Item 01: Thomas Goodwin war diary, 25 April 1915-22 July 1916 - Page 4
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[Page 4]
This part of my experiences is written from memory When we arrived at Alexandria, the troopship Indian was berthed at wharf, The authorities were busy loading her with ammunition, Food, Horse feed and etc, for a journey that was going to be four days It took them one week to complete the loading. In the mean time our horses, and the B.A.C. were stabled in a large shed used in peace times for stowing grain, Eventually we loaded our horses, I may say while doing so, the ramp almost gave way, it must have been about 50 feet long That delayed operations for a time, It had to be propped up. Out horses were loaded without mishap, also guns and wagons, We then put out into the stream, She had on board 2nd Bty 1st B A C and Head Quarter Staff, and a quantity of 18 lb and 303 ammunition. After a few hours delay we steamed out We had no knowledge of where we were going to, we had no escort, the British fleet was cruising about At last we sighted land, and stood off waiting for orders, presently a trawler signalled, "follow me". We followed, the land was Lemnos Island, and the entrance to the harbour was guarded by mines, an opening was left just big enough to allow one vessel to pass through. We were there two weeks. The population are Greeks, they grow a terrible lot of grain mostly wheat, no roller