Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Fred Hamilton-Kenny letter diary, 29 August-19 October 1914
MLMSS 930/Item 1
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Fred Hamilton - Kenny
Volume 1
Diary
29 Aug - 19 Oct - 1914
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Saturday Aug 29 - 1914 -
H - M - A - A - S - Upolu -
His Majestys Auxiliary Steam Ship Upolu
At sea
Dear girl
Day by day I am going to write & tell our tale and post when I can - you had my last from Newcastle - Elms (Chief Officer) Herbert [indecipherable] & I had aft t at the Cafι Rawson & were back on board by 4 - 45 at 5 a general muster was held not a man missing - 'Fall out' was heard & the crew went off a small party of blue jackets from the Naval depot cast off our ropes & by 5 - 30 we were clear of the wharf - no crowd to see us off - All was quiet - silent no one knew in Newcastle -
Now we paced the deck to see which way her bows went presently we saw our Bows swing North & we all fell [indecipherable] & one or two cheered -
Dinner at 6 - 30 or rather 7 - 30 & as this was our first dinner on real active service we had some wine - we have but one toast The King - Before that toast all is decorum but after that gag time & any man can tell his worst yarn & generally things are lively -
I turned in at 9 - 30 & slept - - One had a slight feeling that things weren't quite normal - not one of us has seen war or been on active service & the bigness of the war & the fact that we were are a unit in it & have to do our small part gives one a sense of responsibility - However feelings of that sort have to go - we are all of us going to see the game thro & do our level best for Australia & the Empire -
Sat 10 am - Breakfast & deck - All well 9 - 30 'Submarines on the starboard bow' was reported - I got my glasses & there 6 miles out just above the water were our darlings - I haven't named them yet - I took some time picking them up - Very little to be seen - Very little freeboard - I saw the Conning Tower - What there is of them when sunk must be mighty little - Infernal things - Our game is to smash any German cruiser & their game is to sink us & the submarines - Jolly sweet game isn't it??
(By the way nothing I say must get to the papers - to tell friends but no paper
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Sat - 1 pm - We have seen no more of the submarines AE1 & AE2 They have gone on ahead -
We came to Tacking Point which is on the coast near Port Macquarie - Presently we saw the smoke of a boat - low down - We made her out as a gun boat - She was the gunboat 'Protector' - We slowed & she came up signaled & past us -
Presently the captain came up & said Its follow your leader to Palm Island Palm Island is 46 m North of Townsville no settlement - In case we separate that is our rendezvous - In this tub we shall take 5 dys or more covering the 900 miles to Palm Island - P - Island is on the Barrier Reef 40 miles from the mainland -
Well, we'll get our sea legs & get things fitted up - We ought to have had 2 - 3 carpenters one is not enough - There's a galley to be made on deck - men's quarters to have more bunks in them - my dispensary shelves & only one man to do it - He wont rest anyway -
I'm looking at what I've got & seeing how I can make shift - I do think that we've done fairly well for a body of men chucked together suddenly - some of us with a few hours notice & things are fairly shipshaped - ee have 3 months provisions & a lot of sheep so we shant go short -
Monday Aug 31 - 14
We put in a quiet day - The gunboat was leading & we just followed the whole of Sunday - Two boats going South were signaled but they held on & took no notice -
Monday mg - Captain & I inspected the ship - This just suits me & my sense of cleanliness, punctuality & order = We're going to have our boat clean & shipshape - tub though she is & the men will be well & fit for duty if I've any say in the matter - This aftn we got a couple of revolvers & had
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some practice - We all did a bit but no one was much good - I got a Centre Bull by a bit of luck - Rawdon will tell you what a CB is -
At 10 am we were off Sandy or Fraser Island so we're moving along - The old tub cant do more than 8 knots an hour - Everyone on the boat is cheerful & jolly & well & we are glad to be going North. The idea is we shall join the Fleet - Patey is the Admiral of the Fleet - we hear that the Hospital ship Grantala went N ahead of us with some Doctors & Nurses fully equipped - I'm alone but I know I can do a bit if wanted - One or two men have been sick bay attendants in the Navy - This is the last day of August - What a change from that of July - We've had no news by wireless since Friday eveg = we hope to get news this way - we're not allowed to send messages but may receive them - By the way on the Submarines is a nephew of Besant & also a nephew of Rider Haggard so we're quite a literary crowd -
AE1 & AE2 are the only Australian Submarines & only landed here via Thursday Island last May - Herbert L - E - was educated in part at Armidale is a B.Sc. BE of Sydney - I'm - so far as this ship is concerned - the only pure Englishman - All the rest were born out of England - Herbert & I represent - New England -
Tuesday Sept 1 - 14 -
We are off Rockhampton - The sea is smooth & indigo blue - we are in the tropics & the weather is distinctly warmer - Last night we had a reminder that we are at war - We were playing whisky poker before dinner when the Captain came along & said - We've got to put all lights out in the ship - He'd been signalled to by the gunboat - Out went our glims navigation lights & all - we put dead lights in to our port holes & only used just bare necessary light - A steamer passed on the
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Port side & she must have wondered who we were - we could see her change her course & she seemed to accelerate her speed - Two ships without a light in war time wd - scare most I fancy -
We are right under Admiralty rules & may be ordered to go anywhere I find - during the rest of the war - We shall follow up the Submarines & they're bound to be used somewhere - We may see some fire yet -
By the way if you get a cable with - 'All well' Kenny be quite satisfied - We maynt send more I'm told - What is my way of life - you'll say? Well, its ordered - First & foremost is this - If wanted - you drop everything instantly & go where you are wanted at once - Everyone does that & in war - time you are extra smart & anxious to help - That great rule stands first & foremost - I get up about 6 am - Have toast & tea & read - I am reading Grobe's History of Greece & what men did years ago - Its much like what we are doing now fighting - Then I shave & have my bath - Shower wont work so I've a pail & go ahead - Breakfast 8 - 30 - I'm very moderate - Then I read or see any client & at 11 am Captain - I - Chief Officer & Master at Arms go round the ship & inspect - I read till 12 - 30 when we have lunch - After lunch I may shoot or write but don't read - I've been looking up my medicine chests so as to be ready for any emergency - 4 pm aft tea & talk - We generally have some physical drill about 5 pm & dinner at 7 - If the glims are doused we talk on deck
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about 9 pm I generally go to bed - quiet steady life - The food is all right & we are a very contented jolly crowd - From all I can see & hear if our chaps get a chance they'll distinguish themselves -
W'day Sept 2 -
Fine weather - ports open - Temp 75 ° F - Jolly - We are passing islands bare on the W but with trees & vegetation, so far as we can judge, on the Eastern or Pacific side -
Talking last night I learnt that our oil fuel on board is worth 3000 £ Each torpedo 400 £ - we have spare ones - we have a spare periscope - value 500 £ It was said the value of the ship's cargo is £ 10000 - We have 1600 packets of revolver ammunition & ? 14000 cartridges - 303 that R knows for our magazine Lee Enfield - we are worth capturing - However we are mighty well looked after & the vessel wd - Be sunk before we gave her up to any Germans - Our notion is, in case a cruiser came in sight to go for the shore for all we'r worth - The gunboat isn't worth much so far as fighting goes so she'd signal our Submarines & then fall back on them - By the way we haven't seen them since last Saty but they're somewhere round -
All well on board - I report daily to the Captain a man put his foot thro a skylight yesterday but got off light - Just fancy, not a word of war news since we started - By the way I find each torpedo when fully equipped costs close on 800 £ The steel part holds the machinery & propelling power - To its end is fixed a 'war head' - This contains the explosive & it comes into contact with a ship's side - A force of 400 lbs liberates its energy & tears a hole in the ship's side - Gun Cotton is the explosive -
Thursday 8 am -
We are anchored off Townsville - The Protector alongside & the Hospital ship - Grantala is here too
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I'll get a chance to post this -
All has gone very well so far - No hitch - Our boat is very slow & that's a draw back -
Keep this epistle of mine & number it for I may want to refer to it - I want to get a knowledge of & be able to express that knowledge about the finest navy amp; the biggest navy of all time. We are a humble unit but our chaps of course know the ropes & I'm here to learn all I can of men & ships & war - They say our two submarines are the finest in the navy - & that the Commanders Besant & Stoker are two very fine sailors & fighters -
I think of you all & what's going on at my little home - Kiss the children & tell Rawdon I'm always thinking of him & trust he's a fine boy
& learning to be punctual & generous & to help you & Maidie - don't forget a quiet pony - Maidie is a fine girl & will come on all right - We are all cheerful optimists on the Upolu & the world goes all the better with us because of the cheeriness of everyone - Goodbye - Don't talk about our equipment & be vy - careful not to tell the press anything -
No leave allowed - (2 pm) -
Your lvg husband
Fred
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Sept 9 1914
H.M.A.S. Upolu
Louisiade Archipelago
Dear girl
This day 2 months back I was close up to Warwick going for Glen Innes - To - day I am on a rotten tub - misnamed a ship in the pay of the Admiralty steaming behind the gunboat Protector thro an unsurveyed sea [indecipherable] are at the SE part of New Guinea amidst a [indecipherable] islands - I've just counted - 4 - on the starboard quarter - The sea is the Coral Sea - The Protector leads & our orders are to follow - close - & with precision - She'll [indecipherable] first anyway we reckon if there are any coral pinnacles just under the surface & not seen by her -
This is Wednesday aftn - I've not put pen to paper since my last to you on Friday at Townsville - We left on Friday about midnight & steamed out - North again inside the Barrier - We went on quietly on all Sat but in the eveng we went E thro the Grafton passage - this passage lets you thro into the Pacific & we soon noticed the difference - Pitch toss roll the cow - One by one we silently went under & there was an epidemic of mal de mer - my 3 medicine & other chests all turned upside down - I had got them nice & neat in the aft - By George there was a splutter - Saty night was rotten so was Sunday - about noon on the Sunday something went wrong in the engine room & we stopped the Pacific rolled us slowly from side to side - Some of the men fished & then up swam 2 sharks 1 6 foot & the other 10 - 12 feet
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We baited a hook with a big bit of pork & soon the shark took pork hook & all - we hadn't a real good shark hook - One of the ratings got his rifle & when he came right up on the surface let drive - He hit him fair & square & off old shark went & we saw him no more - It was a sight for a naturalist to see a shark turn right over & show the full white belly when he bit - I'd never seen this - They seem to turn right over slowly & then a sudden rush & snap - We made some good shark hooks yesterday & we shall go at it again & Rawdon & you shall have a tooth each -
Then we saw two Bonito or Dolphins round the ship - The point to me was their brilliant purple color - The front half, including fins seemed to me a wonderful color scheme in purple - Then the ship went on roll, pitch toss in a lubberly sea all Sunday - All Monday & some of Tuesday - I got control of myself fairly soon & by keeping on top side & starving didn't do so bad - Tuesday aftn - We got word by signal that Simpson Haven was our bourne - Now
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S.H. is in New Britain in the centre of the German archipelago & Riboult is its town & now we are steaming at 8 knots per hour & we are but 400 miles off -
We are on an even Keel & all joly once amp; again but she's a cranky, rusty old tub - always something going wrong with her - The Cook's mate says she frightens the engineers & firemen - Fine weather she's all right but when she gets her tail out & races one wonders how things hold together -
We are off the S.E. of N. Guinea & going thro a whole lot of islands mostly wooded but not the cocoa nut palm evidently - N.G. went S. E. & there sank & these islands are the tops & knobs of high land or else coral islands - A small, white bellied stormy Petrel & flying fish are the sole life - I saw a Frigate or it might be a Bosun bird with the long tail feathers this morning -
Friday - Sept 11 - 14 Raboul
We all put in a very good day - we met the Fleet - Australia with Admiral Patey - Cruisers Sydney & Melbourne - The Berrima with her mob of soldiers & The Parramatta - a destroyer - We got to Simpson Haven & as the Protector & Upolu steamed in the
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Fleet save the Parramatta steamed out past us - It's a huge harbor & presently we got order to anchor & down our mud hook went -
We had a good look round - Some very high hills 2000 feet & more - A Well formed crater of an extinct volcano - A foreshore of Cocoa nut trees & dense jungle - Native huts & [indecipherable] colored natives - Two native catamarrans with naked niggers - save for a loin cloth - came near us but there was no trade - We cd - see Raboul in the distance - Presently my presence was requested on the Protector so I was the only man to leave the ship - They sent a boat for me & Captain Spooner welcomed me & asked me to see two of his men & then asked me to lunch - Right -o - We ate & talked & then I learnt that Raboul hadn't surrendered but that Herbert Hohe - a small township on the shores of Simpson Haven we passed it coming up had just pulled down the German flag - All had happened this morning - we saw the good old Union Jack up - Half the Naval Brigade had been landed somewhere & were fighting & had sent for reinforcements & that was why the Fleet & Berrima had gone out past us - The Parramatta was in front of Raboul & evidently some arrangement had been come to because we got a message that all the mines had been swept up & navigation was clear -
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The Grantala too was signalled - I hated this because I wanted the lot to myself - However I was very nice to the Protector crowd & if they send a landing party you bet I'm there to help - Presently we went up on quarter deck & yarned away Spooner is English - 30 - out 2 years - Then our Motor boat hove alongside & Elms & Porter were asked aboard amp; we had Port wine & yarned & then left -
By the way a prize turned up S.S. Sumatra in charge of a prize crew followed by the Parramatta - a German trader - but ours now - She anchored close to us & we steamed round her & had a look at the fat German skipper & the armed blue jackets & thanked goodness we were top dogs -
We then turned the nose of the motor in shore & by Jove the dense jungle & the coco nuts excited our great admiration - An intensely green dense jungle almost to the water edge forms the fore shore - That extends back & then up go the hills some low & others cone shaped towering to heaven - A shrub some 8 - 10 feet was a blaze of scarlet but I could not determine its kind
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We steamed along & then the rain came on - Tropical rain & we dived for the cabin I can tell you - Native huts & compounds & naked men & women, save for loin cloths went past us but off we went to the Upolu & landed wet thro - We changed & got up top side & then the sky cleared & a lovely eveg came on - Presently we got orders to weigh anchor & steam 5 Cables astern of the prize - We steamed - Protector led the prize in the middle & we astern - Presently the Australia loomed up & came close in & we 3 went round her - We cd see the Melbourne & the Berrima at Herberts Hohe but that was a long way off - The Flag ship 3 funnelled & grim with her 800 men aboard & the admiral on the bridge looked fine - There was a immense mob of men watching us as we went slowly round - Our old cow is bad to handle but we managed to keep in line - Herbert took a snap shot at my instigation 2 in fact & then we 3 went to Raboul
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We took position in front of the town with the Parramatta & Protector on our right & the Sumatra on our left - We saw no one no boats came off - The German flag flew at one or two points & a lot of now Deutsch flags white with an anchor flew over sheds & buildings but no Union Jack - The Australia remained outside - No Germans apparent but I picked up a small mob with my glasses -
You never saw such an apparently dead & deserted township - There cant be more than 5 -600 souls here -
Well then we dropped anchor & had dinner & after dinner the 2nd officer got his mandoline & we had rag time songs & our boat looked like a corner public house on a Saty night (We are looked on as a rag time ship Robert D Lee is our rag name) - The Parramatta chap promptly made us darken ship & out went every glim - He thought we'd have a dance next or a Stoker's night out - Bed & sleep & up at 6 - Breakfast at 8 - Position unchanged - Still the German flags flying & we in position
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What's up? We don't know - A good deal of feeling at the German flag still flying & one or two inquiries if we might fire on the flag & what wd - happen to the chap who fired - What wd happen to him? I wonder -
Two boat loads of men have gone off from the Parramatta to the shore & that's all I know & I know as much as most - They came round last night to find out who cd handle a rifle & I put my name down as I am a bally marksman at any rate I can handle a rife intelligently - Munn's boy is on the Berrima I fancy & if I get a chance I shall look up any Glen Innes chaps & have a talk -
There is one thing I do hope will happen & it is this that we stick to all German New Guinea & to all these German Islands - This is a superb harbor & a 300 mile island & lots of real good land - Let Australia have it - never yield save to force - All this side of the Pacific should be ours & our flag should fly -
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All I've seen reminds me of North Qld = There are fertile patches for sugar bananas Citrus fruits & Coco plantations - there are fine plantations to be seen all round - The Union Jack stands for freedom, justice & fair play & colonists of any race will prosper under us - This may sound high falutin but I feel & we all feel very strongly that 'this bit of the world belongs to us' & we want peace & plenty in it - There are 2 Jap flags a red ball on a white ground - 'A fried egg Sailors call it' flying at the fore peak of 2 schooners - They are our allies - A Chinese flag - horizontal stripes - yellow, white, blue, red flies close by - You bet I'm looking round, talking & getting any amount of jolly experience - It's a man's game & these chaps are men & real good chaps - You shd see a bally contraption made on board to slide a torpedo into the sea & let her fly in case we'd been bailed up - The Protector wd not be much good & so these chaps determined to try & have a slap on their own -
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We don't talk about it because they say the fleet would laugh - You should have seen the way the men entered into the idea of slaying someone even though their failure must cause our destruction - Fancy now we'd go up with a shell into an oil ship & 8 war heads full of gun cotton forward - Well, well, it's a funny queer game -
2 pm - Not so bad - We are in the thick of things - Raboul has not surrendered & and that is why all the German flags are up - At 11 am I went off to the Parramatta with Patterson & Herbert - I met Warren the Commander - Everybody was dressed anyhow - We had gin cocktails & heard that there had been fighting at Kagakaul a wireless station - Commander Elwell dead & Surgeon Pockley also - Native police led by German officers had mined & entrenched the place - It was captured & destroyed - Kagakaul was evidently the place the fleet were sending reinforcements to yesterday - There has been fighting at Herbert Hohe but we've no details - The Admiral hadn't touched Raboul - We left the Parramatta & got back - Presently in came the Melbourne, the boat R & I were on in Brisbane - She anchored - then the Aorangi came in ditto - Then our 2 submarines hove in sight - then some colliers & then the flag ship - Australia - The Australia lies anchored 5 cables (1C= 600 feet) in front of us - We lie between her and the shore line about opposite the centre of Raboul -
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The submarines looked just like whales - They came alongside us & the offers came aboard - Besant Haggard Stoker Moore Scarlett from Gayndah way & others - We lunched & talked & then from the deck we watched the Admiral's ship transmitting the news about Kagakaul & his regrets at the fatalities - We don't know how many Germans are dead nor about Herbert Hohe (Hohe must refer to the hills at the back) -
