Part 01: Alan Fraser Fry letters, 8th August 1914- 28 January 1917 - Page 4
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[Page 4]
deck space, we cannot do all we would like to. I have a little work to keep my mind occupied, so the day does not drag for me.
We have plenty of cockroaches on board here – caught three before turning into my bunk on Thursday night. The grub is not too bad just now, though this is too early in the trip to pass any comments, as what one says at first, and at the end of the voyage are two very different things.
Sunday, 16th August.
Cleared the Reef on Friday morning, and ran into rough weather immediately. I immediately lost all interest in the trip till Sunday night, during those three days devouring 2 biscuits, ½ Glass of water and 1 cup of Soup. I began to feel very weak, and thin, but by that time I was getting used to it, and from then on I have not felt the least queer at any time.
The "Tambo" certainly could roll and pitch, and as we were only drawing about 2 feet freeboard the decks were under water practically the whole way from the Reef to the Solomon Islands. The poor sheep had a bad time, and we lost about 14 out of 56.
Wednesday, 19th August.
Woke up this morning by the shout of "Land Oh?" We have been crawling along at about 6 ½ knots since Sunday. The weather has been much the same all along since leaving the Barrier, sunny and warm, with a heavy beam sea. I have quite got over the seasickness, and can keep a good dinner down now – though it is still pretty hard work, owing to the presence of dead rats in the Saloon. The Steward discovered three on Monday, and I daresay there are some more stowed away in some of the corners. The smell is something awful, and I think it was that as much as