Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/8/1 - May - June 1915 - Part 11

Diagram - see original scan

92
We had to climb down the gully & up the other side
(a gully wh snipers used to creep down) & found
2 of our men looking for dead down at the bottom
of it. Upon the NZ side the trenches ran very
curiously. You c see the left flank trench
running off towards its spur; then / right
Diagram - see original scan
of it ws bent
back along

this plateau
in a perfect
maze of trenches.
The front trench
seemed to be tt
nearest to us,
wh cd fire across / valley. It was here
somewhere that their spendidly concealed
m.g lay. There ws one dead Turk on /
top & / remains of several others - old ones.
Some lime had bn sprinkled on one. I
did hear - dont know if true- tt these
trenches were made by the Deals.
They end near a battery - N.Z guns
well concealed. Then comes a bit of open
plateau. Then a shallow trench leading over
/ edge o / plateau. It is here, away on
the N.W. point, that the "Sphinx" curiously
shaped razor topped bluff they call the
"Sphinx" is. There were two men, trying to
get out onto / end of it – in a most perilous
sort of positn - amusing themselves.
Beyond far ov across / valley you cd see / ridge
wh makes / left of our line.
[Sketch - see original scan]

^x This was really Russell's Top.
----

White has no head for heights &
he couldn't walk along
that Razor Edge Spur.

93
We here came on the razor edge joining this
plateau w / one at / back of our beach.
Diagram - see original scan

The Plateau we
had just left ws called
^x Plugges. We got back didnt
attempt to climb up to the
top on this razor edge ^x - but
got half way

Diagram - see original scan
along it
& then cut down to the left &
by a path over the top. There is wire even up there
so they are preparing pretty well. Back past the
mountain battery to lunch at 1.20.

This quite disillusioned me as to truces.
We wanted it to clean the battlefield for our men.
The Turks wanted it to get rifles. The Turks made
no pretence of burying many of their fellows so far
as I cd see. We both frankly reconnoitred the
other's position- I dont know which got the
best of it. Our men got a days rest but so did
theirs. Personally I do I thought this truce a
good thing before it came off - but I dont think
I wd ever desire a truce again under the
same circumstances; better to go on & let them
attack again if they want to with such knowledge
as they have.

Tuesday May 25th
Went up with Watson to have a
look at Quinns. When we got up half a mile up the
Gully we began to found the 2nd Inf. Bde & the 1st LH Bde

94
camped there. And ahead of us was a big traverse built
up almost like a stack out of sandbags. We were
sauntering past this towards a second when the man
there told us: "Better run between these – from one to
the other. They can see you from the ridge ∧at the end & thats
where the sniper works." I noticed many men did
not run all the same - but I think the majority
did. The sniper ws quiet at that moment, but before
we had gone 100 yds he had started, & every now & then
a bullet thumped into the sand bags. It is only for abt
200 yds that he is dangerous. After that you get too
close under him & neither he nor the shrapnel are
really dangerous there. It is curious tt just behind /
firing line you are practically safe except at Quinns
where they manage to throw bombs over.
Looked in & saw Monash & Jess (who is appted
Bde Major 2nd Bde acc. to our divisional orders but
has not heard of it from his own divn yet. He ws
a school master & is a very capable chap. He
told me how on the night of the 1st attack on
700 - I think it was - he was up rallying some men
on Dead mans Ridge when a machine gun got
after him. He managed to squeeze into the
ground & round the corner into the Gully &
so into Quinns – but it ws a moment of real
terror. Having one of those things feeling for you
must be like having a prehistoric monster
after you.
Monash's H.Q. are within 150 yds, I dare
say, of the 1st Bn. firing line. The 1st Bde H.Q.
are within 50 yards or less of it - & so with
the others. This is one of the peculiarities
of this sort of warfare.

