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[Page 7]
The meat is sometimes tripe and never fails to remind me by its action on the olfactory nerves of the heart duck farms we passed at Randwick. The porridge is at once watery and lumpy and has no salt in it.
Furthermore there is no sugar wherewith to sweeten it. The only decent eatable is the sausage. The bread has of late been frequently doughy. We have even had it hot from the stoves. There was one thing which I forgot to mention about Colombo viz. that the breakwater consists of 3 parts and there are 2 entrances.
Saturday 21st November
This morning the whole fleet was stopped. The generally accredited report in explanation is that two men fell overboard on the Shropshire.
It is a curious thing however that the Japanese battleship went back through the lines. If
her action had anything to do with the stoppage it could hardly have been occasioned by such an accident as related above. The bread continues as sour as ever. A great number of the men now sleep above. There is not much to tell. We had no parade this morning owing to want of space.
We might get to Aden in a few days. Have read Rob Roy by Scott and The Three Knaves by Eden Philpotts since I came on board. I have also gone through Shakespeare's practical pieces & sonnets.
Monday 23rd Nov
To-night (in fact about in a few minutes) there was a spar between Vic Brown & Culpane the Pay-Corporal. An argument arose as to whether the Southern Cross could be seen from this latitude or not and C losing his temper invited Vic to settle it per