Item 01: Walter Lawry Waterhouse diary, 15 January-27 March 1916 - Page 42

[Page 42]

looked like. When the coaling started, rough platforms were lowered to the outside of the openings leading to the bunkers, & on this a man & a boy stood. Two men in the barge then hoisted the coarse bag cont'g coal on to the woodwork, the man then emptied it & passed the bag to the boy who threw it down into the barge.

A number of other boys roamed about the barges & came alongside in boats & with cries of "all right" tried to attract the notice of the troops whose parades had now been dismissed & who were lining the sides, & induce them to throw over coins to be dived for: pennies were not considered worth the trouble. Once when 2 of them were treading water waiting, a coin was thrown midway between, resulting in a dash to the spot, & after they had dived a struggle at depth which could be clearly seen from our height.

Several other little boys in various barges tried a different way. One would sit right up in the bow & plaintively sing "Tipperaray" with numerous variations & then looking up would appealingly hold out his hand for a coin to be thrown him. In this case a penny was eagerly snapped up.

A still further amusement adopted by some of the men was to change English money into the lower (copper) Ceylon coinage: amongst the men who clambered up the ropes were several who in their dress had money for exchange, & until noticed & hunted off by the native police did business with the men. 8 or 10 copper coins would be thrown down into one of the barges & immediately result in a cessation of work & an excited