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[Page 13]
February & March 1916
& we had to use this water for drinking, shaving, & washing our hands & faces in.
The name of the Camp was East Serapeum. On March 1st I had my first swim since leaving Sydney & it was in the Suez canal. At this part the canal is about 110 yards wide & is very deep & dredges are working all day & night for the sand gets blown into the canal by the wind & if it was not dredged it would fill up in time. Man-O-Wars could be seen on patrol & stationed. On the 2nd we had a 4 hours march with full pack up through the heavy sand & it was hard work. The third was my Nineteenth birthday & we had another route march & a big sand storm rose & it kept up for a week & it was that bad that everything inside the tents was smothered with sand & even our food was full of it. We were paid the night before & therefore I had to shout on my birthday & so I went to the canteen & bought some small luxuries etc. On the 4th we were taken to a miniature range & fired five rounds. On the 5th I was detailed off for ferry fatigue for a week & had to roll my kit up & march to the canal. We were camped in sand bag dug outs & our job was to pull the punt across the canal which was worked by two chains & I worked four hours shifts. While there I saw dozens of liners passing through & also Transports & also the Pistolet & Fromde French-gun boats. I also saw a small British