Item 01: Irene Victoria Read letters from her husband, 27 November 1914-1 November 1915 - Page 45
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 45]
(No. 10)
Copy sent to Mother.
Troopship "Kyarra"
At the Equator between Fremantle & Colombo
Xmas eve 1914
Dear old Mrs,
We left Fremantle at 7 PM on 14th December after taking on board the No. 2 Stationary Hospital under Lt. Col. White. Owing to the shortage of cabins we had to take a third man into ours after leaving Fremantle; at this latter port most of the cargo seems to have been stowed on one side of the ship with the result that we had had a big list to starboard which makes it anything but comfortable. On the 17th I tried to get the following wireless message through to you:- "Well, are you leaving Demosthenes cable Colombo" but we were too far away from the mainland & could not raise them. We have had no war news since leaving Fremantle.
It has been getting hotter & moister each day but it is still bearable.
In the afternoon of the 19th the No. 2 Stationary Hospital held their sports on the Promenade deck, the events that came off included potato race, cock fighting, fencing & pillow fighting on a spar with a tarpaulin bath of seawater into which