Sullivan letter diary, 27 October 1915-9 October 1917 / Eugene Sullivan - Page 92
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[Page 92]
Notes: Port of call: Dakar
I wanted to get a snap of these proceedings but did not have a chance to do so as anyone who showed themselves was liable to be caught and ducked or doused with water at any time so I did not venture to carry my camera. Some energetic individuals climbed the spars above the well deck with buckets full of water and emptied them on to the spectators, who were watching the ducking. I was ducked four times myself.
One individual, in the Re-inforcements to the 9th. Field Ambulance, who were on board our boat, succeeded in escaping the ducking but it was through no fault of ours. Clad in our trousers only we searched the boat for him like a pack of bloodhounds. He had made himself obnoxious to all of us by crawling after the doctor and everyone else in authority and then assuming airs before the rest of us. As he was somewhat ladylike in his ways also we though a ducking would do him the world of good. Hence we left no corner unsearched but all in vain. The next day he informed us, mightily pleased with himself, that he had been hiding down in the stoke hole, but he was afraid to come up for his dinner.
Our next Port of call was Dakar a French Naval Base of the West coast of Africa in the Congo. It is about the most Westerly point or appears to be on the map. [Sketched map]