[Page 141]
Frid. 8th Nov.
Now 14 days out from Plymouth. Weather hot, sea calm. Came into the doldrums yesterday & had some heavy downpours of rain. Have been sleeping on deck since we left port – too stuffy down below. The number we have on board exclusive of ship's crew & naval gun detachment is:- Officers 35, W.Os., Staff Sgts. & Sgts. 200, men 601 = 836 all ranks.
Mond. 11th Nov.
We all gave up our lifebelts to-day to be stacked below. Evidently we are well out of the danger zone.
Wed. 13th Nov.
The war is practically over. We have been getting wireless news every day and have learnt of the giving in of Turkey, Austria & now Germany – the news of the armistice coming through yesterday.
Weather is cool again with strong head wind blowing.
Thurs. 21st Nov.
Arrived in Table Bay, Cape Town at 6 a.m. On a perfect day the town looks rather attractive lying at the foot of the irregular rugged mountain peaks that surround the bay. Table Mountain looms up as a great solid mass with Lion's Head on its left and Devil's Peak & Signal Hill on the right.
Sat. 24 Nov.
Yesterday afternoon we moved into the port and came up alongside the wharf to coal, water & provision. Since then the niggers have been busy shovelling the coal off the railway trucks into great baskets that are swung on board by steam cranes on the wharf. Opposite us, also coaling is the Borda, one of our original convoy from Plymouth & crowded with convalescents & 1914 men returning to Aust. Not a single man from our ship is allowed to land on account of the great epidemic of pneumonic influenza that has