^x Your man
as a spy.
95
Monash told me how when the Deals were up in
the trenches he recd. an urgent message abt
the 6th May at abt 6 pm. from the 2nd Section that
reinforcements were wanted. He also got a
message from Gen. Godley asking him to come
down & see him. Gen. Godley sd he ws sorry
to have to send for him at such a serious time
but they had just bn informed by the 1st Australian
Divn that / Turks had got into / front trenches
of the section held by / Marines just agst his
flanks. He wanted him to go back & retake these
trenches. Monash sent up first a company of
the 14^th Br. to reinforce the Royal Marines
& see what had happened. When the young officer
in charge of this Coy one platoon of the 14^th got up near the
trench in question he found the men who had
bn in it. "Why don't you go back again?"
he asked them. But that did not suit them at all.
One man described how the Turks had got into
the trench and bayoneted the man beside him &
he ran away. As the Marines wd not go back
the officer of the 14th went on. He found three of lines
of empty trenches & not a sign of a Turk.

That ws / night I went up & got
in amongst some of our men who were
reinforcing the Deals. It strikes me now I
was pretty lucky not to be shot.^x
Watson & I pushed on up to Quinns,
Jess & another officer v. kindly showing us the
way. The near men in / trenches were being
relieved just at this moment. One of them

96
ws carrying up the new periscope gun. "I'm
tired of fightin' Turks," he sd as he passed. "Im goin'
to play them cricket now." "Give me the first over"
said one of the others.

As we went up they were asking for
miners. It turned out that they had heard the
Turks mining. They decided to countermine.
Some o / They had pushed in a tunnel some
distance & / Turks were now (so the miner sd)
about 5 feet away from them. They cd hear it -
we didn't – but we didn't get down into the
sap to try. We crept along to see / work,
though. Here ws a bit of trench wh ws
empty because so exposed to bombs - only
about 3 yards of it - very ragged & torn abt
/ edges. You got into it thro a tunnel
(the one in wh / dead Turk was). At / end
ws another tunnel. And there, down
just below / level o / floor o / trench ws /
head of the man countermining.
Diagram - see original scan

97
They were to blow this mine in at 5.30
& Blamey tells me they did so - quite a
slight explosion, not as loud as a shell.
They blocked their end somehow. The counter
mine was just over the mine & the
men say it blew down into it all right.
They were miners so they ought to know. The
only miscarriage ws tt / troops were
all stood to arms for 2 hours afterwds
bec. someone forgot to tell them not to.

We went from there into Courtneys.
You can only keep a periscope up a few
seconds there. Watson was beside us
when Bang went the periscopes in his
hand with a report like a rifle. A bit
of the glass went into his forearm,
another bit half thro the peak of his cap.
Gen. Bridges had 2 periscopes shot out
of his hand & Gen Walker has had 4. Today
a piece of bullet splintered off one into his forearm.
The shock of the hit agst / periscope is
considerable. On one occasion it knocked
Gen Walker off the parapet. The noise it
makes is as loud as the crack of a rifle.
Some people paste calico over / back o /
periscope to prevent splintering.

We were in Courtneys - 
just leaving it when some man running
through a branch of it sd something abt a

98
Submarine. We took it that / fellows
outside must be able to see / ships
firing at one; & so we ran on too out to
the shelfs at / back where / supports hang
on under / ∧precipitous edge o / hill. As we came
out, in / big triangle of sea wh one cd
see out of spanning / bottom o / gully were a
number of destroyers & small boats
collecting abt a particular point.
Between them - abt in / centre of where
there were collecting was what looked like
a very long low red-lead painted horse barge
He I ws trying to make out if / destroyers
were firing at any thing when somebody,
sd "Yes - thats her, bottom up - she
in the middle of them - A submarine
got her."