Raboul will come now a landing party will go out - No shelling of course - We all wonder we weren't sniped at last night till we doused our lights -
The war ships are coaling - The Parramatta lies with banked fires ready to slip out & collar anything - No German ships warships are collared yet - Their bases are being destroyed - We look a bit imposing & of course are a very formidable crowd - The Australia dominates everything & everybody & is a splendid looking ship = The Murex - an oil ship - is also here - The Submarine men look very fit - They put into Port Moresby - They say the Townsville contingent
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put in there & 500 men were yelling We want food - We want water" It looks as if things had been over hurried & overlooked - Port Moresby was armed to the teeth against possible German cruisers - I've jotted all this down so as to keep things alive - It's very fine all this powerful action & energy of men in the prime of life & everything regarded as a joke & yet a strong vein of thoroughness & determination thro it all -
The Empire is at its best!! with its Naval Men -
Dense rain is now falling -
7pm H Hohe is ours - Men were landed & in skirmishing order went thro & took possession -
At 4.30 pm up comes the Berrima with Australian troops & steams to a huge wharf - We were close up & watched with great interest to see what wd happen - Nothing happened - The troops did not land but will to - morrow morning - The Encounter & the Sydney are here so we're pretty formidable - What we wanted was to see all the German flags hauled down to-day - I'll wind up this to-day with a yarn of the fight at Karakaul - One of our men collared a man of the Native Police & threatened to shoot him unless he sounded the 'Cease firing' This the chap did with great vigor - There upon 2 Germans rushed up & wanted to know who the hell told him to sound Cease fire' - They were collared & turned out to be the Commander of the German operations & his lieutenant
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Sunday - Sept 13 - 14
Mail goes off 4pm to - day by the Melbourne - Flag ship sent that message round the fleet last eveg - The whole Australian Fleet is here & we look very fine & large - It's a little like comic opera our overwhelming force & these defenceless places - However its war & got to be done - Thank heaven its mainly bloodless - Poor Pockley will feel the loss of his boy - Mab & I shook hands with him at that Congress in Sydney at the close of the ball in the Town Hall - I was up last night looking after a Chinaman one of the crew of the captured Sumatra - His guard made me laugh - The guard was an immense man & the Chinaman very small & inoffensive looking guard had loaded rifle fixed bayonet & was in full marching order with contraptions hanging all over him - I had to consider the question of chloroform & an operation by a tallow candle - Eventually I sent guard & all over to one of the war ships with a note to the doctor - Its raining - No leave of course - Ribaul is occupied - We saw the troops going ashore a bloodless occupation -
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Part I
I hope you'll get this all right - You've a narrative outline of events & what I've seen & done -
Kiss the children - I'm always thinking about you & the peaceful Glen Innes home - The contrast to all this grim armament is striking but this armament is the sole precursor & the bedrock mainstay of peaceful homes thro our empire - There is but one feeling here & that is that Germany has got to be thoroughly thrashed at any cost as one old sailor said when we hoisted the white ensign on our little launch That'll take a lot of hauling down Sir - "
We've no news of Belgium - We did here the Germans were near Paris 12 miles off - We're going to stop here I fancy & our AE1 & 2 mount guard - This harbor is I am convinced the crater of an enormous volcano not extinct for a fire can be seen & smoke on a hill top - Its huge & its lips are like a bowl -
Much Love - Fred -
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2 Rabaul
H. M. A. S. Upolu,
Sept 14 - 1914 -
Dear girl
It's Monday morning 9 - 30 am - & we'v heard the big guns firing 'down the bay' - The Melbourne went out yesterday & we heard there was likely to be a scrap outside - Firing went on at intervals for Ύ of an hour & then ceased - Well I shall tell later about this - What I'm after now is to tell you of our star turn yesterday two of us at any rate up & down & one of the 2 was me - Our first time on the beach - About noon a general order or notice came out Flag ship of course - It was to the effect that the British flag would be hoisted & saluted at 3 pm over the island of New Britain - A declaration of annexation read - A parade wd be held at 2. 50 pm & then came details of dress - Swords to be worn - Service helmets & the usual white rig out - The Submarine chaps & our officers had no rig out & so couldn't comply - No more could I but I meant to be there somehow - After lunch I found out that our Captain had borrowed a helmet & a bally sword & meant to turn up so I went & spoke [indecipherable] - He referred me to Besant & I promptly went & asked got leave to go - Got it all right & then rigged myself up in my new serge suit
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Borrowed a helmet got my gloves & looked all right as a civilian medico - Captain & I then stepped over a submarine into our little motor launch & off we went the only 2 men off the Upolu anyway - We landed on a very fine wharf 1000 foot wharf astern of the troop ship Berrima - Then we landed on erstwhile German territory but now British (may it ever remain so) - We saw pickets everywhere & they saluted as we past - Everyone was going down a certain roadway Casuarina trees flanked it - I noticed many trees & Hibiscus glorious double Hibisci - After all was over I went into a garden & got 3 superb beauties & brought them off - The verandalled villas seemed bare & empty - on a few lay the kit of Tommies but no nice seats or verandah chairs - I fancy the Germans had cleared out early - I looked thro French windows but saw no furniture or draperies which confirmed my notion - I looked & observed hard for 10 minutes till
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we came suddenly to a big square grassy & open & there was the Parade grounds & a mob of men a band & a ceremony just starting -
Three sides of the square were occupied by armed men rifles with fixed bayonets - On our left was the Naval brigade & in front & to our right the Berrima boys in Kharki & slouch hats - Our open side was full of officers & others & I noticed a few Germans & one German lady on the side walk - They looked at us & talked & we looked at them but said nothing - In the centre of the square was a band & a military man giving the orders = We learned subsequently that Brigadier Holmes read the Declaration & generally superinted the show - The good old Flag was hoisted & the Fleet saluted with her big guns - We sung God Save the King & gave 3 tremendous cheers the men in fact all of us cheered vociferously - It was good to hear it -
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Then the Declaration was read - It stated that the Island of New Britain had been captured & was duly annexed to the dominions of his Majesty King George - Evy - white inhabitant had to sign the oath of allegiance - Trade was to go on - Life & property was secured to each & all - Evy - subject was commanded to be peaceful & abstain from warlike acts - The declaration even said that His Majesty might if he thought fit retain in office certain of his new subjects (I heard some growls at this) - The declaration was well read, read in an impressive manner & was listened to with intense interest - A new chapter in history was opened =
Well after all this stand at ease was the command & we talked to each other - For once I didn't talk - I was too busy taking mental notes - The few Germans the many Natives male & female the green sheoaks round the Square
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In one corner a Frangipanni in full bloom & sweetest fragrance & then the costumes dark blue of the Naval men & the Kharki of the Soldiers & the dark brown natives with a scarlet loin cloth & the densest head of hair mostly dark haired but some reddish or clay colored evidently pigmentation - It was a fine afternoon though close the white clothes of the officers & the swords were most effective - Now we heard a whistle & then words of command 'Form fours quick march' & then on came the men of the Naval brigade & then the Kharki clad soldiers & the Medical corps distinguished by the red cross & stretchers & then last of all an army of niggers -two by two they came the camp followers & helpers of the white man cheerful & jolly they looked a few were
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evidently Native police & looked very important rifles & caps & uniform but the vast crowd of natives helpers showed that their allegiance was duly secured & if reports are correct the change from German to British rule is greatly to their advantage - A white officer marched with the rear guard & then we all followed to what was evidently Head quarters & then the Show was over - The Tommies were marched back to the troop ship where the naval men had already gone & then we saw the niggers lined up - They were evidently harangued for presently we heard them cheering tremendously & then they were dismissed & ran off all over the show but mostly down to the Troop Ship -
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I suggested to the Captain a voyage of exploration - I was dying to go out & explore the township & see the humans & the vegetation but the Skipper said 'Better not' & so I controlled my enthusiasm - I saw no stores no hotel nothing of many ways men live & have their being but I mean to ere I quit this beach - Life has its compensations & so we hove along shore side a craft" that turned out to be Chief Engineer of the Berrima & this Captain of ours knew Captain Lambton of the Berrima (Mossy Lambton the Subs call him) one of the best - we heard We talked to him & then off we went to the Berrima - It was her 1st natal day P & O 12,000 tons 1400 souls on board & the 'Chief' assured us the very best crowd that he'd ever sailed with no trouble anywhere - All keen, good tempered splendid chaps he said - He contrasted this crowd with the S.S. Kanowna crowd who had been ordered back to Townsville - The stokers mutinied
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off Port Moresby we heard - There seems to have been mismanagement in higher quarters than those of the stokers & [indecipherable] - Once on board the Berrima, the action of gravity brought us pretty close to the proximity of the Bar & drinks came along and here we heard how Elwell fell with 3 bullets thro his head - 2 hours after he'd left the ship a gallant Nave officer How Pockley was dressing a German's wrist - whenthe G.S. hand had been blown away by a detonator when he got a bullet thro his spine - How Colonel Holmes & his son in law Travers rushed the wireless station & held up 9 Germans with their revolvers & took their arms & locked them up in a room - We picked up Captain Lambton & had more drinks & heard a good deal about Germans & their ways - We saw Dr Howse VC & a good more all talking & enjoying the occasion - Where we sat on the Berrima we cd look forward & watch the niggers bringing out & piling up entrenching tools for no one
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knows but what trouble may yet arise in the island & all necessary military precautions are to be taken - I need hardly say the town is strongly occupied by the military - One nigger a fine buck had a most swagger of light colored felt hat turned well up on one side a la Tommie - He had a colored loin cloth but that wasn't the lot on his right arm was a band & fixed in that was the true symbol of the a higher civilization a tooth brush - He at least was serene & composed & equal to any emergency - I saw a native police man on Sentry go at a hatch - He looked rifle & all a most imposing figure like an Indian Sepoy Talking of natives we heard that the Germans had trained & armed a native police & at the Kagakaul Scrap they were up in the trees in the dense scrub & potted our chaps - When their turn came wouldn't their fall be sudden!!
[Page 32]
We also heard another yarn the truth of which I wont vouch for anyway it's [indecipherable] [indecipherable] - there are some 1700 souls on the Berrima & they are all male & all thirsty - Now a good deal of cash must of necessity find its way into the tills of the bar - This is collected & stored in safes - It is said it was found necessary to shift the safes some to Port some to Starboard otherwise with all the cash on one side the Berrima had a marked list!!!
Well, well, the Captain & I got on to our launch - We had had a real good afternoon - Seen the Union Jack hoisted over New Britain seen some of the Empire's worthies Naval & Military - Had drunk some & talked some & I at least felt I'd had a very fine afternoon & was quite content with my first landing on the British isle of New Britain recently taken over - by act of war from Germany
[Page 33]
No 2
[Page 34]
Tuesday afternoon
Sept 15 - 1914
We are face to face this aft with a terrible tragedy the loss of AE1 & all her crew 3 fine officers Besant Scarlett & Moore & 27 Stokers - What happened we don't know - The Submarines were to patrol turn & turn about & about at 7 am yesterday morning AE1 went out - Scarlett was forward on the tiny bridge - Besant was aft - I saw them go out = They patrolled along with the Destroyer Parramatta - All went as per usual, nothing to be seen, all well - The Destroyer last saw AE1 about 2-30 pm in St George channel - Both were returning - The Destroyer went to Herbertshoe (note correct spelling) & naturally concluded AE1 came up harbor to us - She was due about 7 pm - We had dinner & told the stewards to keep things hot for them - About 8 pm inquiries began to be made & Stoker was sent for to the flag ship - A wireless went out to the Parramatta & she told all she knew - Anxiety deepened but we knew that 30 picked men as good men as any in the fleet all volunteers might have had some break down or what not - At 12 we all turned in - At day light we were up but there was no news - The destroyers 3 in number had been out all night sweeping the seas with their search lights & now it is 3 pm & not a word has been
[Page 35]
heard - Stoker, commander of AE2 has been with the Admiral & search is being made within a 50 mile radius -
Conjecture is quite barren - It's not a German cruiser for the firing wd have been heard - Naturally everyone here is very much upset -
Fancy losing one of our own in such a sudden manner - My crowd reduced by 30 - I took to Besant & Scarlett very much - Scarlett was a handsome, curly headed young devil with a fine face & genial manner - He & I took to each other for his people have a station on the Upper Burnett & he knew Persse of Hawkwood - McCord Bloxsome & a whole lot I knew - His people are cattle people (N - B - This is wrong S is English - Been in Aust for his health & there joined the Submarines)
Besant & I also came well together a quiet good type of English officer - We had lots in common & talked of dogs in the bush & shooting & collecting - Its wonderful how quickly men get together when messing at the same table & linked by a common cause -
Elms the chief officer & I both wanted to have
[Page 36]
a day's trip with these chaps - Not that there was very much chance of this being allowed but I wanted the experience & should have gone like a shot if I'd been allowed - Lucky I waited - Out here you know with all the crowd no one thinks of danger or of the future - We heard yesterday that we are supposed to have done very well to get here & that we ran a very big risk hence the darking - Our men I told you made a torpedo tube & one & all meant to have launched or at any rate attempted to launch one bang at any ship that bailed us up - If we'd blown up the Protector by mistake I wonder what the Admiralty wd - have said!!!
Well, well - Moore I didn't see much of but poor Scarlett's end is tragic that beautiful bright cynical boy & poor Besant, thoughtful with a sweet smile & a kind voice & a lovely manner - Then there's the men the Stokers - Dare devils - You should see a submarine & yet for a few shillings sometimes but one extra per week these chaps cheerfully & willingly risk their lives day by day week in & week out & think nothing of it
[Page 37]
I got notified of my appointment as a Naval Surgeon from Aug 22 by the Naval Board at Melbourne temporary service 6 mo certain - You know this game suits me splendidly - I am absolutely at home in it & the whole lot of us officers get on splendidly together - Not a single cross word have I heard on the rotten old sink of a ship called the 'Upolu' since we left Sydney - That's something I often think how Rawdon wd - love to see all this - our diver our motor launches our jolly men - the natives & their funny hair selling coco nuts - I got a Betel nut for R from one to day - I'm off the the shore 2nd trip -
I've returned not much to be seen of men save pickets - I walked about & noted the Bird life & was pleased to see the black and white Fantail our old familiar - Also a Kingfisher - Bird life in the harbor does not exist not a gull or tern - Birdless - Its dry very dry no springs nor water supply tanker only - We are on an allowance per diem 2 gallons for everything - Trees have been planted along the avenues Casuarina avenue Poinciana avenue I've christened them - A white Cedar Mangos Hibiscus Croton a Polypodium fern a composite new to me was very common - Papaws do well & I saw an Orange tree - No gardens anywhere as we understand the word garden - No [indecipherable] beds - Shrubs like Bougainvilleas
[Page 38]
Then I had to retrace my steps - The French warship Montcalm a 4 funnelled grim engine of war has just steamed in & bang, bang went our guns & presently bang went the French guns returning the British Salute - Fine & imposing - No news of AE1 only a big oil patch been found on the sea - Isnt it awful to think of those fine chaps drowned in a rat trap? An internal explosion is the favored hypothesis - What a sensation it will make in Sydney & in London!!! One of the latest & finest Submarines hopelessly gone & no one Knows Why - I read Greek history daily & do all I can to help on anything - Just got the tip on Malaria here - Young Holmes who used to be on the experimental farm is here & so is going home (cant see his name on the lists) I sent my regards to them -
W - day Sept 16 It's afternoon - No news of AE1 - Toll for the brave who are no more" - Nothing whatever has transpired as to their fate - A ship lost to the Navy - & 34 of the bravest men in the fleet - The destroyers have searched & searched uselessly - Stoker said to me he thought the enemy had got them - Two small German boats Comet & Planet are in these waters Point Gazelle is where AE1 was last seen & a raid might have taken place from a
[Page 39]
creek or behind a corner & a 3 pound shell plumped into her - An internal explosion a Diesel valve going wrong finds most favor - If the Germans have got her it's a feather in their cap & the Destroyers will get beans over it -
Now I must tell of other things - I mentioned heavy firing on Monday 14th about 6 am - Word had come that a German force was attacking Herbertshoe - Well this time there was no half hearted killing business war isn't kid gloves - You must stike & kill & kill until every atom of resistance is over - Its quickest & best - Our Tommies were there - Down went the Encounter & shelled the bush properly Lyddite shells first exploded low on the hills then gradually sweeping up - Everything went down before this hurricane of death shrubs trees men - The effect was A1 - By noon all was over - The white flag up - The Governor surrendered & I yarned to a man this morning who had commandeered & was wearing a pair of his the Governor's white boots - Brigadier Holmes was in charge of the Military operations - Not a single fatality -
[Page 40]
You must understand this was an attack after the primary surrender of Herbertshoe a threatened recapture of the town by German & Native police - They surrendered in time because they'd have got little quarter - Now I've heard more about the fight at Kabakaul the fight for the wireless station & why we lost men & officers - There was no preliminary shelling of the Bush & too few men were used on the job - Resistance was not anticipated - There was a road up to the Station & dense bush on either side very dense jungle with high leafy trees - I send a diagram -
[diagram]
Later NB They don't seem to have gone up the side - Elwell stepped into the road & was shot anyone on the road was shot
You see the Beach & the road up to the station from the beach - The N Brigade & our Tommies deployed & went up the road at the double - Presently they came to wire entanglements & a trench & then they were met by a hail of lead from behind & above & if the niggers had been white men, few out of our crowd wd have come out alive - Niggers cant shoot like the GI rifle club chaps can shot high but all the same our men fell thickly & fast -
[Page 41]
Our men fell back & then found out what was up - The guns of the fleet should have searched that scrub before a man was moved - You see my circles by the side of the road in the jungle carefully concealed pits with a nigger in each blazing away at our men's backs & also niggers in trees shooting of course these pits were rushed & the niggers bayoneted & the men in the trees potted one by one - One nigger was potted by a sailor man & fell over a limb - Up goes the gallant tar - & shoves him off plump on to mother earth the last move that nigger ever put up= That's the tale of the Kabakaul scrap & our light regard of German strategy & foresight = A few more Germans & we'd have got simple hell - & a bit of the Boer war over again with its silly episodes of careless trust & want of ordinary foresight - Of course we win but life is chucked away needlessly - At least so the Fleet says & I'm a full blown Naval authority now - !!!!
