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[Page 20]
[1st November 1914]
as Albany never saw before, the harbour seemed to be just a mass of big ships. On the morning of the 1st of November, we lifted our anchors & the great fleet set sail, the Australian ships led the way & the N.Z.'s brought up the rear, we were escorted by 4 warships at this point, the big Japanese cruiser was in front the "Melbourne" on the right flank & "Sydney" was watching the other side, while the Minotaur" a Brittish cruiser from the China squadron brought up the rear, our position in the line was well forward, & it was a fine sight to look back on the ships, as they ploughed their way through the water, all the transports were in three lines & we were in the middle line, about
4th boat from the front, all that day we watched the Australian coast fading away, till darkness shut it out, & when we got up in the morning we were out of sight of land, & nothing but the calm blue sea all round us like a sheet of shimmering glass, & at last we felt we were fairly on the way to England, for when we sailed we were under the impression that we were bound for the Old Country, & great was our disappointment of learning later that we were going to Egypt to complete our training. We had a very quiet little run till we reached the Line", though of course we had plenty of fun, & concerts, & debates every night, while we had tugs of war, gloves foils & etc.