State Library of NSW
[Page 32]
No. 3 CampPark houseSalisbury Plains13.4.17
My dear Mother Father & Sister
We are in England at last the last few weeks aboard are awfully trying particularly after leaving Sierra Leone, the "watches" are increased & every precaution taken to prevent submarine attack. We were accompanied by a man of war to within 2 days of England, suddenly on the horizon appeared some little specks, 9 of them & as they came nearer we recognised little boats called submarine catchers, they can go some pace, the men of war took two & each boat received one, here the convoy broke up each taking its own route & all going full lick. I could feel our engines throbbing the boat quivered & shook as though she realized her peril she did go. 20 knots our little cheeky boat led all the way, by day we zig zagged, at night we went straight.
The 11th of April the sea was lumpy & in an officers pow wow the Colonel told us that we were in the Chops of the Channel, the most perilous portion of our journey the risks were grave. He came to me with cartridges, they did not fit my revolver. I had my own supply of ammunition, a revolver is a handy weapon to stop rushes for the boats in case of attack. The
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