Item 01: Fred Hamilton-Kenny letter diary, 29 August-19 October 1914 - Page 10

[Page 10]

Sept 9 – 1914
H.M.A.S. Upolu
Louisiade Archipelago

Dear girl

This day 2 months back I was close up to Warwick going for Glen Innes - To - day I am on a rotten tub - misnamed a ship in the pay of the Admiralty – steaming behind the gunboat Protector thro an unsurveyed sea [indecipherable] are at the SE part of New Guinea amidst a [indecipherable] islands - I've just counted - 4 - on the starboard quarter - The sea is the Coral Sea - The Protector leads & our orders are to follow - close - & with precision - She'll [indecipherable] first anyway we reckon if there are any coral pinnacles just under the surface & not seen by her -
This is Wednesday aftn - I've not put pen to paper since my last to you on Friday at Townsville - We left on Friday about midnight & steamed out - North again – inside the Barrier - We went on quietly on all Sat but in the eveng we went E thro the Grafton passage - this passage lets you thro into the Pacific & we soon noticed the difference - Pitch – toss – roll – the cow - One by one we silently went under & there was an epidemic of mal de mer - my 3 medicine & other chests all turned upside down - I had got them nice & neat in the aft - By George there was a splutter - Saty night was rotten – so was Sunday - about noon on the Sunday something went wrong in the engine room & we stopped – the Pacific rolled us slowly from side to side - Some of the men fished & then up swam 2 sharks 1 6 foot & the other 10 - 12 feet