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[Page 27]
the cargoes from the lighters, and did well, selling us eatables etc. A tin of pineapple and other fruits cost half a crown, a small tin of jam, 9d. or 1/-, a candle 1/-, the usual penny cake of chocolate was 3d., and a ninepenny cake of nut milk chocolate cost 2/6d. Condensed milk was 1/6d. or 2/- but all these articles fluctuated according to the supply and demand. I have given the general prices and have known a bottle of whisky to sell for a £1. A lot of these articles were brought ashore from the warships and hospital ships, also other devious methods.
As candles were so scarce, we made fat lamps made from jam tins half full of mud with a stick wrapped in flannel in the centre. Bacon fat was obtained from the cook, (when he was absent) or rended down from scraps collected from the rubbish heap. They gave a fairly good light to enable us to read our letters, papers, etc. An Egyptian down on the seashore found a bomb, and after careful examination came to the conclusion that it was a fat lamp, so he called his brethern together to watch him light it. They did not wait long, as the results were disastrous.
A Y.M.C.A. tent was established down in Reserve Gully, but it could not supply the local demands as the necessary articles had to be obtained from Lemnos Island and water transport was not available. Every time I went down, there was about a thousand men waiting or else it was sold out.
On Dec/11/15 three of our Majors, Jenkins, Harcus, and Uther, were killed by shrapnel whilst going through the sap to Russells Top. It appears that the Turks were firing their 75s at our battery at the back of Walkers Ridge and generally fired three times in succession and a shell fell short and got them. It was a severe loss to the battalion as these officers were very popular and the best