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[Page 50]
German officer hauled into British cutter. Suppose he'd gone "dotty". Pulled out his pistol & shot at his own men still struggling in the water. Flattened out with an oar. The wonder is that they weren't all mad after passing thro' all that hell. Now there's a funny side; I believe there's quite a lot of jealousy between the Inflex & the Invinc. over that action. They say ________ X
Abrolhos Rocks. I had certainly never heard of this place before, & it has no beauty that I shd. desire to see it again. 30 miles fr. Brazilian coast. A few rocks & lighthouse. Grim reminder of war on starboard beam. Two masts sticking up out of the water. German collier sunk herr by gunfire month ago. Canopus here & two other colliers besides ours. Talk about command of the sea! This is the way to find it out. Poor old Canopus, with her leaky boilers & (very) Reserve crew. Their officers come aboard & we exchange comments on things in general & the war in particular. Fill up with coal, prepare to leave. Everybody's getting fed up, for the strain is terrible. No ship ever built even came up to our record & the strain is beginning to tell. No letters for weeks, & nothing but hard unceasing, monotonous grind! Something is going to snap before long. I recognize the preliminary creak. Then