[Page 42]
Part 3
[Page 43]
Oct 4 1914
All is well - I'm sending 3 serial letters by a friend who goes on the Berrima to Sydney - I trust you'll get them all right - They are fairly accurate of course they are for you not for general circulation - Weather fine & dry - We are not going to be Stationary & you may not hear again for a bit - Its Sunday & we've had no leave this week at all -
[Page 44]
You can readdress my A.M. Gazette & repost I'll get it thro the fleet - I was on the Flag this week & saw I'd joined H.M. Navy - for the war - We'v no news & made no history lately - Kiss the children - Much love Fred
[Page 45]
How Rawdon holding me very firmly by the hand wd love all this pomp & panoply & what a supply of naval language he'd pick up -
The ladies on the Beach at Selsea (near Portsmouth) the daughters of naval men were seated near a lake & a lot of swans came into view - Just then 2 Tars came into view also walking up to the edge of the lake - One lady said to the other I can tell you what will be the first remark of those two men & what the reply will be - They bet gloves on it & wrote question & answer on paper & waited - Up came the tars 'What's them 'ruddy' birds Bill" said No 1 'Ruddy' Swans Jack said the other - The elder lady's knowledge of the tar was correct for that was her written question & answer - I have been on the 'Protector' this morning - It is my 'pidgin' to examine any Diver before he goes diving - It was a rough sea & I had but one sailor - I took the ropes - Just as we got alongside we snapped the starboard oar - They threw a rope & we were all right - I took 2 coming back - From the Protector we saw the Admiral's
[Page 46]
launch going ashore - It was the French Admiral - An Admiral flies a flag both fore & aft on his dinghy & has 3 stars on the flag forward at least the French chap had - Suddenly the Protector's bugle sounded & all the officer's & men on deck stood to attention & we saluted as the French Admiral went by - Carry on" shouted the captain & normal duties were resumed - Carry on is a great command phrase & so are the words 'Can do' 'No can do' if you can or cannot do a job - Naval catch words -
Last eveng - at sunset & again at 8 am the Band on the French Admiral's flag ship played the Marseillaise & then 'God save' - We all stand to attention & face aft until the band ceases - Why? Because the Tricolour & Union Jack go up at 8 & down at sunset - It was touching & sweet to hear the strains of the French & then the British National anthem & to know we were allies in a great & good fight for liberty -
The Flagship Australia Sydney & Melbourne have left for parts unknown & the French 'bloke' is in charge -
I was away to the Grantala in the bay this aftn 16th & when I arrived I asked for some drugs & I got precious little but I went into the wards & saw 2 Naval brigade men who had been
[Page 47]
in the Kagakaul Scrap - 1 shot in the leg & the other thro the elbow dividing his ulnar nerve - I also saw my friend the chow who I had sent off in the night to S - S - Melbourne - I am glad I didn't tackle him on my own -
Horsfall comes the PMO in great style over the boys & nurses - No shore leave allowed - All letters to be left open for the censor - The C. wd smile if he saw & read mine which he wont - He's told me how to stop fever & fluxes on board - I mildly said On the Robert D - Lee each & every man individually & collectively wd - assault me & life is sweet & besides that we aren't a doctor ship we are - - Submarines"
I tell you the Granala is a top notch pukker ship not a cigarette must be smoked on the holy stoNed decks - No - give me the damned dirty rusty old Upolu with its work & its swear words & its drinking & its fun -
Thursday Sept 17th 14 - Lunch is over - I generally write after lunch which is at the ungodly hour of 12 - What is the 'buz' to day - No word of the AE1 - An inquiry is to be held - Stoker still thinks she was potted by the enemy - He scoffs at any idea of internal explosion or a floating mine or a rock - AE2 went out all yesterday & came back last night - There was no visible effect on any of the men - They talked laughed joked & carried on just as usual
[Page 48]
The French war ship Montcalm lies close to us guns out - By the way she put up an A1 signal this morng which I think any lady might copy & some with great advantage town or country - It is usual for Captains to call on the Admiral - The Frenchman obviated all this by this signal - All visits & the return calls will be taken as paid - already carried out" What a grand signal!!! You run it up & there you are free & quiet - Did I mention prizes? Two were alongside of us till yesterday SS Sumatra & the Madang - The S.S. Sumatra was a German trader with lager beer, provisions & stores - Mossy Lambton was sent off to her & report says he scooped 1200 bottles of Lager for the thirsty Berrima then another chap came & scooped her coal & now she is being fitted up with a 12 pounder gun & is to be a sort of guard ship - Our chief officer Elms is to be 2nd in command & we drank his health & wished him luck & if they want a medico I'm first on the list - They're going to look up the coast line for AE1 Germans & what not -
The Madang is a cranky small steamer
[Page 49]
trading between the islands sort of floating beer shop & whisky hotel - On some of the islands 'no licence' is allowed - When she comes along out go the planters & get drunk aboard her - She's a floating tropical bar - Any chap who don't pay has to swim ashore!!! She had a big list to port as she came in - The Protector scooped her - She had a mob of niggers on her & a big fat negress who was supposed to cause the decided list -
There is no hotel in Ribault & the only open stores are Chinese Japanese - There is a fine Apotheke" = closed You'll be glad to hear that so far we'v had no sickness nor tropical troubles & that save AE1 all has gone well with our crowd - our royal push - the Submarines - Water will be a difficulty later on & if we cant get fresh distilled water must be drunk - So far I've not seen a mosquito though I'm keenly on the look out the malarial chap must be here - I've a few moths only for Turner - It's dry & there's no plant food hence no insects - For the first time yestd - aftn - I saw a seabird a petrel like to a mutton bird one only I saw -
[Page 50]
Friday 18th Sept - Yesty aft Captain Moore Patterson & self went for a stroll on the beach - Well laid out place - No butcher's shop to be seen - They live on the stuff & food is vey - scarce since the war broke out - We then 'blew in' (very common expression) on the Berrima & met men & drank - The bar trade on the Berrima is a huge one - We also were on the Sumatra & Madang the prizes - & then blew in on the Protector & had more drinks & 'buz' then off to S.S. Upolu - I'm the medico that gets around & sees things thanks to being on the 'Robert D - Lee' - I all but got a week end patrolling on the Sumatra - I wanted to go badly but as I'm MO to 3 ships (Upolu AE2 Protector) I couldn't be spared =
All our men & officers are doing jobs somewhere & I've my name down for any odd job anywhere or anyhow - That's the way to see what's doing & you don't lose anything even if you don't go - You mop up all that's possible -
Its hot & close to-day - What I'll jot down is the 'Buz' First of all a few facts however - In this harbor lie the Montcalm not much good as a first class fighter the Protector no damned use at all the Encounter? ditto AE2 the Destroyers - [indecipherable] Yarra & Warrego - Yarra has her shaft buckled -
If - If - the German cruisers Scharnhorst & Gneisenau only knew it now's their chance & their only chance - As a matter of fact the Germans expect us to be attacked -
[Page 51]
The Australia Syd & Melbourne have gone but this morning we heard that the Australia & Sydney were on their way back - This is but common sense since not a single German war ship in the Pacific has been captured - The A M & Syd left presumably to convoy our troopers across the Indian Ocean - You see in a sea fight it's all a question of guns & gunfire & the Australia only in our Pacific fleet (bar Japanese) is the equal of the Scharnhorst - There are 5 or 6 German war boats about & no one knows where -
We've heard nothing about AE1 AE2 is very carefully convoyed now I can tell you - A submarine is all iron & machinery - I talked to a stoker in my sick bay this morning & asked him what the men on AE2 thought - They thought he said she'd dived & hadn't come up - The pressure below 100 feet wd eventually burst crush them - Just an accident he said - We heard a buz - that the Russians had landed troops in France that the English & French & Belgians had driven the Germans back out of France that Bill" had thrown in his hand & wanted peace probably all buz - We hear nothing about Europe - No papers since Townsville & not a reliable item from any source -
[Page 52]
Here's a little sketch of our harbor & the way we be in it - It's the crater of a huge volcano very deep foreshore & then the side of the circular crater thin lipped & then the plateau or peaked tops of other volcanoes wooded to the waters edge & ribbed by pluvial denudation - Dense Coco Palm grows on foreshore & a lot of undergrowth -
[sketch showing area and ships' positions in the harbour]
Herbertshoe 10 miles to R -
Rock in fair way cross on top said to mark a grave - ? Surveyors mark a trig
Governor has signed articles of capitulation - He is to have a Guard of Honor - A Major in charge - All his troops here in the island are to march in on Monday as prisoners of war & we hear they are all to go to Sydney till the war is over - This takes place I'm told on Monday - New Guinea is not yet taken & the Berrima & troops go there - Wilhelms Haven - We may too - This is the big place it seems - The Governor cant surrender New Guinea he says only this island - Now that's the news to date - All well too on my 3 ships -
Fred
[Page 53]
Saty - Sept 19th One month of 4 weeks up to - day - Well I've seen & heard a good deal in the past month & I've endeavored to give you an account of it - This morning a swim at the pier head - There are 2 piers - Berrima is at one but the other is bare - A lot of us took a boat & went & jumped off into 20 or more feet of water - Sharks you'll say - Well we didn't see any - Tell Rawdon I ran & jumped for all I was worth & did enjoy it - Of course there were men from other boats - Went in pyjamas hatless - Made some niggers pull us back - A Chow came off & we'll get washing done the 1st chance we'v had - I read Grote about Philip of Macedon 'the great aggressor of his age' Reads almost like 'Bill of Germany' doesn't it?= Its hot & close - The men are going in the cutter to bathe - We officers are writing & reading - The Buz is that gun fire pooped AE1 & it may be they are prisoners of war - A small pinnace with a wrecked nordenfelt has been found near where she was last seen - A gun had been mounted on a point of an island - That's sure - & the burning & wrecking are quite recent - We have this from the Encounter who found it all out - The pinnace had been set on fire & abandoned - Further search everywhere among the natives is to be forthwith instituted -
[Page 54]
Australia & Sydney are due at 4 pm - A chap asked me if I didn't feel more comfortable but I couldn't truly say I cared also with the Flag ship here you know you haven't quite such a free leg for initiative & daring - Warren of the Parramatta is the man I'd like to be with - He's the incartation of bold devilry & go - To see his long black snake of a boat go out is to see the ideas of a bold man being carried into actual trouble - They say the German war ships are coming here but the scrap must end in our favor with all these fighting ships about -
Yesterday i e Friday aft I had rather a star turn on the Beach - Haggard & I got leave - Off we went - Blew in on the Berrima out - Met Patterson nigger driving oil in casks up to the Governor's residence 2 miles out on a well made road cinders for top dressing - H took a snap shot of P & his niggers - P's language to his niggers wd make a Christian blush - We left him & tramped it up hill - Governor's residence is on the top side of the lip of this huge volcano - On the roadside we saw cliffs simply layers of cinders you have
[Page 55]
the same down Warnambool way - The ashes of the volcano which by the way is still active ? & we had an earthquake yesty - one per diem is the rule - One we go & I named the trees & shrubs - A new fine tree was the Breadfruit a tree 30-40 or more feet high Large leaves incised at the end of branches - Artocarpus incisa Fruit was there - I had not seen the tree before but soon spotted it - Its very shady & also plentiful - The vegetation was mostly Queensland - Presently down the track came a sulky with a fine military gent a small child & a nigger - He stopped & we saluted - (We are in uniform so as to be known as Naval officers) - He said Go to my house on the top & call on my wife & daughter & have some tea - We spotted who he was General Wylde of the Marines - We said 'You've been having a pretty rotten time of it General' - We talked & then went on - We walked on past the Hospital & then on the Right was the General's house - I made Haggard put his pipe out & close up & up we went - Mrs Wylde came out
[Page 56]
I did the fancy business & she said Come in - Beer or tea? Beer a bottle each she said? - Not we one between us I introduced H as the nephew of the author of King Solomon's Mines Allan Quarterman & She She was very glad to see us - She was Grandma Wylde & with her husband on a visit to her daughter who had married a German Naval officer who was quartered at Rabaul - War broke out & they were made prisoners - The General wasn't at all well treated by some of the Germans eventually however he gave his parole & he & his wife have had to remain in their son in law's grounds until we came & captured the place - She showed us telegrams which gave us all that is known about Europe & really it read splendidly in these out of the way parts that, Germany was being rolled back by the allies & that the fighting on land was in our favor which really we hardly expected - Her daughter was out - She confirmed my opinion that the ships were lying in a sea flooded crater of great depth - What a grand view of the harbor
[Page 57]
we had from that verandah - We promised to call again & I mean to - Then we went on some 5 minutes - & arrived at the Governors residence a fine house fine verandah fine cane lounges & chairs & all occupied by Tommies - A wireless station is being erected & here we met 2 of our Submarine chaps who were at work on it 'Sparks' & Patterson - The Tommies had looted the place Buz is that the detachment sent out to this the furthest outpost not only looted & smashed but drank 50!! cases of champagne & hock & then went through the place & rolled 2 twenty pounders down the hill side & played Hell generally - They forced open drawers with their bayonets & collared the governors clothes, cash, & everything in the place - What the authorities were about beats me - The officer in command was blind drunk - It must have been a wild scene that night - There's martial law here & the Provost Marshall is
[Page 58]
going to hold a few Court Martials - Time was passing so we 4 left for the Boat - We found a short cut & then when back in town decided to call on the officer's (military) club - The Submarines are a thirsty cunning crowd & what they don't & wont do isn't worth worrying over - We called & asked for a chap who we didn't suspect of being there but he might have been - He wasn't but some officer asked us to have a drink - He was a colonel & then there was another chap Maning I'd been introduced to his brother the day before & mentioned the fact - Patterson sat next the colonel & talked in his usual fluent manner with any amount of submarine bad language as if he & the colonel were twins - I must say this the colonel didn't turn a hair He hadn't much - Well we had drinks & after a bit as I was the Senior I thanked the Colonel & said we must get on board - This mess is at the German Club & a very fine building
[Page 59]
We got on board the SS Upolu without further mishap - I don't quite know what impression we create but there's no question about it that for frankness of speech & fulness of comment & a job to be done give me a submarine officer - There is a strong feeling on the Upolu that we could win the war & round up the Germans better than the rest of the fleet & that we ought to be given shore billets - I to be P.M.O. - if not Governor when this show 'wipes out' or washes out as the chaps say -
The Australia & the Sydney are in God help a German fleet now -
Sunday Sept 20 - 1914- A bathing party of which I formed one- went off at 6 - 15 am to the pier - We enjoyed this very much - The water was cool & refreshing - The usual mob of soldiers all evidently enjoying themselves were present - Breadkfast at 9 & then a quiet morning - In the aftn Captain Moore & I went ashore & paid 2 visits 1st to the Commandant of Police & then to the Provost Marshall - Our business was twofold to get niggers & to get rifles for this vessel - 9 rifles are too few for us & we want to get some of the German Mausers & Ammunition
[Page 60]
Well we didn't get the rifles but we got promises of some when the Germans had surrendered theirs which was to happen tomorrow - Captain M & I then took a walk to the well laid out park - The skeleton of a whale of the baleen type attracted my attention - The Germans believe in straight lines - They also believe in shade - Their streets & avenues go in straight line from end to end of the settlement & shade trees in even rows decorate both sides - Some of the Casuarina trees (misnamed firs by sailor men) are 30 40 feet high & its but 7 8 years since Ribault was planted - The mangoes are well grown & give a deep shade - I saw a Halcyon (Kingfisher) sanctus - I should say from his shade of blue & also some tits of a species unknown to me - The park ends where the steep cliff sides of the volcanic cone commence - What a grand soil it must be but how dependant on rainfall - Acacias were represented by Albyzias & I noted
[Page 61]
Areca palms Cotton shrubs Castor oil Shrubs all common & well known shrubs - A large Acalypha showed out well - We then walked thro China Town & inspected their quarter - It is far & away the cleanest & best kept Chinese quarter I have ever been in - One generally associates Chinatown with ramshackle buildings, squalor & dirt - That's Australia - Germany says No space air biggish homes the same wide street & shady trees & well kept sidewalks & German authority has its way - to the benefit of both white & yellow - We sampled the shops 'Schneider Meister' was up on several - China will make you a white suit for 12 marks he corrects himself & says shillings - He will deliver in 8 days - I patted a very nice fat China baby 4 mo old who smiled on me in a most endearing fashion - How clean & chubby it was & how quaintly dressed Female said the Father -
[Page 62]
We got back to Ribaul from this its most quaint suburb - trike>Guar Pickets allow naval officers to go anywhere but not the ordinary man - On our way back we met parties of our allies the French white dressed bearded or clean shaved one & all saluted us & we returned it - It's not quite the British salute I thought - The flat hand faces more to the front directly up & down while ours is with the palm obliquely outwards -
A mail had come while we were away & papers with news up to & including Sept 5 this is 21st= nothing for me but I read away all I could - Supper at 7 pm saw 12 naval officers in the ward room & what a good time we had - The Parramatta Commander Warren & several from HMS Sydney - We ate & drank & talked & has a glorious evng - I was introduced to a new game 'Drunken Coachman' It's for drinks - Most things are for drinks in His Majesty's Navy - I'll describe the game - You get a lot of fun & a good run for
[Page 63]
your money if you lose 3 matches each 3 whisky Poker Dice Kings Queens Aces only count - You throw - Aces go to the Match Box done in dead that is 1 match or 2 or three corresponding to the number of aces thrown -
Suppose you turn up a King you give pass a match on to the player on your left - if a Queen to the player on your right you pass a match back ie to player on Right - You go on & on until some 3 matches only remain then 2 dice are abstracted & those left in throw the one - The man who pays is the man left with 1 match & he must turn up an ace - Just to show how the game swings - Late in the game I had 6 matches & got rid of them - One match remained & it was 8 players form me when that happened & it was but 1 from me where an ace was thrown amidst immense applause & we all had some liqueur 'Vermout Frappe' at the expense of the loser - What a good natured, rowdy, crowd they
[Page 64]
all were keen good men with splendid physique the physique if several of them struck me very much - After supper we went top side more drinks cocktails damnable drinks in my opinion - Give me whisky & soda iced & I'm happy - Naval men consume more cocktails than I ever saw outside New York - After sunset you may indulge but before that hour is, in my humble opinion foolish in most instances - However its war time & we maynt get together again & that accounts for a good bit - Boats to H. M.S. Sydney & Parramatta & the show is over -
Monday Sept 21
We are alongside the Australia our flag ship filling our water tanks good business for we'v been short - We lag on her starboard side till 3 pm - I got in board & called on the PMO Dr Caw - He has 3 men under him - Ramsay Smith of Adelaide Hornibrook of Melbourne & and an Edinburgh man who was keen on aboriginal skulls - I told him the yarn of McGregh & the German chap in New Guinea
[Page 65]
who told the Governor he was skull collecting - Rumor has it that Sir Wm - gave him so many hours to clear out - In some of these parts one tribe would go on the war path to gain Heads as a matter of pure business enterprise & commerce - Dr Caw an Adelaide man told me he had no sickness aboard - The Frenchman Montcalm has or had 150 cases of dysentry & fever but the Frenchman has steamed 30 000 miles in the past 6 months Up the coast of China across to Vancouver down the North Central & South American coasts ship hunting then to Samoa then Tahiti then Samoa again then to Rabaul to see Us with a big U - We talked away & I was asked to lunch & of course accepted - What a grand wardroom & what a superb ship just on 900 men - I'd seen a lot & these chaps very little - Give me the 'Robert D Lee' every time - After lunch I went on my own ship & presently Dr Caw returned my call & I got him to
[Page 66]
look at a man a patient with a small intractable ulcer -
I saw him over the side & wished him no end of luck in chasing up the Scharnhorst & Gneisenau & wished moreover I could see the scrap from start to finish - I'd love to see that forward turret unmasked & her 12 inch gun talking thro her long mouth piece -
I wrote a note to the wife at Glen Innes but she musnt yet hear about our ships & their position & the loss of AE1 at least not from the front a good colorless letter with lots of health in it is the correct one in war time - Naval officer's letters are not censored hence one must be doubly careful -
I'll note one thing more to - day & that is that our concert here is to break up - Evy - ship has an appointed job of work - Starts tomorrow - Frederick Wilhelms Haven on the coast of New Guinea is to be collared - the German war ships to be followed
[Page 67]
Rumor has it that a message has been intercepted & that they the German boats have a rendezvous at a Known point with some colliers & our ships are going to rendezvous at the same part - Wont the sparks fly if that rendezvous comes off?
Our job of work is to wait in Rabaul harbor AE2 & the Destroyers are to guard the harbor - A period of waiting is at hand - I don't mind - I am also told they want a P.M.O. for these parts - I must look up that job & find out what the perks are - Would it be worth while?
