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[Page 46]
1914
making it impossible to open the portholes, with the consequence that the ship was unbearably stifling between decks.
Oct. 12
This sort of thing lasted a whole week, after which we arrived at Suva on Monday morning, the voyage from New Britain having taken 9 days. The length of time taken over the voyage was accounted for by the non-arrival of colliers from Westport at Suva, because they had not yet had sufficient time to complete their voyage, and also because we thought it likely that German cruisers might pay Suva a visit after having been to Tahiti. We wished to prevent that, so we hung round in the vicinity for some 3 days before going into harbour. The day of our arrival was beautifully fine, & the island on the left of the entrance looked extremely picturesque, & had evidently benefited from the recent heavy rains. We were told that 3 fathoms or 216 inches of rain had fallen since January. We were much depressed by hearing of the fall of Antwerp, & disgusted to hear of German excesses. News from Rabaul arrived saying that the "Komet", a small German armed patrol or dispatch vessel, had been captured with her wireless installation complete.
Oct. 15.
On this day we took in 1650 tons of coal with heavy rain falling the whole of the time. Never do I remember such a miserable coaling, lasting from 1 p.m. until 4 a.m the following morning.