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[Page 19]
1914
Syrens, motor boats followed us sounding their hooters, & church bells rang from every quarter of Sydney. Our feelings were undefinable.We knew that the situation was very grave, but we felt that, in case of war, we were so far from the actual scene of conflict as to be almost out of the picture. However, there was always the possibility of our meeting with German men-o-war in the Pacific, and this one fact spurred us on and kept up our spirits. It was such a change for us, who had hitherto been accustomed to work to programmes now to live in an atmosphere of uncertainty. On clearing the harbour, we steered due South, but shortly afterwards, we changed course in a northerly direction, and the ships company was piped to "general quarters". Now the guns were actually loaded and torpedoes were placed in their tubes, and everything was done in grim earnest.
Aug. 5
Nothing eventful occurred until the following day, Wednesday, when we heard officially by wireless that war had been declared by Britain on Germany. The die was cast, & I must say that we felt a great relief, for the uncertainty was more trying than the actual fact. We were now told that our destination was British New Guinea, where we were to coal at Port Moresby, and then in company with other ships of the station to try and locate the two German cruisers " Gneisnau [Gneisenau] & Scharnhaust [Scharnhorst] which were known to be among the German Pacific islands. We have four doctors on