Item 01: Eric Susman war diary, 1 January 1915-4 April 1916 - Page 31
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 31]
Thursday 7 January 1915
The hot spell was broken to-day, by a good shower of rain. In many respects, it was the most remarkable rain that I have ever seen. At ten minutes past one, in the afternoon, we gradually lost sight of all the other troopships, as each, in turn, was obscured by a blinding sheet of rain. Then it gradually closed in on us, so that it was raining all round the ship at a distance of about two hundred yards from her. As yet, not a drop had fallen on the decks of the "Ulysses", and it was quite ten minutes before we got the tail end of the shower. It cleared the atmosphere considerably and it is now much cooler.
For the first time since I have been on board, I slept on deck last night. The troop decks, of course, are what are ordinarily "platforms" or divisions of the hold. Besides being badly ventilated, the odour is by no means similar to "4711", as we also have our meals there. So in the very hot weather, I draw the line at sleeping there.