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[Page 5]
3.
ships. We had to have our lifebelts on night & day & sleep with them. On the second night we were out about 1.30 am. The "Leicester Castle", which was steaming about 400 yards away from us was torpedoed by a German submarine & sunk. 93 soldiers were drowned. The torpedo just missed our boat by yards & the excitement was intense. The first I knew of it was being woke up by my mates & nearly everybody was rushing up on Deck. I saw the Leicester Castle in the darkness & it was surrounded by a lot of destroyers. Our boat then went for the lick of her life full speed ahead & we lost sight of the L. Castle. If any of us were caught without our lifebelts we were to be dealt with. It was a peculiar sight to see us all sitting down at Dinner with our lifebelts on. We passed Malta at 3 am on 29/May & went through the straits of Messina at 6 pm - where that big earthquake was years ago. I could see the Coast of Spain quite well. A few more destroyers joined us here. At Midday we passed the place where the "Omrah" was sunk a year ago. One of the Destroyers let a few shells go at something later in the day.