Thursday Sept 22 - 14
Yes Things are as I said - The Berrima troop ship went out early - The Frenchman Montcalm has gone - The admirals are reported to have met & arranged things mutually - The harbor looks quite empty - The Aorangi & Grantala come up to the Pier on W-day morning - Personally I am astonished at the Grantala coming up because I understood that the less she came into contact with the shore the better - They've been here 10 days & not a landing party has gone off from her -
[Page 68]
We'v no sickness & so far as I can learn we are not likely until the rain comes to have any - We seem to be in a dry belt & they tell me Port Moresby which is some 30 hours steam from here is also in a dry belt, There's another physical feature that I've heard of & that is that typhoons don't occur within 12 degrees N & S of the line - Why? I don't know -
A party of us went to the Beach in the aftn - & saw some interesting things - First was the embarkation of German prisoners on a barge going to the collier Murex - They were off to Sydney - A detachment of Tommies with their Officers took charge - The soldiers some 25 in number were in the hold & a couple of German officers on the deck - Some 6 Tommies mounted guard with fixed bayonets - We saw them all off the Germans will be interned in Sydney until the end of the war - They looked all right & of course will be well looked after - I am told that the German officers
[Page 69]
draw their pay regularly from our government - Seems queer don't it? They got 2 month's advance report says - 4 Companies 120 to a C - of soldiers our men & some 500 men remain in Raboul - They picket the place & look after it generally - Colonel Paton is in charge - Brigadier Holmes has gone to Wilhelms Haven with the Berrima - Next we saw the native police - Some 20 in number paraded rifles & a costume of Kharki with red braid for a loose tunic - Some had pants others only loin cloths - However they did their drill smartly - Their Sergeant was a fine buck Papuan who yelled at his small squad in the most efficiently manner & was obeyed in the promptest manner - Off they marched - We then boarded the prize - the Madang - I went thro their medicine chest & got some Quinine - She was captured on the high seas & will be sold - They say all prizes will be sold & the prize money allotted to the Fleet - [indecipherable] shall have mine if I get any at the end of the war -
[Page 70]
We then walked & inspected a very fine coco nut palm grove & then to a Japanese ship building yard on a small scale - I gathered a few plants by the way side but its too dry for anything to thrive - A little Japanese lady very finely Kimonoed gave us a gracious bow - Then we came off to our ship - A guest at dinner nicknamed 'the Admiral' told us a good deal about the island & island life - Tales of plantation life gold mining on New Guinea. The gold mining on Woodlark island & the main land of N Guinea is all alluvial - Not a single quartz reef has been found on N.G. - However N.G. is not yet fully known mining is a pure gamble - You get niggers - Pay them 6£ per annum - Feed them & they do as you say - Your claim under a miners right is 100 x 50 yards I take it - This doesn't seem to me very much - A plantation of coco nuts pays well but you want 5-7 years before its in full going order - It seems this is valuable property & very very hard to buy - 100 acres will return anything up to 800£ per annum -
[Page 71]
The 'Admiral' seems to have had a most adventurous career - At present he is Harbor Master a most useful man in these parts - He understands & can work niggers & is not afraid of hard work - I fancy he earns more than most but his difficulty is hanging on to it - What a legion of good men there are in that particular company of frontiersmen -
Wednesday Sept 23rd
Fresh morng - with the wind from the SE - The first thing was a row to the pier head & a glorious dive into the briny - A row back & breakfast
Speaking about food the thing is moderation in eating & particularly in drink - The men eat too much - Eat little & you feel you can do anything - Above all you avoid 11 am drinks & to my mind cocktails at any time - There is far too much drinking among the officers rarely to excess I admit but all the same, nips do no good in these tropical parts - Sunrise to Sunset don't drink is my tip -
[Page 72]
A Chinese tailor has been off & I've ordered some white clothes - He's the thinnest - most drawn out, almond eyed, son of China I've seen - Got my washing done too 3/6 per dozen - I only put in big things & made up the dozen with handkerchiefs - I am wearing a soft shirt open at neck no tie Kharki pants & a holland coat with my shoulder straps - I borrowed the latter from a brother officer - Naval men are splendid lenders also borrowers - Not a word of AE1 - They're gone - We've abandoned hope - Poor chaps - All we can do is to help their families & dependents - 35 men wiped out in one act & no one has any idea how & that's the worry - The water is too deep even if the spot were located which it isn't -The navy cant draw any lesson - AE2 isnt allowed out by herself now - We shall be here sometime - I'm one of the contented ones - I wish to happen what does happen - I read keep my eyes open listen - I cant talk much because my point of view on very many things is not that of the others - I'm Australian & very democratic - However we all pull splendidly together & really like each other & I'm only one in a mob
[Page 73]
About 4 pm a party of us went on shore & directed our steps to China Town - Immediately opposite the thousand foot pier where we land facing the sea is the steep talus of the edge of this crater which by the way must be at least a mile & a half across a huge crater the sea came in from the South & flooded it - At the back of the talus rise two high cones close together - They rise from the same base - The higher must be close on 2700 feet & is known as 'Die Mutter' - We have a signalling station on top which looks far out to sea -
[drawing]
Once in China Town I had an objective & that was a barber shop - I found a friendly Chinaman & he volunteered to show me the barbers I left the party & went off on my own - Came by a Japanese place & presently was in a chair & a Jap about half my age was cutting my hair very close with clippers - Very close - I made him take it - I detest very much the unkempt look of longhaired men - A close cropped head is a clean cool head & though it may not add to beauty yet it certainly makes its owner look smart & clean - Our party laughed at me but I can recommend the cut in tropical & hot lands -
[Page 74]
Then we priced some gold lipped mother of pearl shell in the shops - They wanted 16/ - for a polished pair - The Captain said 3/6 ought to buy so there was 'nothing doing' - We went on to what evidently was acclimatization gardens & here one must again pay a tribute of admiration to the German horticulturists & scientists - The plots were laid out systematically names were up in that grandest of scientific languages Latin Ficus elastica - A grove of these big leaved, long scarletshootedbudded rubber trees - Each tree had unlike what I'd seen at Cairns several 6 to 9 inch stems - They were planted close together & the leaves & branches interlocked - Scratch the stem & out came the white sap that eventually makes rubber - Bromelias formed the intervening hedge between plots - Another plot was full of Theobroma cacao - One We spotted the fruit at once - The narrow elongated leaves growing on these shoots so as to clothe the short trunk struck one - Petticoated to the ground - I naturally took two fine specimens of the fruit
[Page 75]
I saw also the bud & of the Custard Apple Anonaceous fruit but the fruit here in my opinion is the luscious papua Grenadillas I saw but not the common Passion fruit so far although P.foetida grows here like a weed just as in N.Qd - on the Cairns to Mareeba line - Crotons here are glorious & I've mentioned Acalyphas while the leaves of Ricinus Commis are double & treble the ordinary size - This latter shrub was evidently being well tried in these grounds -
We walked on - I noticed little Lycenid blues & now and again a member of the Nymphalid group like to my old Q-land friend - I've not seen the Wanderer nor his food plants - Kingfishers seem fairly plentiful & I fancy some honeyeaters are here - I'd almost swear to the call of the Leatherhead - I saw some big Swifts in high heaven also a big bat & a bigger flying fox - How all this interests one in this new land of ours - I could spend months
[Page 76]
instead of really minutes -
This flat ground this foreshore going back to the volcanic talus is much bigger than it seems & the ground runs back in little bays separated by promontories - In the only little bay we penetrated this aftn - were graves Hier [indecipherable] im Gott" was the impressive headline - Has Gott anything whatsoever to do with man? Does he guide or watch this human debacle that has engulphed decent quiet humanity in its awful vortex? I doubt it - I agree with H G Wells who speaks of a nest of human ants [indecipherable] kicked by a German fool of the ruthless barbarian type - A Chinese grave of a young girl spoke of her as Fraulein while Chinese characters filled the rest of the stone - Amaryanths were here & Clerodendron ? the 'bleeding heart' creeper - Not many graves, some dozen or more, gone to their rest before our flag flew over their harbor & island & their relatives & friends were torn from plantation & store to
[Page 77]
Australian detention depots while plantation & store are left to guide their own destiny - We went off to the old Upolu & put in a quiet eveng - At 10 pm a rifle shot rang out & soon another - A boat had evidently not answered our challenge - The night was murky dark & you mustn't go fooling round a fleet in the dark in war time I can tell you -
A native policeman here was challenged by a sentry on his approach & cleared out at the double instead of standing still - A bullet ended his career promptly for the sentry - quite rightly - shot him dead =
Talking of prisoners here is a funny thing - At night a lot of Germans are locked up & guarded by acting native police & in the morning they are let out - The Germans then run these natives don't suppose (They're not the regular police niggers) all the day & again at night are collected marched to barracks & locked up for the night by their servants - Masters by day Serfs at night & vice versa -
[Page 78]
Thursday 24th
At 6 am a bathing party went to the pier - This was my only trip to-day - I remained on board & put in my time writing & reading - I have ascertained from the PM (Provost Marshall) that McGuire of the Medical Army Corps is PMO - He's temporary probably but at any rate there's no opening for me -
Nothing doing & no news worth recording - A destroyer (Warrego) swept round our counter at sunset - What wicked little black hornets they look & are - Their black color 2 stunted funnels well forward - They look to be dragging a long black body behind them - Amid ships is a torpedo forward is a four inch gun - They can steam some 27 knots an hour & look like black snakes on the horizon breathing smoke & threatening destruction -
I mentioned we got a fresh prize found up a creek & all covered up with green boughs a fine little steamer - We got her niggers to-day & coaled & then they cleaned our paint & holystoned
[Page 79]
our decks - Two officers from the Protector (Spooner & Lane) came to dinner - We talked war & its chances in Europe but as we haven't enough factors to go on we are much in the dark - We hope that the jaws of the trap are closing on Germany & Berlin but its only hope - We know very little -
Saturday 26th
Five weeks out from Sydney to-day It is 1.30 pm and for the past ten minutes
we've seen smoke away down the harbor - The harbor curves to the SE - Round the corner swept the Destroyers 3 in number then the Flag ship then the Montcalm & the troop ship Berrima and bringing up the rear the Encounter They were a fine spectacle steaming slowly up in the bright sunshine The Berrime has gone up to the pier & the destroyers are anchored close in - The Flagship is opposite us & the Montcalm & Encounter anchored in line behind her - We shall get some news we trust - They are all back from New Guinea from Wilhelms Haven we take it -
[Page 80]
There is a 'buz' round from the wireless station that 3 British Cruisers have been sunk by German Submarines in the N.Sea - The Aboukir-Hopple CressyEuryalus is one of them - We hear that they attacked Kiel harbor doubtless by Order also that the Allied left wing of our armies have thrown the German right wing back - We'll hope its true -
My personal equation isnt very much a fine swim this morning & a few minor cares to attend to - Yesterday ie Friday aftn - I was ashore (Grantala medicoes have been here 2 weeks & not allowed ashore ) - Haggard & I went together & explored the park & acclimatisation gardens - We got to a point marked Zum Ficus wekk we'd been there to the Figs that was to our right We went Zum? Cedoela to our left & explored Cedoela odorata from S America are tall fine trees of the pole type reaching high up 30 40 feet - I never till now felt what a fine thing it was to have a common scientific language in common with all the world -
My German failed me at once but here was Latin= clear & plain The order too was on the porcelain plate Meliaceae so you instantly knew exactly where you were & what your plant was
[Page 81]
All here has been done in the thorough manner characteristic of German science - The name plates are porcelain & burnt in & polished are the names - black letters on a white ground - very effective - I brought one off to show my friend Jack Bailey & get him to adopt it in the Brisbane gardens - Pots are not used but bamboo cylinders full of earth & young plants in them - We wandered on up a gorge like the Launceston gorge but minus the S.Esk river & Haggard trusted no nigger would pot us - This I scoffed at considerably so on we went up a nice track & over little bridges with trees & lianes & creepers on both sides of us ferns too Bird nest Asplenium & Aspidium & Polypodies - no orchids nor Maiden hair were in view - At the far end we came up against the volcanic cliffs which dripped water into a small rivulet at the topbottom. We saw a gorgeous crimson & black bird a vision only listened to the burble of a pigeon startled a lizard
&
[Page 82]
tried to catch a brilliant butterfly - I've seen him at Bellenden Ker in N Q before today & there was also one of those big dark butterflies who flap largely & then settle & instantly vanish from your ken - Imitation I presume for life's objects - The cliff was dark & dank & aroids & ferns were thinly scattered over its face - I got a stick and looked where I went among the dead leaves & stones for snakes here are numerous & deadly - However we saw none nor did I see any ferns or small plants new to me but it was dry vry dry, save just this cliff face - = All vegetation is waiting expectantly for the rainy season - One thing I saw & warned my pal against & that was a cluster of bees on the surface of a large laurel like leaf - Let sleeping dogs lie - We looked & then retreated - On our way back we took another route & presently spotted a yard with two fine water buffaloes in them - Chaps I'd seen
[Page 83]
In India in the rice fields with a child on their back guiding them - Great lead colored - unwieldy brutes bulls horizontally horned - They scratch their sides in the most delicate manner with just the tip of their horns - Then we struck what I was sure of interest & up I went a lot of bee hive circular huts built of straw raised 5 to 8 feet from the ground & with a deck floor & steps up - It was a native compound & in we went & explored - Lots of natives males mostly some children - I saw no women - They were all very friendly & evidently were connected with the gardens - They had a lot of mongrel dogs like dingoes - Iron pots - They smoked & yabbered away - The huts are circular
[drawing of hut]
- straw for sides straw for roof - They'll burn fast enough & must be hot shops
[Page 84]
These straw conically pointed huts are of course the typical house of these natives tho well known but it was interesting to see them all the same - The huts were neat & clean & the compound quite clean - The German curator I expect sees to all that - We've had also a peep at his house from the exterior just at the back was a colony of those handsome but very noisy birds the metallic starlings - They were nesting & parliament was sitting - They were all speakers & all made the utmost use of their privilege of saying a few words to the rest - I saw no listeners - Their nests are large & crowded together at the end of the branches - Now & again the weight is too much & down comes branch nests eggs & young birds - A tit bit for snakes carnivores & accipitrines -
Another thing interested me in a bee hive hut open all round - and thatwere meteorological instruments bulbs & thermometers dry & wet - A rain guage stood outside in good position - Yes there was a good German brain
[Page 85]
not aloneonly of the biological but also of the taxonomic & collecting kind orderbehind all this display of order & I am very glad to hear that the local authority has seen fit to reinstate the Curator of these gardens - He's had no light job clearing cleaning planning planting what was primeval jungle a few years back - The expense of all these experimental plots must have been very great & the benefit to the planters & horticulturists of these parts also very great - On my way back I collected a black spider with 2 red marks one above & one longer beneath the abdomen The Poisonous Kakapo probably
Well back to the SS Upolu but first of all a drink at the Officers mess their whisky is far better than ours in my opinion & then we took with us Captains Trognam &' Maine to dinner taught them the simple game of 'drunken coachman' & had a most pleasant evening with our niggers singing & strumming & dancing & sweating till 10 pm - We all sleep on the skylights of our cabin - I turned in & slept till 6 am - If the enemy comes a rocket goes up - at night -
[Page 86]
Monday Sept 28
I put in a good day on Sunday - First there was our bathing party - Then breakfast - After breakfast I got leave & went ashore with Patterson of the Engineers - We walked up to the Governors residence - P - wanted to inspect the engine at the wireless station - It was very hot going up very hot indeed but quite dry - Once on the top we got the breeze - What a splendid view of the harbour & surrounding country - Every war boat was in the harbour lying peacefully at anchor -
I went all over the Governor's residence much of the furniture was leather very unsuitable in the tropics - I also noticed a great deficiency of French windows - Just the ordinary sash window - That's a defect in this hot climate - Thick matting covered most of the floors - I was shown some damage done to the furniture by the Tommies when they first took charge - It didn't amount to much after all said & done & where were the officers Commissioned & non coms to allow any damage at all?
[Page 87]
The Governor had a Ford motor car - P & I then walked back - Shiny starlings sulphur colored butterflies - Bread fruit trees & some Ferns & Euphorbias formed the main organic life on the road - The crater & cone must be old if one takes into consideration the humus accumulated on top of the cinder beds - It amounted to 15 - 20 feet in parts I noticed - We got back too late for lunch on the Upolu so we blew in on the Berrima & picked up Lambton & told him straight we were two hungry 'blokes' who wanted lunch not drink but food - needless to say we got both - I'm ++ sunrise to sunset but I was hungry - Dr Skeate of the Berrima came in - I knew him - He'd been round to the Mainland of N Guinea Wilhelms Hafen - Nice spot good but small harbor - No German resistance at all & we had simply landed an armed crowd & garrisoned
[Page 88]
the place 4 hours it took - The Berrima leaves detachments here & then goes to Sydney - She may go to Europe - He told me there was a Native Hospital here in charge of 2 German doctors one of whom had been under Ehrlich & spoke English - He said he'd seen cases of Ankylostomiasis - Beri - beri Dysentry there - I must go & call as soon as I can -
We then had lunch together & after lunch rested till 4 pm then P & I resumed the initiative & P wanted to again see the old engine at the Wireless - Its 1 to 2 miles walk up hill - I suggested commandeering a horse & trap - We went off to transport headquarters & got due permission & after some delay got fixed up with a trap built by Bell & Son of S.Brisbane & a small but sturdy pony - P. hates equines so I drove & off we went & very nice it was talking & letting the horse work -
[Page 89]
It was splendidly cool but the red sunset presaged another hot day - P. went off to his pet engine which certainly was running queerly - I know nothing of engines but it didn't need an expert to know that this one was amiss - She was a 14 horse power machine doing 5 horse power work - The way she missed fire raced & then back fired like a machine gun with immense uproar was amusing - 'She proper Debil Debil' said a black man to me who stood by awed by the unusual connonading - Well we had to leave her & retrace our steps - Very pleasant with our helmets off & the breeze on my close cropped head - We returned the pony & trap to transport - We then went to the pier steps & found our Motor boat awaiting the Captain - He turned up & we were soon on board the Upolu -
Always take your chances is my rule - An Order has been signaled round the fleet forbidding even officers to go ashore without the Senior
[Page 90]
Naval Officer's leave - That's a nuisance but it's orders & there's an end of it - Some of our Seamen are in trouble for [indecipherable] cargo needless to say the cargo in question was unguarded liquor - Both Tars & Tommies regard liquor just as children do sweets & jam & as you've got to keep the latter locked up, so you must the liquor - They should put me in charge of all the liquor - I'd see it wasn't touched for I'd [indecipherable] it all in - What a lot of trouble & folly it wd - save but how you'd be disliked=
Buz has it the Australian fleet & the Frenchmen are off out somewhere & that the Japanese flag ship is coming in & that a Jap Admiral is to be in charge of all of us - What we want with Frenchmen & Japs down here is a mystery to all of us but of course we are the puppets & not the Head quarters -
Buz has it that the Grantala is a very proper strict ship - No larking there - Everyone has to be sterilised twice a day!!! No fruit from the shore & no shore water allowed & everyone got to take his quinine daily - Well well my result & that is health for one & all is maintained at far less cost & irritation -
[Page 91]
I had a jolly swim this morning in quite cool, even cold, water with Herbert He is 26 & cant dive as well as Rawdon who has been ever in my mind as I jump into the briny - It's a great misfortune for any young chap in the Navy - not to be good at games sport bridge & the ordinary things that add to life's enjoyment & bring men together - get hold of every parlor trick, especially athletics that you can - Skipping is a fine thing for exercise & all the gymnasium drill & it does help chaps on - Keeness, energy & good temper are absolutely necessary in the Navy - The officers here tell me not to let a boy inclined to lazy habits play golf too young - The boy should play football, hockey, cricket tennis - If they get fond of golf they loaf horribly round the limbers & smoke cigarettes & yarn & this is bad for young chaps - It sounds comon sense -
We are charging the Batteries on AE2 & that means a tremendous uproar from engines & the stench from oil fuel like to the smell of a smoking wick due to unconsumed carbon a very unpleasant irritating smell - Oil fuel & electricity are among the submarine's complements necessities - They cook by electricity - Haggard is to show me over AE2 a marvellous contraption of the most up to date machinery & electric gear -
[Page 92]
Part 4
[Page 93]
Wednesday Sept 30 1914
On Monday night an alarm was sounded - Rockets were sent up & AE2 promptly got ready - This was just on midnight - The alarm however didn't seem to me to promise very much for I noticed 2 Destroyers at anchor & also that the flagship still remained a darkened ship which it wouldn't have provided the enemy were close up - I turned in again & I noticed Stoker soon after come - back in his bunk on deck -
Tuesday morning I had a jolly swim my last for a bit for there's going to be movement - It's in the air - No shore leave granted, coal, water, food taken in - This all points the one way only -
I went off with a patient to the Grantala & returned with him - The Grantala crowd have nothing to do - 3 operations only all their stay & about 3 cases per doctor - Pretty rotten going & a dry ship too - No liquor bar open - They ought to go round to Europe & justify their existence -
The Oona" came in during the forenoon & the Upolu mails came off - We sorted & delivered them - I got your three - I notice the boy spells skool" phonetically & quite right too - Then we read the papers - We are only 10 days out - Nothing past Sept 20 - During the morning AE2 went out & did her diving stunt" - It was quite impossible to see her at times - There was nothing to suggest that such a formidable foe was lurking yon - Submarines have huge planes aft by tilting which at certain angles they go down or come up - They fill tanks with water & [indecipherable] - Once she went down bows up but
[Page 94]
her last dive was a beauty - She sank in a beautiful horizontal line & went right under - Wonderful, deadly craft -
When leisure came I wrote you & also Turner & I thought I should get a chance to-day to send part of my serial tale but its washed out - This morning I dolled up & went on to the Flagship to see the PMO - Saw him & then went down to the Sick bay & saw all his contraptions - A very light bamboo stretcher
[drawing of a stretcher]
with folding side flaps I liked muchly for use in ships, mines & elsewhere - He showed & examd - a Sailor at 29 with something wrong with his right eye - He seemed to me to have overused it in shooting - He was a very good rifle & revolver shot - If it is so it's the first case I've seen of that sort - It's the Peep sight said the Sailor - His vision field was limited & his pupil dilated to a medium size = o - Left pupil = o Color vision normal -
Well I had a cocktail & pushed off with my special job done & that was to return a man to Sydney - We'r now up alongside the Aorangi the store ship for water - The Aorangi is up against the pier & this is our closest to lying alongside the thousand foot pier at Rabaul -
We are leaving Rabaul to - morrow for unknown parts with the fleet whole or in part - It's grand dry weather & we are as a company all well -
[Page 95]
Thursday Oct 1
Nothing doing - We went up alongside the Aorangi for water - Got none or very little I believe - This morning at 7 am we went out into the bay & anchored Elms & Blayney two of our absent officers rejoined us last eveg - Elms had been in the Sumatra a prize fitted with a gun in her bows & used for patrol work - Blayney had been skipper of another prize the Madang & used to carry the military & stores to Herbershohe - Elms has a keen sense of humor & is a most enjoyable chap - He said he was glad to be back for he had been afraid they might be arrested for 'loitering' - He had also recommended that a gun should be put in the stern of the Sumatra she must run he remarked & we could poop the enemy & the recoil wd - shoot us ahead an extra 5 knots for a bit - He can drink & talk some - I can vouch for it - Captains Moore & Stoker put off to a 'pow wow' on the flagship at 9.30 - What transpired we haven't been told so here we are marking time - All leave stopped - Its Oct 1st - My ship's Company & that of AE2 & the Protector are all well - I returned my only anxious case (Murray) at 2.30 yesterday by the mail boat to Sydney - He wants a little retail attention by means of Radium or a surgical operation of a delicate nature & I am sure no one here could do that so thoroughly as in a big Sydney hospital -
[Page 96]
Friday Oct 2 1914
Nothing doing a good swim at 7 am - At 8.30 AE2 was signaled 'get ready to go out' - This order was eagerly & promptly obeyed - Presently another signal came which washed out everything - All the war ships including the Montcalm went out yesterday aftn - they came back at noon to - day - Some of the NOs growl at things in general & at havy nothing to do - As we don't know all the factors of the game & are not in a position to judge I think to grouse at your superiors shows great want of judgment not to say common sense & I steadily say so - We may have to wait inactive & sluggish but it's all a part of the game the jolly rapid bits are like plums few & far between -
Its far better to be here than lurking Germans in the North Sea anyway amid rain & slush & fog with destroyers by night & submarines by day seeking to sink you -
About 1 - 30 pm a gun was fired on the flag ship - There is to be a court martial at 4 pm & its part of the service routine for one gun to be fired - Who is to be potted we don't know but a court martial in war time is a serious matter - Ashore there's nothing doing Major JColonelPaton H.of staff told me when I was bathing - The Berrima hopes to go round to Europe eventually leaving of course detachments her & at Herbertshohe & Wilhelm Haven -
Captain Twynam belongs to F Company - A Comp = 14 Officers & 110 men - C & Non C
[Page 97]
What a marvelous thing wireless telegraphy is - Our man tells me he cd - hear the German cruisers talking last night - They are somewhere in the Pacific but where? There was a buz that a German gunboat had shelled Wilhelm Haven yesty - but it's only buz - Every German wireless station in the Pacific & Indian Ocean is in our hands - Their capture was imperative & the first operation of our war down here -
We had some press news to-day but both allies & Germans seem to us to be holding their own - The crumpling up of the German right is good of course but it only meant that the G.R. was too extended & they went East to join their centre - One N.O, has bet a bottle of champagne that Bill throws his hand in by Xmas - On the contrary most of us think Bill will raise us two by then - Excuse this poker dialect - The NO's way of expressing himself leaves much to be desired but you grasp his meaning in its entirety & that's his main point =
Saturday Oct 3
Still nothing doing - Had my morning swim at the pier in wonderfully clear water - Then breakfast - I get up at 6 & have a biscuit & tea & then swim - After breakfast I took a stoker over to the Grantala - He has been giving a little trouble
[Page 98]
Says he is ill & cant work & wont work - I can find nothing wrong with him physically - The Captain wanted to punish him but I said No - we've a hospital ship & I'll take him there & they'll watch him for a few days & get at the bottom of his trouble - In the stokehole it's very hot & men get knocked out & a few days may set them up - This man has been invalided once out of the Navy - & why he should be readmitted is a puzzle - Saw one of the Grantala medicoes - He told me he was 'fed up' & wanted to get back - These young chaps think they ought to be doing 'star turns' all day & every day & don't like dull blank monotonousness - wireless is fed up & swears he'll never volunteer again -
On my return from the Grantala I inspected under Haggard's guidance AE2 - She's just a mass of pipes, tubes, coils, cocks, valves dynamos & varied electric gear - You go down a man hole & are on a deck, the main & only deck go slightly aft & you can stand up straight & find yourself in the ward room & officers bed room combined - Beds shut into drawers when
[Page 99]
not being used - The commander has a telephone at his head - That's from the bridge 2E Conning tower - Curtains red curtains shut the officers 2 in number from the crew -
Go aft a bit more & you have on either side of you a vast switch board full of electrical contrivances - Go on & you come on the engines a starboard & port engine one for these boats have 2 Screws 2 propellers & all the consequent gear - Each engine is of 800 horse power oil fuel when they dive they run on electric motors - The men were messing somewhere about here at a small table & I noticed an electric stove & the food looked good & smelt most appetizing - Peas, potatoes & good beef are all right - Aft of this I noticed torpedoes in their tubes ready to be discharged - & also 2 spare ones - There are 8 torpedoes in this submarine & we carry 8 spare ones for them - There were huge dynamos & a marvellous gyroscopic compass - Value of the latter runs into thousands 2 - 3000 £ I believe - Then I retraced my steps to the wardroom & examined the gyro periscope value 500£ By an
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arrangement of the lenses you seen the water & anything on it - I turned it round & saw the Upolu & cd count the skins of the slain sheep & I'd never noticed this on the Upolu - Then there are markings designed to show distance from of an enemy or anything else - Then I saw the apparatus that tells how far down you are sub mare - Then the electric apparatus that moves the gear that shifts the hydro planes that allow you to go down by being tilted - I gazed at the wireless apparatus & the funny little box, about the size of 3 kerosene cases where wireless sits & listens & talks -
Then I worked my way forward bent low & perspiring freely two lovely tubes quite ready for their devil's work & 2 spare torpedoes swing above them ready to do their roving mission & bump any German ship afloat - I saw a bit of an apparatus swinging at the end of some a coil - It was a short
[Page 101]
thick pistol you hold this chap in your hand keep your eye on the periscope & when you're in line with your objective pull the trigger - This sets a torpedo in motion & liberates it & away it speeds to its mark - At once you pip off another torpedo & again another & another & by the time you've done this if you've had any luck you've burnt up 2 - 3 cruisers & killed several hundred men & your luck is in & you're a national hero!!!!
