Iles war diary, 1914-1919 / G. H. Iles - Page 85
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[Page 85]
Our stay here was very brief and
Dec 22nd at 9 AM we were ordered to proceed to St Lucia West Indies, - the weather now had become very fair and bright and we looked for a very pleasant passage.
Dec 25th Xmas Day we were off St Lucia but we had to remain at sea until the morrow and so we made the best of the day, especially it being the first Xmas under war conditions – consequently to cheer things up a little our Captain for the second time allowed us to indulge in another tot of rum (our second tot) and so the day passed cheerfully
Dec 26th at 6 A.M. we entered St Lucia and tied up to the coaling wharf, natives prepared and coaled our vessel at 8.15 A.M. and at 1.30 PM we finished coaling and cleaned ship – HMS. Berwick appeared outside the harbour mouth at 2 o/c and we moved to a buoy in the stream so as to allow the Berwick to come alongside to coal – Leave was given to our men until dark so that we were able to have a