It was the old Triumph. Just
twenty minutes before we came out
o / trench a submarine had topedoed
her. Five minutes before she had suddenly
turned turtle - & we were looking at /
last struggle of her with all / little ∧steam pinnaces
& the trawlers & destroyers hurrying
up for all they were worth to pick up any
men tt might be in / water.
The It happened tt Capt. A. Gorman
was sitting down on / beach talking to
Lt. Clowes who ws observer for / Triumph

99
when it happened. Clowes ws to have gone off to
/ balloon ship, but / submarine scare had put an
end to / arrangements apparently. They saw / whole
thing.
At ∧a quarter past twelve o'clock the Triumph ws lying off
K. Tepe with a destroyer close to her. The other
ships were all moving but she ws not movng or
moving v. slowly. She had her torpedo nets out
& I suppose ws trusting to them. It ws just / 
when ws She ws lying with her head pointing
away from / land. Exactly at 12.15 o'c a white
geyser of foam rose on her starbd side a little
forward of amidships, & immediatel as it
reached its full height & began to fall away there
seemed to rise out of it an enormous geyser of
black smoke wh shot as high as / masthead.
This occurred on / side nearest to Anzac &
can as the smoke cleared away / ship immediately
listed down on her starbd side so tt her deck
showed up to all of the Australians watching from
every ridge & hillside. As the ship heeled & heeled
more - every minute - Turks cd be seen out on the
hill at Kaba Tepe watching her. For / time
all firing had ceased.
The moment the Triumph was struck
the destroyer wh ws lying close under the ∧port counter
of the Triumph cd be seen, shooting two or three shots
at something wh we cd not see out 500 or
1000 yards across / water to the N.W. The shot
cd be seen flicking / water. Then destroyers
all over / bay began to move & quicken
to full speed rushing towards / Triumph.
A signal ws made & all / little picket

100
boats & pinnaces on our beach dropped their work & 
cut for dear life started putting out towards / sinking
ship. The trawlers ∧were moving; the destroyer alongside
had pushed her side close up against / listing ship
as you a xxx child might press its cheek up against
that of a dying father. The ship was all / while heeling
visibly - moving as slowly as / hands of a clock
move but still moving obviously going to her
death. The men cd be seen jumping from her decks
into / water, stripped of their clothes - one after / other,
sometimes half a dozen at a time. Others as
/ deck rose & rose climbed up it & sat along /
taffrail. When ws A huge cloud of steam started escaping from
/ funnels. A Her torpedo net on / port side cd be
seen rising slowly into / air, propped out on its line
of booms.

The Australians ∧on / hills watched her until while  her
deck gradually came down & met / water - there
ws not a man left on / deck then. It ws about
a quarter of an hour from / point of explosion.
Then, at an instant wh everyone seems to have noticed,
the rate of her heel suddenly began to increase.
She Every one knew tt she had begun to capsize - the movement
quickened, quickened, & then she suddenly fell
over. Her funnels & decks striking the
water sent up a great spout of foam - the
deck sent a great wash of foam away from it - as
if she were fighting a great death struggle. The
Her red keel came up - as clean as
if it were painted yesterday; a for minutes
afterwds, the water foamed & waved about
it strangely, as if I suppose the air ws
escaping from some hidden place reservoir

101
within her. That water was still waving, struggling
occasionally when we saw her from Quinns Post.
There ws As her keel came up many people noticed
a cloud dense whisp of white steam escaping from some point in
it. I suppose the engine room was full of steam
& it was escaping from some one of her Kingston
Valves.
The destroyer stood by her until she had
actually begun to take her final list. When that movement
had actually begun she slowly drew clear - only a
few moments before the great rudder & the square balanced
rudder & the twin screws showed out from the surface.
The men must have been pouring down onto the destroyers
deck all this time. As she drew clear she her decks
cd be seen packed with men.

A few There were two ships by the Triumph at
this time - a trawler & the destroyer; the trawler
one small boat was working between them. A second
destroyer rushed up full speed, pulled up like
a galloping horse. Three small boats shot out
beyond her immediately. Third & Fourth destroyers
were already up - in a few minutes there were
8 destroyers around her - & 5 more scouring
the sea for miles around. They had mostly come from Cape Helles.
Whilst the ship was still bottom upward the
destroyers were noticed to fire on some object
some way to the West of them & hurry off after it -
before that others had scurried to the N.E.
It was at 12.15 when she ws struck.
It ws 12.30 when she turned over. At 12.50,
exactly she quietly slid beneath the surface &
sank leaving the destroyers & small craft
all helpless, looking on the sea around her.
The Turkish batteries were firing on them.