Beneath my feet the vessel is full of oil tanks - No part of her but is chock full of something useful for her peculiar calling - You see men everywhere cleaning the bridge copper brass & steel workings - Everything is kept at a very very high stage of efficiency - When they dive they breathe the air shut up in the Submarine by the act of diving but if necessary they have compressed air in grey painted jars
[Page 102]
This is I believe mostly used to expel water from tanks so as to get buoyancy - Well it's the most wonderful bit of machinery I've seen up to date -
Fancy Berant Scarlett & Moor & those doomed 32 stokers going down & down their last meeting in that tiny wardroom & their last handshake - She'd sink like an iron plug & presently at great depth be squeezed & flattened but that must have taken time & what were those desperate men doing & thinking of? No I'd sooner be on a destroyer than bottled up on a submarine & so I'm sure wd - my friend Haggard - If death must come I'd like to see it coming - square & straight not drowned hopelessly like a caged animal - I asked H - whether all this complex machinery cd - be trusted at critical moments to carry out its contracts - He said Oh yes We're always going over & over it & seeing
[Page 103]
to it - I presume it must be so for otherwise an awful loss of life must frequently occur - Personally I had no idea electricity had reached such an advanced stage - Aeroplaning & submarine work are equally dangerous & entirely subversive of what men have up to date regarded as the normal mis operations in military & naval warfare -
Well we came up & got along & had drinks & that ended my visit to AE2 - I don't think they'd let anyone save the crew go out in her anywhere - Service orders I believe so I shant get drowned that way -
Buz has it that Tahiti has been shelled by German cruisers - Tahiti is 3000 from us - Well until these German cruisers are accounted for we shall stick here - What we marvel at is that Cairns or Townsville has not been stuck up shelled & coal & food captured & the banks looted - It surely wd - be easy to capture these places -
[Page 104]
We are out 6 weeks to - day & all is well - I had some stinking cheese N. Zealand stilton dumped in the harbor - How it stunk just hummed - I wont allow anything that smells to remain on board & the captain & I keep a keen look out on stewards, cooks & the men - Our water is good & we're all cheerful - Leave is quite stopped so we read & write & bathe & mark time only twice have I played ordinary Bridge The weather is fine - dry - hot -The sun is about over us at noon we are only 4° south of the Line - We have a glorious breeze from the SE that keeps us cool day & night - All the war ships are in -
Week 7 Oct 4 1914 Sunday morning
The scene has changed & all is glow & excitement - The fleet is changing her base & the new base is Suva in Fiji the big war ships went out last evening & we go out this aftn - We includes the Encounter Destroyers AE2 & Upoluu - W - also includes the store ship (Aorangi) & a collier or two - There was a powwow on the flagship last night at 8.45pm & Stoker came back with the welcome news -
[Page 105]
That buz about Tahiti & the Scharnhorst has an element of truth evidently - Suva is a very central place in the Pacific & from there a dash can be made anywhere - The Australia, Montcalm & Sydney are in the van & steaming into the a sea raised by a strong breeze from SE - We skirt the Solomons & go down along by the New Hebrides & so down - We have to keep station next the Encounter - How long will it take? Well we can steam 8.5 knots so it must take 12 days at least - God send we don't break a shaft or run on a coral reef in this rotten old ditcher of a ship - We were scraping her sides here & we actually scraped holes thru her so that will show how cankered she is = 'Fortuna favet fortibus' is engraved on a plate in the Wardroom of AE2 with the Australian coat of arms above it - The motto includes all Upolians -
The Berrima is empty, swept & garnished of Tommies & goes to Sydney this aft- The Protector goes to Sydney - she's no use - I was on shore this morning & sent to you by Dr. Skeete of the Berrima, 3 small packets containing my manuscript of all that I had seen & done up to a certain date - The rest follows in due course -
[Page 106]
The Tommies guard this place - Otherwise it will be quite unguarded for at 5pm there wont be a vessel in the harbor - What will become of our prizes I wonder? All our officers are recalled & AE2 pushes off shortly - Farewell Die Mutter - Farewll Ribaul - I shant see either again - I visited the Native Hospital this morning & met Dr Kronen ? German - By ramshackle dirty sheds & some 120 men, women & children Chinese Japanese prostitutes, natives - Dr - K - knew Hirschfield of Brisbane & spoke of him - Elephantitis Beri Beri Malaria Tropic Ulcer Phblisis Varicella Keloid vaccination scars Dysentry - The place was badly kept sheds not wards & much dirt - Where the Jap women were was the only respectable looking place - How these women looked & leered at you - Viele regen, viele fieber" said Dr - Kronen in answer to my question Nicht regen, nicht fieber' - Plenty of anopheles & their offspring Malaria -
Dr Kronen was very nice & polite & I told him how I liked the Botanic garden & the acclimatisation experiments then I thanked him & left - Wherever
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one goes one should first of all follow up your own game & see & learn all you can - then those adnexa that be nearest - in my case Natural history finally a strong interest in other mens pursuits both mental & physical -
I walked along the edge of the bay over black sand really cinders to the pier I saw 2 sandpipers - Talked to Cumberledge of the destroyers - He's Chief there - The Warrego is his home - Then our boat came alongside & off we went to the Upolu -
I wrote to you & sent a P.C as well -
To wind up Rabaul for good let me summarise we've been here 3 weeks & 3 days & taking all in all I consider I've not done amiss - Collecting is was quite out of the question in war time but I saw & observed a great deal - I spent more time on shore than any sailor man & went further & did more - Now we're off & I have a good general idea of New Britain & Rabaul - Its inhabitants its geology its flora its dry weather & glorious sea breezes & its coco palm & fringe of greenness
Vale Rabaul
[Page 108]
4 - 30 pm
We are all outside & in blue water - AE2 threw her lines off about 3 pm & at 3.30 we followed suit -
The Grantala is right ahead going strong - She's on her own & steams her own way - We've left the Yarra behind - She's to go to Sydney & have her propeller shaft seen to - On our Starboard beam bow is a column - Warrego (Cumberledge) Parramatta (Warren) & AE2 (Stoker) - The Encounter leads us then the Upolu then an oil ship, a store ship, then 2 colliers - A noble procession - We made an imposing picture steaming out of Simpsonhafen past the rock monument with the cross on it past the straw bee hive huts & the natives staring at us past stockaded houses which put one in mind of Masterman Ready & the Stockade & the savages in their canoes & then the fight at the Stockade - Yes we are right clean out of the harbor where we have sweltered for 3 weeks the blue sky is over us & the deep blue water under us & presently maybe we shall pass right over the burial spot of the brave 35
[Page 109]
Wednesday Oct 7
We made a bad start on Tuesday night we broke down - A tube in the condenser broke shivered itself & we had to stop & signal the Encounter - We got orders to return to Ribaul & transfer to the Aorangi our stores & reserve crew - We turned back & proceded slowly for about an hour while the engine room people fixed up the condenser - At the end of that time back came the Destroyer Warrego & signaled as to how we were Captain reported we were all right again & could get to Suva - Presently we were directed to turn round & rejoin the fleet - We turned round & we 3 Aorangi Upolu & Warrego steamed ahead -
Monday was a rotten day - Half a gale from the SE & a big rolling sea - Our screw was out of water a lot & we had to get along somehow trusting to the great Architect that nothing wd go wrong - Nothing did luckily & on Tuesday both wind & sea fell - In the aftn we saw smoke ahead &
[Page 110]
at 6 am to-day we were up - We got into 2 lines & the ships now keep station & we are steaming full speed for Suva 8 of us in our original order with AE2 & the Destroyers on our Starboard Beam - It's a smooth sea - I was vilely seasick all Monday - She did pitch horribly & knocked me clean out - Tuesday was better & to-day I'm all right again - Dont go to sea in small boats is my tip - We could see the Destroyers go right into it & AE2 used to dip right up to her conning tower - All is well on board & whatever happens we cant go back to Ribaul - I just saw the island Bougainville yesty = aftn= but no more land so far - Ribaul is 4° S of the line & Suva is 18°S so we've some way to travel 1800 miles -
I am reading early history - The earliest sailors crept along the shore - It is an historical fact that it took 75 days to go from Egypt along the Libyan shore thro the Gates of Hercules (Gibralter) to Gades (Cadiz) - The 1st circumnavigation of Africa (600BC) was accomplished by a Phoenician ship in 3 years
[Page 111]
Saty - Oct 10th 1914
I last wrote on W-day - since then there has been nothing to record - The weather has been fine but we'v been much delayed by a head sea & wind from the S.E. Our runs show - 180-137-156 Very very slow business this - We have taken a route clear of islands so as not to be norked by Germans - We went thro the Solomons - We saw Bellon & Rauelle islands on the starboard beam huge elongated, well wooded islands - We have just done half our distance 920 miles in 6 days - We have not had any breakdown or accident & the health of all on board is excellent - Pharaoh set a good example when he hanged his chief baker & we wd - like to hang ours - His bread is too awful & he cant or wont cook things sufficiently - Tough dough constitutes his idea of pastry - Like everything else on the Upolu our freezing chamber is not too good & we've had to throw a lot overboard - 6000 lbs of meat -
[Page 112]
The general health is excellent however & I'm purely a watch dog -
We put in time as best we can - The average sailor man knows his job but knows nothing else - The conversation generally turns on Pubs & women & I very much doubt if the conversation aft - be a single degree better than that forward -
This is very regrettable I think - If I were an N - O - and executive NO I'd put my foot down very firmly on my ship on all loose lewd talk - Its really awful at times the filth & obscene talk of men who really are good chaps & mind you some of the chief officers are very the bad worst - Why high spirits & effective work should be linked to this dreadful drivel I don't know but it pervades both army & navy - Of course there are men like myself silent the whole time - One can do but little to check this sort of thing I regret to say -
[Page 113]
Well there's enough of that - It's life, the life of the average man & one must take men as one finds them -
The Encounter heads our convoy & John Glossop is the Captain (John Lewin really) John rages very much against us because we are the lame duck of the squadron - He constantly signals us wanting us to do a bit more but all we can say is 'that the boss is doing his best' Why a rotten old boat like this was selected for valuable stores is a mystery she'd be caught & sunk under 5 minutes by any enterprising cruiser - It's her last trip so far as we are concerned anyway for from the Captain to the cook not one of us wd sail in her again - Seven weeks out this evng my dear & so far all well
[Page 114]
Tuesday October Sept 13 1914
It is a beautiful day - The sea is smooth & we're moving on to our goal Suva - We expect to arrive on Thursday - Captain John Lewin (not John Glossop who is on HMS Sydney) tells us ever & anon to speed up for we are delaying the convoy but the engines can do no more than they are doing even though many of us think Storry the chief engineer - is not quite equal to his job - He'd make a good 2nd but he isn't the type for a chief cant organize or get the most out of his men seemingly - There's a lot in being a good chief Lewin is not a good chief he worries his Subs far too much & they resent it & curse him accordingly -
All is well from a health point of view though I really wonder at it considering what has been going on unbeknown to me - For the past few days remarks have been bandied to & fro about our freezing chamber & that the meat in it smelt - The paymaster is in charge but said nothing & I simply
[Page 115]
looked upon it as talk - Yesterday on 'Rounds' the Captain & I examined some beef & I condemned it & had it thrown over the side - I asked the Captain why he didn't have the freezing chamber examined & then it came out that he didn't like to - He said he wanted backing!! It seems he wanted my backing!! Well he soon got it for this morning I asked to see the whole show - In less than two minutes I had made up my mind & commended that everything inside that chamber be thrown overboard & the chamber cleaned & that we make a new start - This done after lunch - It was worse than even I thought - Badly packed in Sydney for a start, the temperature has been allowed to vary & putrid bacteria soon made their presence felt - Lack of experience made all the officials concerned hang on too long - I
[Page 116]
should have made it my business to examine earlier than I did - I should have done this only not feeling sure as to my say in the matter I waited - In a new job you've got to feel your way - You may by interference tread on someone's corns & that is not advisable - However all's well that ends well & I watched pork, mutton beef go over the side this aftn - with a feeling of relief that we'd had had no ptomaine poisoning among the ship's company 6000 & more lbs of food jettisoned - In future I shall act promptly on my own in this & similar matters - Speaking generally I know my power but when it comes to details that touch on other departments I'm not sure of my ground & I've no one to consult -
A wireless press message was got this morng - Antwerp captured by the Germans & various other items of news - The German nut is not going to be cracked instanter & Berlin is - I fear - going to be reached thro a sea of blood -
[Page 117]
Friday Oct 16th
We arrived at Suva about 1 pm yesterday 15th - From quite early in the morning heavy tropical rain fell & with interruptions it has continued to the present - It looks like an early rainy season - We followed our leader --The Encounter - & anchored by our old friend the Sydney - The fleet lay all around us & the big Frenchman - the Montcalm with his guns stuck out was there too - Shortly after we anchored AE2 came alongside & then we found that she had lost a blade from her starboard propeller & at once preparations were started to put a new propeller on & remove the old one - All was well we heard - Tahiti had been shelled by the Germans & the cable at Fanning Island destroyed - We had heard a rumor of this before - The bombardment of defenceless Tahiti was loudly condemned on all hands - Pure savagery to bombard such a beautiful spot - There's a paper here - the Fiji Times - we got news from that -
[Page 118]
So far no one officer or man had been allowed shore leave - What we are going to do we don't know - The Upolu will remain here that's certain - She isn't in a condition to travel much further - Scrape & clean her engines & solitary boiler is her job of work anyway - We've got in bread I've not touched ship's bread since we left Ribaul nor butter - It's a treat to get good bread, good fruit pawpaws & bananas & not to be pitching continuously -
About 5 pm we went up to the pier & watered & came out to our anchorage at 9 this morg - Suva is pretty but I wrote to you & gave the details of the beach so far as I cd - see them - On the pier the natives congregated - Their heads of hair strike one at once - There are a good many Samoan women here low class & positively hideous - Blubbery & big with horrid faces - They stared & jabbered - Of course quite quiet & respectable
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Indian coolies were there by the score as well as Fijians & Samoans - men women children - They had never seen such a sight as England's War ships & fighting men - The coolies come from Calcutta & are used on the extensive sugar plantations of Fiji - Almost everyone, including the natives, on that pier had an umbrella - We did nothing that eveng but smoke cigarettes & talk - The war news is most interesting - We cant but notice that in spite of the Allies driving the enemy back for miles each day yet that Lille Ghent Antwerp are all in German hands - I also notice that the English bombs from aeroplanes caused great destruction but not the German ones curiously enough!!! No naval news whatever is another marked feature -
This morng - was fine though rain fell heavily in the aftn - We posted our letters thro a petty officer - Went out to our anchorage & here we are waiting for orders - Reading - Writing & making the best of Suva -
[Page 120]
Tuesday Oct 20-1914
I am going for the present anyway to wind up my serial tale - We are back in a British port a well known port & description wd be superfluous - My letters will come regularly & I'll note everything of interest as it comes along -
Sunday 18th= I put in aboard - We were using Divers to fix up AE2's new propeller & the rules of the service require the Dr not only to examine the man before he goes down but to hang around handy in case of accident - All went well & the job ended about 6 pm -
I sd have mentioned that on Saty the big ships went out but, what their job is we don't know - On Monday morning we shifted our berth inshore - We now lie - with AE2 alongside - some 400 yards from the wharf -
I put in the morng on the Grantala - I took a sick man over an ERA (Engine Room Artificer) I stayed to lunch & talked to the doctor men - The Fizz & sparkle is off the champagne now we'r out of German territory & back to a British settlement - All that remains is to watch & ward Doctor man's job in the navy is potential at all times -
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You see it's the exact sciences the physical sciences that flourish & bloom in the navy - the inorganic as against ours the organic side of life Mathematics, mechanics, physics preponderate immensely - The doctor rarely gets a look in he cant there is not the opening so I say go for the exact sciences & join the Navy - It's a good game & I like the M.O. - limited though his knowledge is to his own job outside that he's horribly ignorant - I left the Grantala after lunch & went back to the Upolu & from the Upolu to the Beach & my first job was the sending & registering my serial tale the 4th section to you - I also wrote Turner who has had a rotten time - He fell off a ladder & broke collar bone, ribs & shook himself up muchly & has been laid up - trained morse & all the rest of it - He's improving - Writes with his left hand - I then visited the local museum & library both fair only you know country town shows
[Page 122]
The thing about Suva is the greenness the sward is very fine - The Botanic gardens are more like a big green park than any other gardens I've seen a glorious carpet of green with hibiscus hedges Hibisci do very well in this soft moist climate - The double scarlet one is a thing of beauty - The cricket ground also possesses a grand turf wicket & the outfield must be excellent - Really all this verdure grows on some 2 feet of humus on the tip of sandstone rock - Albizzias abound - They are a kind of Acacia Rawdon knows them - We had a fine one next the police station in the hospital grounds at Gayndah - Victoria parade is lined with them & on then covering their trunks & branches is a fern a polypody - Ferns do well in this damp land - In the axils of leaves of a Palm in the Botanic gardens ferns had been planted from top to bottom & flourished exceedingly fronds being 2 feet & more Hare's foot fern grew splendidly there -
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I knew most of the plant life - It's Nth Qland over again with escapees from other countries Black eyed Susan Solannus Lantana Cannas do very well - Monstera deliciosa I noticed Acalyphas Papaws Bananas (Gros Michel variety) - ad libitum - The Kava creeper it's the root of species of Pepper (Piper Methysticus) - They grind or chew the roots & make an alcohol of it that is the natives do - Sensitive pea plants grow like weeds everywhere - You should see how Coleus does here in its adopted land Hedges of it - One feature is wanting both in Museum & gardens nomenclature - Things should be clearly named scientificaly named & this means only that order & method are given to an otherwise chaotic state of affairs - One old naturalist of great power Waterton loses half his interest not to say priority of naming thro his lack of care & precision in this matter of absolutely primary importance - Let us know & others know too about what we speak -
[Page 124]
Suva is small smaller than Glenn Innes a lot smaller than Cairns - The white population is say 2000 but the native Fijians & Samoans amount to 80,000 I am told - There are also some 50 000 coolies from Madras & Calcutta - They are indentured by the Government & hired by the planters - Fiji is a Crown colony Brown predominates everywhere numberless women native & Indian parade the streets the Indian women with ornaments in their noses & ears one ayah had 3 in her nose & 5 in each ear - Flat ornaments & a ring in her nose & fancy your ear pierced in 5 places on both sides - The native men & women are a fine lot very lazy I'm told but then most races are - Fighting & man hunting is forbidden & all else is tame compared to that - Well I walked about & examined the shops Indian Japanese Chinese Natives huts Mean white places & eventually got back
