days, &
I think they must
have been turned
low as well. A
postal van, & one or two
taxis passed us whizzing
along the street - so things
seemed pretty normal. Not
one much was many people were about, &
it was hard to see the foot
kerb when you passed crossed a
side street.
When we got to the Windsor
 

10
108
Hotel we had to leave
my big brown canvas kit
bag with the Porter. I
heard the sound of womens
voices & laughter coming
from the back of the Porters
room, in the basement; &
it struck one. "These porters
are livelier men than they
looks if they are entertaining
a bevy of girls in there at
this time of the night". I
thought at first they must
be having a joke with
some girls who had come
in off the street, perhaps.
In depositing the bag I
looked in - & there were
two or the rather tired looking
little slips of girls in
khaki mackintoshes sitting
on a bench along the white
plaster wall of the box room,
 

10
109
laughing at the porter's chaff.
They had no hats on & were
sitting together leaning their heads
against the wall in - a rather
pathetic little group to look
remember.
It didn't strike me at
/ moment - I must be very
dense. I thought the Porters
must have been entertaining
their cousins or sisters at
a theatre & they were very
late or had missed the
train - & then as I got
went upstairs it dawned
on me. The Hotel seemed
alive with at an hour
when it ought to have bn
asleep - I cd hear one or
two people going up or
down / servants stairs -
Why - these are the servants
who live at / top o / house
driven down into / basement
to get out o / way of tt
Zeppelin Raid.