Item 02: John Duncan McRae diary, 11 December 1916-9 February 1917 - Page 76

[Page 76]

Jan. 24. We had to dress up in our full equipment this morning in order to see how well dressed we could be for going ashore in England. The best-dressed man received £1 prize. Sailing boat with three masts sailed fairly close to us to-day.

Jan. 25. Heavy roll & cold wind. It Being too rough to drill we were given a lecture on trench warfare by our Officer. We all wished we were right there to have a hand in the game.

Jan 26. On guard again. Very cold, especially on night shifts. Alan & I & another lad found a warm steam-pipe in a corner of the deck & there we spent the late hours of the night & the early hours of next morning.

Jan. 27. We had a thorough clean-up today, and packed away all our belongings preparatory to disembarkation.

In the afternoon we spied a few specks on the horizon and in half an hour or so five torpedo-boat-destroyers joined our fleet. They are so tiny that we call them