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to the Upolu by 6 - 30 pm -
All leave stops at 6 pm & we must go inboard As there is nothing to do in the eveg - this is a good salutary rule in my opinion =
From a war point of view - here - there is nothing doing - Notice how good the submarines have been in the N.Sea - They're a coming weapon - They scuppered 4 of our cruisers pretty easily we think - this aftn I was ashore again - I met Dr James of the Grantala - He is the consulting Surgeon there - We did the Gardens together & then blew in at the Club Hotel & called on Dr Ry Ireland - He is G.M.O. All the doctors here are Government men Civil Servants - He introduced us to his wife - Pleasant people - He was a Barts man & has lived long in the West Indies - He says Suva is very rough & uncivilized as compared with the West Indies & he does not like the place - James left after a bit but I remained & talked on - Mr Ry Ireland asked me to a shivoo at the Pacific Hotel for tomorrow - The red cross nurses are entertaining the Grantala nurses & doctor men so we shall all meet 4 pm tomorrow -
[Page 126]
I looked in at the Bank of New Zealand & asked for Charlie Thomas - He was manager here some 7 years back - He is in Dunedin now - On my return to the ship I examined a stone obelisk erected to commemorate the taking over of Fiji - Some ship's arrival & the earliest land sales on that particular spot - 1837 I think was the earliest date but even now it's getting obliterated by the action of sun & rain =
Wednesday Oct 21 - A quiet morning - The only diversification was the case of an AB who got 28 days in Suva gaol for abusive language & threatening demeanour - The ship's crew was paraded & the judgment & sentence read out before everyone & off he went with an armed guard to the seclusion of a gaol with native Fijian warders to look after him - I had to certify to his health which was excellent - Navy - discipline is also excellent - A man gets cautioned & every chance to amend his way but if he don't he gets dished & to some sound time too -
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About 3 pm I went to the beach & met Dr Ireland who told me the party was off - It seems the Grantala nurses, earlier in the day, had had an invitation from the Governor & his wife unbeknown to Mrs Ireland so the affair was postponed - However some 7 of us had aft t at the Grand Pacific Hotel & put in a pleasant time - Suva is a very one horse place though pretty (Look up Fiji in the Australian year book - red backed -on our shelves near Webster I think) - This hotel was built & finished last May - The Union S.S.Co of NZ built & run it - It is far before any Brisbane hotel - There is a grand hall with balconies around it Large, lofty, luxurious - We had tea there 4 ladies & 3 mean We then inspected the place the roof is fine & you get a view all over the harbor when this hotel is lit at night she looks like a man of war coaling at night there is such a blaze of light everywhere
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The drawing room has all grass & cane furniture - At present it must be a white elephant some 60 guests only since May it is reported & it wont have many with this war on & routes not safe -
The usual gossip & jollity at tea time & so on till 5.40 when I cleared for my boat - Horsfall & 2 others medicos walked down with me & I met other officers & off we went - The Captain (Moore) & another officer (P) came off about 6 - 30 & both got into trouble with the commander (Stoker) - S is really boss of the whole show when aboard - Both Captain & the other chaps not too sober & then late in spite of Orders - Stoker rounded them up pretty severely I am glad to say - The men on AE2 got shore leave & had to back by 5 pm & every man was there sober & sensible - We are so linked up officers & men that while we know them> they know us - Submarine men cant think much I grant you
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for they never seem to evince any feeling about their calling & I doubt very much if the loss of AE1 affected any of them mentally - Navy chaps are educated to obey orders both men & officers without question but there they part the men are trained to obey but the officers to think & have initiative & to do the right thing when isolated - The men trust their officers implicitly in almost every case -
Thursday Oct 22 - The Parramatta Capt Warren is alongside - Bumped on the mud & has a diver down - She's nearly as long as we are & her top deck is full of war contraptions torpedo tubes loaded - guns 4 in number Turbine engines & 3 screws & can steam close on 30 knots per hour - She's a nasty looking customer at any time - Destroyers attack at night by choice Submarines by day - Which is the deadlier engine of war I don't know - The submarine is far stealthier - so you see we have AE2 on one side & a destroyer on the other side of us & we'r all well & as jolly as sandboys & Suva feels quite well too now -
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To the Beach in the aftn - with liberty men from H.M.A. Submarine AE2 a great boon to the submarine men - They alone of all the fleet allowed on shore - They deserved the boon anyway - First of all I did a little laundry job ship prices 4/ a dozen each piece 4d therefore a pair of socks 8d !!! Pay don't run to that so I fixed up with a Chinese man my small goods & left the large for the ship's chap wily white man = Then I blew in at the Carnegie library & inquired about a Flora Vitiensis Fiji or Viti Seeman wrote one in 1869 that's the standard one & I spent an hour examining his colored plates beautifully done - A palm peculiar to Fiji bore the palm Pritchardia pacifica - There was also a volume entitled 'The cruise of the Curacoa' before his time (Seeman's) & it figured Flora & Fauna of varied species right thro the Pacific Islands - There is no naturalist in Suva I regret to say & of course on the shore
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line you get so many introduced species - Leaving there I went to the Hospital literally built on 7 Hills & between each ward on a hill top is a gully - I asked the RMO how many days he took to do a round in & if casualties among the staff were not frequent - I never saw such a contraption - However this is all to be altered & it will be all on one level & easy to administer - All the wards were well kept & well managed - The native wards were a vast improvement on the German ones at Rabaul - That is a good dodge - of thick matting in place of a mattress - It's laid on the wire of an ordinary bed - One unfortunate coolie (Indian) had had both his legs amputated high up close to his body - Yaws is the commonest Fijian disease - Hook worm gut disease frightfully common among the Indian coolies adults not children - Filiriasis another vy vy common disease - Tuberculosis is gaining ground rapidly in Fiji
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We walked round the clean wards - Much has to be done in the future but the place & the patients were all vy well looked after & seemed quite jolly & comfortable - There were 4 of us medicos going round & Father Fox of the R.C.mission - Father F & I foregathered & he has asked me to call on him at the Presbytry or Manse & of course I shall - There is a Semi Scientific society here - The Fijian Society designed to learn all it can of Fijian native ways & customs Father F tells me Fijian women prefer their children to have Yaws Why he couldn't say - When I tell you that the lesions of Yaws & Syphilis are the same & the treatment the same though I am informed that the diseases are quite distinct specifically you will be as astounded as I am at the profundity
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of the ignorance & folly of the Fijian Mother - You'd think that any mother even half savage would prefer a clean skin to the ulcerated one of Yaws -
I had tea with Dr & Mrs Burge ? in their vy nice bungalow they are young Scotch people - She looks vy vy delicate - Two nice children were playing about - We ate & talked & laughed till 5.30 when all of us went down to the pier head & picked up our respective launches & so off to the parent ship -
I mentioned a stone obelisk in a small triangular compound opposite the P - Office - What I thought registered a ship's name turns out on closer examination to be 'Cross & Cargill' First missionaries October 1835 Pretty early days - Fiji became a B. colony 1874 - 1st land sales 1880 - Suva made the capital 1882 - All this the carving on this obelisk perpetuates - It's been a glorious day climatically & I've enjoyed it thoroughly -
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Thurdsay Oct 23 Friday- After breakfast AE2 cast off from us & went away to a creek nearer the entrance to the harbor - I think the idea is to let the men swim & bathe & go on shore & to be away from Pubs & similar well known evils - The fleet came in save the Sydney & promptly anchored - Nothing doing but in the eveng there was a buz round that the flagship had got some good war news of a naval kind - Well we shall glad to hear something good from the North Sea - A mail boat came in & I got a letter from Mrs McConnel of Cressbook Qld asking me for details about AE1 & poor Scarlett -
We got papers up to Oct 13 - What harrowing details that flight from doomed Antwerp supplies - Old men, women & children with their manhood away at the front - I wonder what 'unser Gott' thinks of machine guns on the steeples of his special buildings spreading the gospel of love as exemplified by Bill his chosen -
I watched bullocks 6 altogether being towed by the French transport to the Montcalm - They put strong poles athwart a launch & at either end tie a beast & keep his head well up - Fresh beef for the Montcalm -
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I wrote to Mrs McConnel & gave her full details of AE1 & all that we knew - Its quite on the cards that while diving AE1 struck a pinnacle of rock submerged but like the one I told you about in Simpson hafen with the cross on it -
About 4 pm Herbert & I went to the beach & I got Mab a rather nice book full of Suva views & I also got R some P. cards which I trust will meet with the young people's approval - I also posted a letter to Rawdon - Herbert & I then went to the tennis lawns The turf here is vy vy good = Of course the heavy rainfall helps it immensely - They have 3 grass courts as good as I have seen anywhere - Beautifully level & green - The tennis was moderate with no star performers that I saw - I think I prefer wandering about anywhere looking at the plants, birds - rocks, reef in preference to watching second class tennis - We are getting to know people ashore & I met a lot walking home including Father Fox who had been visiting the Grantala -
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The scene on the pier at 6 pm is most animated officers rejoining their ships liberty men going off Native Fijians & Samoans leaving the ships after their day's work - Women & children galore - Everyone jolly & chirpy & in the highest of spirits laughing & talking & jesting - Never has Suva had so many boats in its small harbor - There are 20 big ships in & this means a good deal of trade for little Suva - I played bridge in the eveg & to my bunk in the Companion way about 11 pm -
I don't fancy any move will be made about our boat at present bad as she is we are here alive & fit & the Admiral wont shift us & all our stores while we can manage - After all we got to Rabaul & to Suva a bit leg weary but we got there - The engineers are cleaning up boiler & fittings - A lot of our chaps would like to go back to Sydney & get out of the job &
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that influences their ideas of what is likely to happen but I should fancy that we'll stay indefinitely for the present - J'y suis J'y reste - I'm all for what does happen to happen - Anyway I'm likely to stop for I pointed out to Stoker that they might go anywhere & I am the naval M.O. in charge of the Submarine flotilla & he agreed with me - .
Thousands of men are wanted for jobs of work right thro the Empire just now & I think the vy last thing any man should do is to chuck a war job however humble it may be - Its surely all a part of a vast whole -
Saty Oct 24 - The weather is superb & the country looks very well - The surf booms away on the barrier reef & in the still hours of early morning sounds like thunder - The coast line facing red roofed Suva is high land peaked so as to resemble the teeth of a huge saw - One eminence is called The thumb - It looks singularly like one - This jagged peaked land going up inland to 3 - 4000 feet produces each morng & eveng a vy fine effect - Sunsets are not so gorgeous in these parts as
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in Australia so far as I have seen - Sea birds are rare - I've seen a gull or two & that's all - On the beach there are no end of Indian Mynahs a kind of starling of the same species we see in Melbourne & likewise an imported ? pest - By the way the mongoose was imported to Fiji to clear out rats 2 & has become a pest - Father Fox told me they had wiped out wild ducks & were a great curse to farmers & all who kept fowls -
The first thing we saw this morng were liberty men being towed by tenders from the war ships to the beach - Some of them had not been ashore for months - Suva was chock a block with men from the fleet all day - In the aftn I was off with others & had a vy fine walk to the Signal station with Blayney & Herbert - We went up hill right at the back of the township & when on top got a fine view of the encircling barrier reef Ύ mile off the land -
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We could see the white horses of the surf - We saw 2 small islands near the reef the one a quarantine ground for Indian coolies the other for whites - We passed thro some native villages - Their huts remind one of the rectangular houses children draw on their slates or on paper elongated rectangles with arched holes for doorways - No windows no furniture -
[drawing]
We saw them feeding in one house - on the floor - There was to be a native dance during the afternoon & we met men in clean attired & garlanded women going to it - It was organized & run by Western missionaries for church expences - Well that wd be a sad decorous affair portentously dull we knew so we wouldn't see it - No what the N.O. loves is a native orgiastic revel at the hour of midnight copious bowl of Kava for the native & champagne & whisky & soda for
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the white men - Things then get fast & furious - Missionaries are never asked to these Bacchanalian orgies - I also notice that the authorities don't approve of them - We saw the native gardens - They grow Taro a species of Aroid they eat the bulbous root - Papaws Bananas Breadfruit but I saw none of our indigenous vegetables - The limestone rock is in these parts only covered by 4 - 6 inches of soil - They carefully pare this off & place layer on layer & so get a plot 18 to 24 inches thick & then plant it - The natives are neither clean, tidy nor thrifty though vy fine specimens of humanity - We returned to Suva & had aft tea at the Pacific Hotel & then watched some tennis & did the Botanic Garden where I saw the fine Pritchardia pacifica : a palm peculiar to Fiji - We then walked down Victoria parade to the pier head - Liberty men were vy much in evidence many of them vy drunk - Some fighting some pouring beer over other
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& some dropping beer bottles on the pavement smash finish - Several of them fell off the pier into the harbor & had to be fished out sobered - The fleet was enjoying its 'ruddy' self I can tell you - The pubs did a roaring trade - Evy - place was chock a block & beer in Suva ran low - The whole show was very funny - Of course pickets were out to look after the men - I saw one chap quite oblivious to eveythg including the fleet & gently tended by two native police till he got better -
I saw an officer of the pickets courting a nice young girl while his men drank & roared - The officers have a vy blind eye on these occasions - I saw another officer with spots of blood all over his white jacket & he informed us that a stoker was going to smash his (the officer's) buddy nose but he smashed the stoker & got splashed doing so -
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We saw one sailor man biff his officer in the launch - The officer went wallop - It was a good humoured, drunken spree but I don't wonder at the Admiral not granting leave vy often - There'll be some trouble tomorrow I expect - How some of the chaps wd ever get up the gangway I don't know - There was a dark rumor that one officer even was paralytic & they passed him inboard thro a port hole - Well we watched all this & enjoyed it muchly - Leave was up at 6 pm for one & all of us - Darken ship was the signal but that didn't stop 4 of us playing bridge till bedtime -
Monday Oct 26 1914 It's the afternoon I am just back from a very jolly trip to AE2 but before I speak about that I must mention that a mail came in on Sunday & I got yours of Oct 14 acknowledging my Rabaul letters - Yes I know Cumberledge a vy good man - He is Commander D (D = destroyers) Captain of the Warrego
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but also Commander of the Destroyer Fleet - I met him first on the Upolu Stoker introduced me - He's one of those men you take to right off - He was the last NO I talked to ashore at Rabaul & I fancy we exchanged greetings one day at Suva but I'm not quite sure - Plain clothes & uniform make such a difference to a man's appearance & I'm ever a bit slow on recognition -
I'm sending this Journal Part V & am writing to Mab on Wednesday 28th (Mail goes out) I see the Berrima got in on 13th 3 parts of my journal went by her C/o Dr Skeete Garden Island - If you don't receive apply to him 'HMAS Berrima' - By the way don't put Surgeon on my letters I'd like 'Accoucheur' - but the Navy - runs on similar lines to shore lines & nothing beyond - Dr HK is needed - In the afn I put off to AE2 who was in a different part of the harbor - I had an invitation to come & dine & stay the night from Commander Stoker - Off we went some 2 - 3 miles & got inboard - We then went per boat up a creek Mangroves, dense
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mangroves bordered the river on both sides - Evry now & again a dark colored heron flapped lazily by us - The whole foreshore was densely covered with vegetation - We pulled about in a funny little boat - like a coracle I said - Its ribs were covered with stout canvas - It is collapsible & packs away in a vy small compass 5 can go in at it at a pinch 2 is best - We landed & wandered about - I got some species of ferns new to me & then we went to AE2 - stripped & Haggard & I joined the submarine crew at a game of water polo - I must have stayed in Ύ of an hour vy warm & jolly with these vy fine sailor men All save H & I me in bathing costumes - Then we put off & had a cocktail & sat or stood & watched the sunset - About 7 we had dinner a vy good dinner all cooked by electricity even the toast then we had wine & yarned & went up on deck & finally turned in
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I had a bunk there are only 3 in that funny little cabin shut off fore & aft by red curtains from the sailor men but drawn back at bed time - I slept vy - well indeed my first night on a submarine - When you sit in this small wardroom it requires but little imagination to fancy you are close to a vy swell pantry with the walls lined with brass & pewter & silver contraptions - A six foot man must be careful about his head I can tell you - All around are electric & mechanical contrivances The latest thing in the application of these sciences - At 6.30 am we had morng - tea & then a jolly swim & a little water polo then dress & breakfast & talk then to the beach & Stoker & I wandered & examined the trees & ferns & rocks & got some vy good botanical specimens - At 10.30 we all went inboard the crew had been bathing & then AE2 came up the harbor & we passed in grand style
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the Flag & the Frenchman & finally went alongside the Upolu about noon & so wound up a vy jolly little stunt - That's the thing for the crews swimg - walking & being decent men in place of drunken Rabelaic swine so long as their higher brain cells are not inhibited by alcohol all goes well -
The vegetation up the creek & all around the shores of the little bay we lay in was densely packed & verdantly green - There is no beach at high tide - I would love to remain here & be in a position to work out the whole flora - However it is mostly done I fancy Stoker & Haggard were real good [indecipherable] - Stoker is brainy & can talk - H is the athlete & good fellow but not the talker - Both men most kindly & sociable -
Three months ago if a prophet had told you that your husband wd be in a war fleet in medical charge of a submarine flotilla & ate & drank & slept on a Submarine you'd have thought the aforesaid prophet was a lunatic yet so it has befallen - By the way E3 has gone E1 at Rabaul (A = Australian) E2 is here -
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E3 has been missing over a week in the North Sea - E signifies a class only the highest & best class of British Submarines up to date - There's a D class & C class F class will be higher than E but as yet its not in existence therefore of the 3 E boats 1 & 3 are gone & only the Australian E2 is afloat - Wonder what the Commander thinks?
