Iles war diary, 1914-1919 / G. H. Iles - Page 183
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[Page 183]
Oct 6th at 11 am. we arrived off Scapa Flow, for this our first introduction to the Greatest Fleet of warships in the world, second to none either in ships, or men, filled us with pride, - all precautions necessary were taken every man wearing his life saving apparatus some with inflated collars, or waist belts others with Kapoc jackets, everyone fully prepared for eventualities –
Some of the latest destroyers of the Grand Fleet met us outside, to escort us up the channel, and all were very eagerly watching events, - cautiously, we approached the entrance, and all we could discern ahead were numberless fishing trawlers, scattered all across the entrance, - and as we drew nearer it was plainly seen that between each of these trawlers were numbers of floating objects which stretched across the entrance from shore to shore, the trawlers making the connecting link so a to prevent the objects from sinking beneath the surface, - it appeared that we were to pass between the two vessels
[Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, north Scotland]