Item 01: Eric Susman war diary, 1 January 1915-4 April 1916 - Page 46
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[Page 46]
Friday 22 January 1915
Early this morning, the fleet stopped for two reasons, both of a medical nature. Firstly, the medical officers of the "Themistocles" and the "Borda" changed from one ship to the other, and secondly, two men suffering from acute appendicitis were brought over to the flagship to be operated upon.
The reason for the transfer of medical officers, it was rumoured, was the incapacity of the "Themistocles" original doctor to cope with the work entailed on such a large ship (by the way, to-day saw the fifth death on this boat). But I take this rumour for what it is worth on board ship – and they were not worth much.
One of the boats of the convoy, "A37" a prize ship, having no facilities on board for carrying out a surgical operation of such delicacy as appendicitis, had to tranship two sufferers to the Ulysses. This meant a journey in an open boat of about three-quarters of a mile, and had not the patients been of a hardy, virile type, there might have been no need for the surgeon's knife. At 12 o'clock, the operations were over, and it was reported "both doing well".