It was nice coming up the harbor in her - She conveys a sense of power to you as she rapidly moves with 8 her 1600 horse power Diesel engines (2 at 800 each) - Everyone comes to the shipside to see AE2 as she passes - Personally I think the Destroyers give me as big a sense of power & a lot more feeling of Security -
Tuesday Oct 27 - I am posting this aftn - Nothing fresh Cumberledge was on board this morning & I gave him C's message which he reciprocates saying he remembered him well - We'r going to have a 'Shivoo' on the Destroyers on Thursday 29 - I'll tell you all about it later -
The weather is glorious & Suva at its best opposite us a boat is loading Fiji bananas -
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The row the natives make is astonishing - They lie around the Atria - a fleet of barges, laden with bananas for the Sydney market - We are all quite well Officers & men - We haven't any hardships though moans are heard now & again but that's normal among any body of men & women -
I'm learning all I can about the Navy & navy ways I like the N.O. & their ways - & I think I fit into this position all right - If this war lasts as there is evy indication of its doing one is bound if I follow up the Submarine to see Something sooner or later - We drink too - To the day ['Hock Der Tag'] !!! - Vale - Fred
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My journal Part VI
Thursday Oct 29 1914 The Australian mail (to Sydney) closed at 5 pm yesterday - I got mine all away in safety & heaved a sigh of relief - I hope every bit of it will reach its destination in safety - I was ashore Wednesday aftn - seeing to the above & had just finished when a pleasing spectacle presented itself opposite the P. Office - Half our men were ashore on liberty till 5 pm - The wardroom cook it seems was vy drunk & was trying to appropriate a horse & trap & behaving in a disorderly manner when he was promptly collared by the civil authorities in the form of a white officer assisted by 2 Fijian policemen & I saw the cook - vy gone in the knees being assisted to a police cell to sleep off & then explain to the PM his lapse from sobriety & dignity - We all hope he'll get imprisonment for life & so rid society of an infernally bad cook - He must send up the mortality bill whenever he cooks we are certain I ought to have mentioned that prior to this -
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it had been noticed on the ship that the chief steward was adrift - I went ashore at 2 pm & the first prostrate form I saw on the pier was the aforesaid steward - His arduous duties on shore had overcome him & he was asleep on a form in a shed facing the landing stage - I had him sat up straight & presently a ray of returning consciousness be shone thro a cloud of imbecility & supported gently by 2 ABs he was put on the launch & returned inboard - This morng he & 3 others were had up one had been adrift 30 hours over his leave - They all got their pay shortened by a fine & leave stopped for various periods -
One has to have a vy blind eye where liberty is granted & the men mustered on their return so long as they can stand up they pass muster if the officer is at all sympathetic which he generally is - How to stop all this sort of thing passes Knowledge - The only thing is to take the men ashore & march them for 4 - 5 miles & don't let them fall out at all - After all this I went to the Hospital & put in
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The rest of the aftn - talking to Dr De Boissier - He's in charge - Born in Mauritius & educated in Edinburgh - He was in Edinburgh when I was in 1907 - He's married & has 2 children - We got on well because he's brainy - He loves history & has a vy fair library devoted to Political ecclesiastical history & also Military history - I asked him if his wife or anyone took any stock in his hobby - Alas he said No not a soul save perhaps the Priests - De B - is a Roman Catholic I believe - The lives of the Popes are great reading & he knew Von Ranke & Creighton & Acton but his favorite work was by Dr Pastor a vy learned work not yet completed - Well Popedom & its history runs from the Sack of Rome till to-day & touches history evy minute of that long time -
He's a most interesting man to meet & talk to - Fancy meeting in an out of the way place like Fiji a man devoted to historical Knowledge & revelling in Memoirs & monographs of actors long passed away -
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There's a sing song on the Destroyers to-night but I'm not going - The majority of our mess are not going - A sing song was got up & it seems to have been taken for granted that we wd all fall in line & foot the liquor bill - However at breakfast I voiced a general feeling of the mess that we wanted more information as to (a) uniform to be worn (b) guests (c) expense - As to uniform or eveg dress either wd do - As to guests I had wanted to ask 2 doctor men & their wives so as to return my aft teas - It turned out that we couldn't ask our friends - Expense wd run to 20- 25/ per head - Naturally when the officers found they had to pay for other men's friends (female mostly) all save 2 declined to join - I declined simply because I couldn't ask my guests otherwise I shd have been vy glad - The money don't matter so long as I discharged bountifully my little social obligations - This will sound fanny to you perhaps not because here as elsewhere certain people always try to run the show but the officers
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are not quite so simple as that & as you know I learnt from you dear to be able to express my dissent & organize an active opposition to antisocial measures - We do things vy sweetly & politely but there's a vy strong 'main de fer' inside a velvety glove -
The days & nights are just perfection & the hills that surround Suva brilliantly green the sea the deepest blue & the white combing surf a vy pleasing contrast to the green & blue - Thank the Gods I am a nature lover - Alone I'm quite happy with this luxuriant tangle of vegetation & with others I'm equally jolly for there's no end of nature there & I'm old enough to form my own judgment & act on it -
Friday Oct 30 After all our mess turned up at the Destroyers show & we put in a vy pleasant eveng - Things turned out this way - At lunch Lieutenant Eng - P who had been vy busy about the eveng - gave an invitation to the Mess to turn up as guests -
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This was received in absolute silence but after lunch I pointed out that the situation was changed - We were not hosts at all but were asked as guests - In the long run this view obtained I said it wd be discourteous to Commander Cumberledge & Captain Warren & Stoker & others not to accept this invitation & regard all else as washed out -
Of course there was the usual discussion but all came right & the lot of us went save those necessary for the ships watch - Two launches went from the beach at 8 pm & our own launch pushed off at 7.30 - Several ladies were most unpunctual & got blessed by the Officer under their breath but by 8.30 we were all aboard the Destroyers - The 3 had been lashed together - The Yarra was in the centre & a stage had been rigged aft & draped with palms & flags - Each Destroyer has a complement of some 86 men so the work went forward merrily
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AE2 lay outside & we crossed over her on to the Warrego & from the Warrego on to the Yarra & we had stand up supper on the Parramatta - The Yarra had Officers & guests but the bridge at the back was packed with Tars while the Warrego & Parramatta on either side were packed with sailor men who took the greatest interest in every item on the programe - A piano had been hired & several Suva ladies & gentlemen took & did real good turns - The fleet had some talent a card conjurer & a steward who did patter songs & another comic bloke who came on as policeman - 'The road to Tipperary' was the most popular chorus echoed by some 350 throats - 'Berlin on the Spree' was dance & patter by 5 Suva girls - Rather rot I thought but it gained great applause - Stoker sany vy nicely to his own accompanying some
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plaintive Irish melodies which appealed to me - Stoker is not a well read but a good social man with any amount of go in him - We sang 'God save' about 10 .15 & then went aboard the Parramatta & in a green bowery more like Government House than a war ship we had Champagne Sandwiches, cakes, fruit salad & chocolates - One table went down wallop owing to a list but this only added to the general merriment - Finally at 7 bells ie 11.30 we had got evy lady safe on a launch & off we went 2 or 3 of us taking the air on the roof which was far before the stuffy air inside - What a lovely night it was with the moon approaching to the full - I had a vy fair time - I sat on a gun & getting up to my seat put my foot on a still to act as step - These stills are cone shaped & the apex vy sharp & this just penetrated my sole & I got up quicker
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This morning all is well - The Destroyers are all out patrolling & AE2 is going to lurk there & see how she gets on - She is outside the reef just now - We expect the Fleet back today but we don't know definitely -
The news came thro that De Wet had turned dog on the British in S. Africa - This was greatly resented after all the kindness & attention he had from the British - I did a 2 hour walk yesterday aftn - I saw our well known Silver Eye Zosterops coerulescens probably the same species - quite nice to see such a well known chap - It reminded me of home - I also found the nest of a small bird probably a fantail - The nest had 2 eggs - I wouldn't touch it - The small red throated but black backed mother was most anxious about it & few around me just like a fantail will -
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There's a lot of land here covered with Lantana scrub which will take some clearing - Everywhere you see the Taro growing - The sole requisite is moisture - It's the staple food of many Fijian natives - Its true name is Colocasia Antiguorum vary= Exulentum - Now Cunjevoi of the Queensland Scrub is C antiquorum so that this edible aroid is but a variety of Cunjevoi - The Arum lily & the Taro are cousins - One day I'll tell you a tale of a village, eaten hut by hut full, with the Taro grown on the site of each burnt hut by the cannibal chief of a tribe - I got it out of Seeman - The acrid bulbouse root of Taro is washed, roasted, grated & made into cake or bread - The top is cut off & replanted - I've seen Aroids here 6 feet high & more - They are not the Taro though -
The Yam too is a great food like to but not a sweet potato & does best on hard, sterile ground - It's a creeper - Here again it's the bulbous root that is eaten - A lady told me it was excellent eating -
[Page 160]
Saty - Oct 31 We complete our tenth week this eveng - The fleet came in about 7 am & Vice Admiral Patey again takes sole charge - We've no war news at all - We just wait - I put in time Friday aftn - by sailing with Blayney (2nd Off) Harrison & Herbert over to the reef - When near the reef in shoal water, about 3 feet in depth, we stripped & got in coral sand formed the bottom & it was real good fun - A coral reef is one of big phenomena of Nature - The infinitely little polyp building up in immensity of rock & altering the formation of continents - The polyp builds & the elevation & subsidence of the earth's crust is responsible for an enormous area of both land & sea in the South Pacific - The power of the polyp has in these parts far exceeded that of the volcano - Fiji is volcanic - One always has a good general idea of a [indecipherable] reef but you must really see this phenomenon in order to appreciate its magnitude & what
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a barrier it opposes to the immense force of the Pacific - Outside the reef is deep water & an incessant surf now moaning - now lashed to fury by the winds - The white foam of the breakers is hurled feet into the air & sullenly retreats only to return & lash again & again that stubborn coral rampart the life energy of the Polyp - Inside the reef the sea is green indicating shallow areas it is smooth & calm save when lashed by a typhoon common in these parts in the early months of the year - You remember Apia harbor & the Calliope's feat of steam & British pluck & seamanship - From the beach to the reef is 2 - 4 miles so you have an encircling pond - 2-4 miles wide right round your island -
To the sea front the coral barrier is more or less precipitous but on the land side it slopes like a talus at a very oblique angle tapering off gradually to the land
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Well we swam & enjoyed life & looked out for sharks - Suva harbor swarms with sharks - The coral here is rubbed down, water worn & broken down into sand or lumps of smoothed coral - We were back at the ship by 2 - Blayney an Englishman was our sailing master a very quiet but a real good chap fond of all kinds of active sports & vy - temperate in every single respect - After tea I went ashore & by myself I explored some of its the shadier streets & eventually got to the Botanic garden & put in time examining the Palms - Figs Damaras (Pines) & another big tree that I cant place - This tree grows all over the place but no one I've asked can name it & there is not a single name plate in the Gardens - A curious feature in the vegetation round Suva is the lack of the cocoa nut palm - There are some but they are sporadic & scattered - There is a complete absence of the deep
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that encircles the foreshore at Simpsonhafen & a hundred other islands that we passed in the Coral sea & Solomons & Hebrides neither on the foreshore of Suva itself nor on the embrasured opposite shore can you see a dozen cocoa nut palms - In the Fiji Times I noticed that our cook got fined 2 £ or a month - We wish he'd taken the month - The PM said he had noticed a good deal of drinking going on by sailors from the ships in the harbor & he was going to prevent it - He might as well try to mop up Suva harbor - The inborn desire for Beer is at present ineradicable in the breast of the average sailor & soldier man & drunkenness awakes but a tender, kindly sympathy among the many friends of the inebriate - you see Tars with their arms round their mates gently supporting their failing forms, lowering them into the launch, supporting them in the boat & helping them up the gangway & tending them till the Bacchant sleeps heavily in his hammock
[Page 164]
We caught a Remora or Sucking fish this morng - He was slate colored about 2 feet long & had an oval sucking disc about 5 " inches by 2 5 on the back of his Cephalothorax - (combined Head & chest) There is much difference of opinion as to whether he is edible - One remark was that he was too much like a shark to be good eating though I believe young shark is not bad - Personally I don't want either - Fishing has been a dead failure here & at Ribaul & in the coral sea - The natives in Fiji fish out by the reef at night time but no boat may leave the wharf after Sunset is the Flagship's order & so we don't get fresh fish - I saw yesterday the long nosed form of the Garfish swing alongside & this morng - a Bonito was chasing small fry - The morng - & eveng - are perfection - At the sunset the West streams gold over the heavens & the sun goes down in a golden chariot - Midday is hot but all around its glorious stimulating champagne weather & so we end week 10 of war time
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Sunday Nov 1 1914
Nothing doing as regards war ships - Warren of the Parramatta dined on board last eveng - & when the usual Rabelaic discourse ended the war & its prospects were discussed - The naval men discussed the resignation of Prince Louis of Battenberg as 1st Lord of the Admiralty - They hope Fisher will go back - He is regarded as the Naval Kitchener a great organiser not a strategist or tactician - He couldn't handle a ship, let alone a fleet, but as an organiser he is supreme & the maker of the modern Navy - Fisher says Favoritism is the secret of efficiency" & in his hands this meant that he picked men & made them his favorites so long as they were efficient but efficiency first & efficiency last in any single department of the navy was Sir John Fisher's aim Ships Men Dockyards Coaling Stations all came under his eye & were made stable & efficient - Jellicoe under him came to the front & under no other system could Jellicoe have become Admiral of the Fleet - The road to eminence should not be thro the rooms of Buckingham Palace or the Royal Yacht but thro hard work done by a strong brain -
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now that's the right sort of talk & worth listening to - If the Empire is to hold together it must be thro naval efficiency & this means the efficiency of Units - Its not the drinker its not women it's the hard strong men who should manage affairs & insist on the absolute efficiency of all those under them & fire out all the weak & the useless - They say that Fisher even resorted to a kind of espionage in order to detect inefficiency & to find out the efficient - The end in his opinion justified the means - Fisher seems to have been the Democrat while Beresford was the old fashioned Conservative - Beresford's day has gone by while Fisher is in the ascendant - So far as I can see Fisher is quite right - I'd go farther alcoholism I wd regard as a cause of inefficiency & I'd fire out any officer or man who habitually drank - You cant trust them - I can see that at once even with my limited experience -
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I went for a 7 mile walk on Saty aft - Took my vasculum & with one mate Harrison walked right round the environs of Suva - This keeps me fit & well & in addition I exercise my powers of observation which enables me to collect any new plants I come across - Our route lay to the Rewa river- over a bridge & round by a different road home - Happy Fijians some Filipinos & lots of sad looking Hindus passed us - Funny why the Hindus look so depressed - Their women don't - Some Hindoo women look shy & refined & even pretty - The kids are lively enough - Everyone here kills the introduced mongoose ricky ticky tavy with his furry tail - I saw one wiped out probably he was after chickens - I didn't get much that was new to me - The two commonest flowers were Lantana & black eyed Susan (a Thumbergia) - The only thing I didn't know was a fine white star shaped flower
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growing in shady spots & on walls - In a swamp I gathered a fern (Blechnum) which I last gathered a Tweed Heads may years ago - Taro patches Banana plantations all kept in the untidiest fashion met our eyes on all sides - Tree ferns (Todea & Alsophila I fancy) do well here as well as multitudes of smaller forms - On return to town we had aft tea at a small place cleanly kept in Victoria Parade & then went inboard - I had to examine a Sailor who had got 28 days hard labor for getting drunk & then throwing all his mess traps down the hold & being very abusive to his superior officer - I slept well on Sat night after my long walk - It's the first day of Nov - A court of inquiry is to be held on the Flagship tomorrow - It's about the Upolu - She isn't sea worthy - An engineer lieutenant was about yesty finding out all about her engines - What the upshot will be we cant say but we don't expect to return to Sydney -
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Monday Oct 2 - 1914 Its grand weather - Perfect weather - Sunday morng I put in quietly reading & writing but in the aftn I went to the beach & called on Dr. Montague the GMO - There are 5 medicos in Suva GMO Ireland Health Off & De Boissier Senior Off at the Hosp - In addition there are 2 private practitioners Price & Drake - These 2 latter I have not met I called officially on the other 3 - The GMO has been 16 years in Suva & from his verandah there is a glorious view over a big landscape & blue also a big seascape right to the reef - He belongs originally to St Thomas Hospital & we knew some men in common - As I belong to the Submarine push I think people are glad to see & talk to me for Submarines are still in the novelty stage & the loss of AE1 brought us pretty prominently into notice - About 5 - 30 I left & walked quietly back to my ship admiring on the way some fine, very fine Dracoenas with their colored foliage also some very fine Strelitzias at the foot
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of a stone obelisk raised to the memory of King Cakoban Probably an old cannibal but subsequently a reformed character - An old Fijian came in from the country last week & is reported to have remarked Englishman one big fool - He make war & take German man to New Zealand quite nice & feed him - A Fijian war man cook & eat German - A slight difference between the Eastern & Western points of views - AE2 is alongside this morning & charging her dynamos with the usual row from her engines & smell from the oil fuel - We are away from the wharf & anchored - There are indications of a move somewhere, for we've been ordered to take in 200 tons of coal, but our destination is a sealed book - Close to us at the wharf lay the Government yacht Renande & also HMS Sealark the survey ship capable of 5 Knots!! per hour - She's been here since the war started - The
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Sealark commenced her career as an American millionaire's yacht of course she can sail as well as steam - I met one of her lieutenants Jackson in Rabaul - He was acting harbor master - Immensely full of joy & ginger" naturally & not stimulated, as some of the chaps are by whisky & soda & cocktails to a fictitious energy Jackson is a most capable keen officer of the active executive type - I last saw the Sealark off Cairns when I went up there at the end of 1911 - She had been surveying in those waters & now here she is close up at Suva - She's practically out of commission until the end of the war her officers on active service & with just one officers & a few sailor men to look after her -
Sunday morng - the Flag ship announced that England had declared war against Turkey Good enough - That will end Turkey in Europe & the Cross will
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float in the near future I trust over the crescent on St Sophia -
Fancy letting loose all the Balkan 'dogs of war with their attendant horrors -
By the way the missing mail from Ribaul yes turned up yesterday aftn by the S.S. Moresby - We had been expecting her for some time - Your letter is Sept 21 & you've just had the news of our disaster with AE1 - You people were much more shocked than the fleet morally not the slightest trace of shock was apparent - Life went on just the same so far as I cd judge - War must be like that men come men go but the units absolutely don't count anymore among us (so far as I can judge) than a dozen sheep wd to another couple of thousand - Whatever the chaps think there's anyway no outward expression - I suppose it must be so - I heard Stoker once remark on the absolute callousness of everyone to death & disaster but even he said mighty little -
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Tuesday Nov 3 14 Cup day in Melbourne - We got up a sweep - 2/6 tickets 40 in it - I've got a horse - Hushmoney an outsider - but still a horse - The S.S. Moresby went out last eveg for Sydney & carries a letter to you -
I was on the beach on Monday aftn & spent some time in the Carnegie library looking up the flora of this part - I wanted badly the name of a very fine, very common, tree with a trunk & fluted like a Greek column & with a most [indecipherable] head & branches & often with ferns & mistletoe covering it - No doctor man knows anything here but his job just like the N.O. that is perhaps I shd say in natural science - However I got the name it is the Polynesian or Tahiti chestnut (Inocarpus edulis) - At once I found out all about the tree - You see them round the huts of the natives in low lying ground - What grand shade trees they are -
Ferns in this island are everywhere - Fancy a total of 246 species of Ferns, Lycapods & Selaginellas
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I finished & went to see Dr. Ireland but he was out - I desired tea then but found I hadn't a bean on me - All the same I blew in at the tea room & told them how badly I needed refreshment but they'd have to give me the necessary credit which they promptly did 9d for aft t here - Refreshed I then went for a walk on my own right round the harbor for a mile or more - I spotted a brilliant Kingfisher & a slate colored crane & lots of Indian starlings the mongoose is wiping out bird life in Fiji I am told -
The plant life trees, shrubs herbs all interested me Clerodendrons Mangrove of the shiny laurel leaf kind A very prickly shrub with lots of white flowers a Solanum Lantana - Palms here are dying some disease apart from insects affects them - I told you Albyzias do splendidly here - I walked & observed & listened to the boom of the surf on the reef -
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On my return I met men who had been to tennis & to cricket & to that awful form of amusement & waste of time & temper talking to young women & their mamas - I suppose its all right but I cant stand that in a new land with a wealth of natural objects all around me many of the men loaf up to the Pacific hotel have drinks or aft tea & sit & smoke till its time to return to the ship & they think that jolly & quite enough exercise - Well give me the strenuous battler at tennis or cricket the man who does somewhat & the woman who enthuses & tries to do & always succeeds too in doing things - Well well - There's no venomous snakes in Fiji I am told & that shows perhaps why 'ricky ticky' has his attentions so directed to birds - Do you remember our 1st Cup at Flemington - I do well Chambers was there as jolly as theyre made - Judge Molesworth gave a lunch & we had a ripping day - It's a long while ago is it not?
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Wednesday Nov 4 14 We're coaling 10 tons per hour put in by 1 gang of coolies - & we want some 250 tons means at least 24 hours alongside a collier - The Aorangi is also coaling on the other side of the collier & needs 6 700 tons -
AE2 is on the Suva slip having her bottom & propeller seen to - The Encounter is guard ship - The Flag & Frenchman out scouting - Nothing doing from a war stand point still we must be absolutely on the alert & ready - The German cruiser Emden has put up an A1 record - She has sunk up to-date over 20 British steamers - She's in the Indian Ocean somewhere - I went to the Beach yesterday & went to the R.C. mission station to call on Father Fox - He was out so I went to the Library & then for a walk & examined plant life till 6 pm when I got back to the Upolu with a crowd of officers & others -
We had 2 guests to dinner - After dinner Bridge & Auction Bridge - I wound up by a grand slam in my own hand -
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Too much drinking here in certain sets - Young, nice chaps, with not much ballast get encouraged to drink & they cant stand it & you see the result both at the mess table & in the card room & then you'll see it in their jobs of work & next thing is they'll lose their billets - All we can do is by example talking seems worse than useless -
Willis of Malvern Glenferrie Rd - opposite Parkinson's house is on the Aorangi as doctor - Nice young chap - We're going up to the Hosp this aftn together - A sailor on AE2 won our sweep - Not much more to note save that the Captain (Moore) wants to leave - He is fed up he tells me - It's whisky & fat & want of exercise & then liver & toxins & irritability - I tell him Blue Pill is best & total abstinence but I'm regarded as a 'Nark' - However I'm not fed up - I'm still going strong & very keen on my job & in first class condition & thin -
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Thursday Nov 5 14 We are still coaling - The collier we are alongside has a suspicious history - She is the Cairnhill the same steamer that, some months back broke her shaft & drifted up New Ireland way - Eventually she was picked up & towed to Townsville - One of the destroyers or battle ships picked her up outside Suva & went aboard & examined her papers & found that her cargo 6000 tons of coal was consigned ostensibly to a German firm in San Francisco - She was ordered into Suva with the result that all her coal is commandeered & the fleet benefits - That's the yarn anyway - Buz has it that the German cruisers wd have intercepted her & taken the coal & that that was her real job of work - In the aftn of yesterday I witnessed a cricket match between the Grantala & the Fijian constabulary - The latter were by far the better team - They outplayed the Grantala in every department of the game - The Fijians were fine specimens of Natives bare legged & bare footed but when batting they put on pads & used gloves for wicket keeping & played an A1 game - Their bit hitting roused great enthusiasm - No wicket for over 100 -
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The Fijian physique is a very fine one - Their big mops of frizzled hair & their brown skins & their laughy jolly natures attract one very much - They have bad qualities very cowardly I am informed treacherous when they can do it with impunity to their own skins untidy unclean & destitute of thrift & progress - Their customs before we took charge were brutal in the extreme - There's such a lot of brown, black, yellow people here that I counted up one day how many whites & how many other colored people wd pass me in a given time - Anything between 20 - 30 dark men to 1 white was the ratio fairly correct I fancy -
I saw also some good tennis top of the second class is about the best here
The green sward of the cricket & tennis lawns looks very well in the foreground of a picture whose middle & back ground are terraced houses & villas with terra cotta roofs & a numerous medly of Mango, Palm & Chestnut & other foliage all growing in the gardens & on the slopes & setting off the houses strike>with by this green galaxy of vegetation -
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Friday Nov 6 Still coaling 37 tons to go -
Our fine weather still contributes & Suva looks her best - The event of the 5th was certainly the mail brought in by the Levuka Oct 20 was the date of my home letter & the papers brought us up to Oct 24 - I wrote a business letter & left other news for a letter of more gossiping type -
I am chiefly concerned that there is no word of Parts 1 2 & 3 of my Journal which contained a good deal of information at first hand - The Levuka brought us a new pay master Hogarth RNR - He has been in the Orient Service for a long while - We played Bridge last night & he is the best I have played with up to date - He confirmed my suspicion that as an exercise of the intelligence Auction B is not the equal of Ordinary B - Auction B is on the high road to Poker while ordinary B deviates from the high road of Whist - Whist really is far superior to Bridge as a mental stimulant - Men wont use their Brains if they can help it hence the vogue for Bridge - Trivett our old paymaster has been transferred to the
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Encounter which as I mentioned is Guard Ship & we take all our orders from her - There has been some hitch over AE2 on the slip - She wont go up it which means trouble & delay - AE2's displacement is 800 tons when her tanks are full - There is a talk in Naval papers of a Super Submarine a real submarine cruiser with disappearing guns & other new features - Jellicoe however bases his strategy & tactics on gun fire, using Submarines only from a base with Submarines at sea to sink the parent ship is the game for then the submarine must come up & be captured or sunk -
I've been studying the AMJ & reading the address on physiology - The medical side of the Navy does not attract me - There's absolutely no scope - On my ship the Upolu with Naval ratings I've nothing much to do all my men are picked men while on the Aorangi with any ordinary sailor man there is a bit to do - Pick your men at your base & bar a naval engagement & with a thousand men all told, your billet is a sinecure -
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most useful I admit but not the place for an energetic medical man who wants to evolve his mind by experience & actual work - No the science for the Navy & every war ship is the practical application from deck to keel of science is physical science, mathematics, physics, mechanics - The Beach is the happy hunting ground for the Biologist Chemist Hygienist & practically applied medicine & surgery -
This aftn I went to the Beach about 2 pm - I posted my letter to you & P. C's to England for Xmas - I then bought some P.cards for you which show Suva & give some detail of Fijian life - I then went to the library & looked over some books about Fiji & picked up some facts about the old times here - King Thacombau was a cannibal Chief & then converted - Many tales are told about him - I then took a 5 mile walk right round
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Part 6
[Page 184]
a section of the harbor I had Suva foreshore on my left & the harbor with the reef in the distance on my right - I met the Captain (Moore) on the way but he is far too fat for transport - He did a mile & a half & then returned - The captain sweated & blowed when really the day was cool & walking perfection - I wish the R cd have been with me to see the flats with birds on them at ebb tide - Reef heron & a bird, whose cry I knew from Gayndah, long before I saw him the sandpiper R & I watched them on the Burnett Sands many an aftn last year - They are a cosmopolitan species - R has seen the Screw Pine (Pandanus) trees on stilts at Caloundra also the Mangrove & the black mud they love to live in - Well I had a jolly tramp on my own it is true but it did me good You meet very few or no whites but Indians & Fijians galore - I was at the launch at 6 sharp & soon on board the Upolu - Coaling was over & we were only some 400 yds from the beach - The ship had been washed down - We had dinner & then some Bridge - Again I noticed all eveg - one of our officers the worse for drink - This is very rotten I think
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- Part 7
Saty - Nov 7 - 14 There is a stir on - We are going to move to Sydney is the general idea but no one knows definitely - Personally I wish to happen what does happen though the majority want to return to Sydney AE2 cant go up on the slip - She is leaking we hear - We also hear that 5 G cruisers off Valparaiso have engaged 3 British ones & disabled or sunk 2 - Our friends Scharnhorst & Gneisenau are among these 5 cruisers so we are not doing much good here as a fleet -
Perhaps it may be best to go back to Sydney for there is a good deal of grousing on the Upolu & its starting point is the Captain - He reviles his superior officers & grumbles at his orders & then of necessity all under him do ditto - Discipline wants to be stricter - Moore's idea of discipline is to be very sweet to his superiors to their face but to his subordinates he is more often bearish in his manner not to say boorish - He also permits drinking & talking of a vile description & even tries his feeble hand at it himself - Well I promptly wrote a note to you & posted everything I had to post by 2 pm & then I felt quite a free man - There was some tennis on a tournament was ended & the Governor gave the prizes away -
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No, I did not go - There was nothing for me there - I went on my own - I wanted to see a picture again & let it soak in on my memory - A picture that was sea & landscape combined, with the reef & the white horses in the background & the boom of the Pacific rollers in my ears - It was the same walk that I did yesterday - If we are to leave Suva I am going to have this mental picture anyway so I did it alone & observed things that I had missed previously - I walked the 5 mile round out to Suva point & then away up past the wireless & the signal stations back to Suva - A part of the road I walked with an Indian a friendly old chap but our different languages prevented any real intercourse - He came from Calcutta - Had been here 5 months & was engaged on Sugar so far as I cd make out - The tide was an ebb one & yellow dabs covered the flat sandy mud - Each
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yellow dab was a small crab Body about Ύ of an inch & speckled black & white - The yellow was due to a large 1 inch single claw - They scuttled into holes as soon as you approached the claw acting as a lid (like the cat's eye) - If you stopped one by catching hold of his claw he instantly shed it & off he went as lively as ever - He'd only one claw & that on the Right side - He had 2 stalked eyes - I collected a handful of hermit crabs for Rawdon - There are millions of them -
I noticed also how the mangrove shrubs send down roots from the trunk & branches to grow into the mud - They are long brown supple sticks with a small black cap on the end of each & they seek the ground, just like the screw pines do with their roots - Once in the ground they throw out roots & eventually the shrub looks as if it grew out of the top of a big crab or lobster pot - There shrubs with their roots & their fruit torpedo shaped & ready formed to stick into the mud & start growing - Lines much of the shore -
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The Polynesian chestnut & the Barringtonia are the finest trees but there are others I dont know - Sweet smelling flowers, green fruit Apocynaceous I feel sure but thats all - I gathered some fruits & their respective leaves for future exam - One fruit was like a Chinese lantern on a 30 foot tree with a pellate leaf - The lantern was a white outer skin & in its interior separated by Ύ inch all around a black fruit with a little top knot like a French sailor who has a red top knot - Menispernaceous I fancy - Well I did my strut back to Suva & I was quite satisfied - I know a little & am in a receptive state for more detailed knowledge - On my return about 5 pm I blew in on Father Fox of the Marist ? mission at their manse - He was in & glad to see me & took me round their place - His library was good - One book The works of St Thomas Aquinas dated 1604 -
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He then showed me a white children's school some 60 in number & introduced me to the Mother Superior - A physiology class had been held on the nature & function of the blood - The questions were still on the blackboard - I hinted to the Mother Superior that even the learned ones knew mighty little about either the nature or the function - Views were dissolving & reforming every 5 years on that most important of biological researches - Their rooms were too dark in my opinion but otherwise desks & all else were right - They had a nice shell collection with many of the species named Cones, Cowries, Ovulidium Harps many fine harps Spindle Purpuras Scorpion & a host more including Nautili & trumpet shells all Fijian which is a very good point - To know local things is the bed rock to stand on primarily & gradually to extend your vision farther & farther
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Sunday Nov 8 - 14 I'll just narrate the sequence of events up to noon - At 5.30 we were to go alongside & take in water - We got under weigh & then got orders to go back to our old position - We did so & anchored - Immense fuming on the Captain's part - At 10 we heard that Patterson was to go inboard the Parramatta & the P & Warrego & AE2 to proceed to Sydney & we to remain where we were - At 10 .30 we saw from the deck of the Upolu the Pta & Wg & AE2 steam out of the harbor bound for Sydney - Immense & loudly expressed disgust by Captain & Chief Officer - Silence by everyone else - It is said the original idea was for the Upolu to join up this convoy & if we were slow AE2 wd go into Noumea - Let her men go ashore & then wait till we came up -
Well it's the other wy & now here we all are waiting for fresh orders - Its glorious weather & all is well on board - I am as you see shorn of both my Submarines one lost the other leaky & must be docked & overhauled before she dives anymore - You people will wonder where we are if its generally known that AE2 is at Garden Island -
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In the afternoon the Australia went out - She was unattended save by a fast collier - The Yarra came in & anchored - I did nothing all day - I wanted a spell & in addition there was nowhere to go to on the beach -
The wildest buz is afloat - Everyone is going to Sydney - We are all to go to Valparaiso The Falklands" The Australia is to go alone to Valparaiso & the rest to sit hard - We are to go to Noumea & be joined up by AE2 & the Destroyers - As an actual fact no one knows anything -
Monday Nov 9 Steam ordered for 5.30 am - At 6 we were alongside the wharf & began taking in fresh water - No further news - We are to report to the Encounter when our tanks are full - I went ashore at 9 - Got my hair cut & bought some P. Cards for R & Mab - I also invested in 3 stone axes for R's benefit - Nothing like seeing & handling these old instruments of Neolithic man - At the shops they told me the polished axes were the more valuable which is just the reverse of correct - The older unpolished axe is far the more valuable the unpolished represents man in the Paleolithic or old stone age -
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The polished instrument is far younger & as I remarked belongs to the Neolithic or new stone age - Then came Metals Copper Bronze gold silver & last of all the age we are now in the iron age -
All mankind comes under this big generalization Old stone New stone Copper Iron - That's a nice little bit of anthropology for my son which these old axes will enforce - I then returned to the ship & I learnt that we had orders from the Encounter to proceed to Sydney on Tuesday at 2 pm & pay off - Well - That's our finish on this commission - After lunch I went on shore again in the mean time we had pushed off & anchored in our old spot for the last time - I spent some time in the Museum, talking to the Curator examining Fijian products their war clubs axes pottery models of canoes models of houses, cloth for dresses Kava bowls & cups - Also Fijian shells which form a fine collection - They have a small number of fossils in the limestone collected by Sir Everard im Thurn a former governor
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Native Gods fishing spears King Cakobau's Kava bowl & most things linked to Fijian life of the 19th century & also of to-day - The curator kindly gave me a copy of the transactions of the Fijian Society - I then left him & went to the library & looked up Berthold Seeman on various points I wanted knowledge of - The local palm belongs to the chiefs & may be used by them only - The screw pine order had 5 new species added to it by old Seeman - He discussed the handsome tree fern (Alsophila) its suitability for ridge pole its indestructibility either by ants or fire - I've not seen white ants here - Alsophila runs to 20 -30 feet - By the way Tasman who discovered Tasmania discovered Fiji or Viti - Feb 6 -1643 - I read the record with great interest - He was in the Heemskirk & had as consort the Zeehan - From 1643 thence on to 1800 is practically a blank in our knowledge of this land -
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What do you think of an Aroid? The arum lily is the type 12 feet & more in height with leaves feet long & a stalk a yard round - Alocaria indica growing in swampland - Then I found out a lot about Sandal wood - That wood brought the first traders to Fiji - Sandal wood & idolatory are as old as mankind - The Alung tree of Solomon's day was probably sandal wood - Joss sticks are sandal wood sawdust stuck in sand & lit & the sweet savor soothes the god whose earthen (wooden) form sits in unmoveable calm in front of his favorite scent sandal wood incense & the scent of the wood & oil is linked up to sensuality in Hindoo & Buddhist in India & China - The passions of man & woman are reflected in the Godhood & the revel of the senses in odor & sweet perfumes links manhood, womanhood & Godhead -
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I said goodbye to old Seeman & his excellent Flora Vitiensis - He provided me with many a pleasant half hour & opened up new vistas - What a worker he was!! I then went & had aft tea my last ashore & then to the Botanic gardens & a last look at the fine palms there & the Hibiscus hedges & a fine cassia with pink & white blossoms like a Variegated Bauhinia generally they are yellow - A pink Albizzia scentless was very fine & very large Something like to a huge pink hawthorn - The yellow Indian laburnum (Cassia) was in full bloom & there were others I knew not - I saw a climbing Polypody (Fern) & a species of Hare's food fern new to me - I was joined now by the Chief engineer & Herbert - It is curious how very distasteful to these men who deal with mechanics & physics the biological side of life is - They hate the
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nomenclature - They see nothing in the beauty of tree or flower or leaf Colored leaves, beauty of outline, strength of growth peculiarities of structural form the wonder of growth & reproduction they pass over as things not worth knowing things to be laughed & scoffed at - Their side of nature physics, mechanics is a wonderful side & the biologist recognizes it instantly & is more than ready to admire & to listen & to ask intelligent questions but the opposite is very rare - Nature building from the inside & quickened by the force life surely merits as much respect & reverence from all of us as the physical side of life -
Well we left these beautiful forms & adjourned to the Pacific & had a whisky & soda men agree on drink at all events - We then walked down Albyzia avenue with its superb trees said goodbye to them & their
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inhabitants the fern tribe & the bird tribe picked up some men & put off at 6 sharp to the Upolu for the last time in Suva -
Lieut ?Keighly of the Destroyer Yarra was off for dinner Guest of Captain he - Captain M, was late off & when inboard showed the usual signs of alcoholism a disposition to overdo things for his guest & to contradict any statement put forward by anyone else - As this generally ends in trouble I took my usual precaution of being quite silent & clearing away as soon as I could - Captain M should have heard himself discussed subsequently by his officers - I put in the plea of alcoholism for him - We had some fair bridge & then our steward got drunk & forgot to make the beds & so with verbal skirmishes around me I retired & left things to come straight by lapse of time - What a God C6H12O6 is -
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Tuesday Nov 10 - 14 -Up at 5.30 -
Wrote to you & gave you the necessary information as to my movements - Captain repentant but bearish & boorish to a steward at breakfast who had brought him coffee in place of tea - That's alcohol of course - During the morng - several 'hairs of the dog' but where will & must all this end ?= During the morning Horsfall PMO came off & handed me over two sick to be discharged in Sydney & asked me to take a third - As we are chock full I had to decline- He sent me subsequently a letter to post & wished me luck - At 1 pm we got 2 prisoners (Australians) & at 2 Charles of the Encounter sent us a signal 'To proceed' The Captain has a whiskey on the spot - We took Ύ of an hour hoisting our launch & then the bell rang in the engine room full speed ahead & we were off & out Soon threading our way thro the reef & making for the open sea - Suva looked well
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The Encounter Grantala oil & Colliers still in the harbor while on the extreme left by the hills with verdure clad, next the grey Suva goal with the Dr's residence on the hill above it then come reclamation works on the foreshore & the new pier with concrete pillars - At the back a Poinciana tree flames - Follow the shore round & you see the Levuka at the pier with the Banana fleet round her - She is loading for Sydney & in [indecipherable] At her On the hills at the back stands the School of the Marist brothers while to the right is the Bank of NSW - The P. Office & the Church of the Redeemer with the silvered figure of our Lady surmounting the Portico - Then comes Albyzia Avenue ended by the Pacific Hotel & at its back & to its right on the hills stands Government House - We are thro the passage - Suva fades & we think of
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the time ahead before we make the good old Heads of Sydney harbor - Our time is a hour ahead of NZ & 2 hours ahead of Sydney ie noon here is 11.30 in Auckland but 10 am at Sydney - In this part we keep Western time but at Samoa 500 miles E - Eastern time is kept - Half the circle of longitude is just E of NZ & that is where we are - This will almost end my journal - Still I'll keep it open for any incident that may happen on the road home -
Sunday Nov 15 14 Week 12 has ended & with but very little to note since I last wrote - The weather has been fine & the sea smooth - The old Upolu has rolled mostly - She is the cause of much & varied lurid language from the Captain to the Cook's mate - She is certainly the worst craft I've ever been in & evey - officer says the same - We are about half way over now - We had done completed 770 out of the 1740 by noon on Sat
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We expect to reach Sydney some time on Thursday - We had to stop for 1 Ύ hours on Saty morng while some tubes in the condenser were being fixed up but so far that has been our only moan - All is well on board though I've one man with chronic appendicitis & another with fits but I hope to get them thro safely & land them on the beach -
Socially all goes well - Bridge evy - eveg - We are teaching Herbert - He's certainly the worst learner I've ever seen met - A University man with a double degree but all the same his brain is a very slow one - He fails to grasp in toto the theory & practice alike - The paymaster (Hogarth) is a very good player - Keen & capable both as regards work & play & decidedly an acquisition - We all look forward to Sydney & don't mean to go out in the
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Upolu again I can tell you -
Harrison our wireless man gives us news whenever he can - A ship is much safer at sea with wireless - Knock your propeller off catch fire out go distress signals & people know where you are & off they go - We learn that a German cruiser has been hobbled up at Mafia island & that island is German E. Africa - The usual ebb & flow of babble in N France has ceased to interest - We want a definite issue badly -
Nat history stirred my sluggish brain one day when I saw a tropic or 'bosun' bird Phaethon tropicus? He or she is about the size perhaps larger of a silver gull - They have a raucous gull like note - They are white & you spot them by the long tail streamer 12 -18 inches of feather -
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stands out & streams behind from the centre of their white tail just similar to the elongated central feathers of a bee eater - It's unique so far as I know I had read of this but had never seen the species - There is a second Species which has a central red streamer I also know that they nest on the beach of some Pacific islands Rarotonga is one & the source of my knowledge is that charming little book 'The Dr & the Earl' which I read years ago -
On Sat aft - a species of Albatross (D. Melanoplys?) played in stately fashion dipping & wheeling about our stern -
Speaking of sea birds - We passed far- away on our Port side Norfolk island the inhabitants of this isld were once saved from starvation
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by a providential influx of Mutton birds - This Petrel goes North to Masthead Island - I know & Masthead Island is off Gladstone in Queensland & the Great Barrier reef starts or ends somewhere thereabouts -
Thursday Oct 19 1914 Since I last wrote nothing of note has occurred - The weather has been perfect - What a lonely sea this vast Pacific is!! Not a bird, not a vessel until we touched the Australian coast somewhere in the vicinity of the Seal Rocks & saw the strong light to the North of it -
I was up at 5.30 & the morning broke perfectly - Our trip is ended & all one has to do is to see to it that his mental horizon is wider his knowledge of nature & man improved added to - In my own case I think I can safely say that that end has been very fully attained -
Finis
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Part 7
[Transcriber's notes:
P 11 Raboul actually Rabaul
P 12 Herbert Hohe (and subsequently Herbertshoe) actually Herbertshohe
P 18 Kagakoul maybe Kabakaul
P 38 Point Gazelle = Cape Gazelle
P 45 Selsea - possibly Southsea or Selsey (both near Portsmouth)
P 130 Seeman (author is actually B C Seemann)
P 131 Filiriasis sp - Should be filariasis
P 205. D. Melanoplys = D. melanophrys]
[Transcribed by Donna Gallcher, Judy Macfarlan for the State Library of New South Wales]