Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 14]
and from then until 5 o'clock in the afternoon I was on duty at the gangway.
Amongst visitors who can I recognised Rev H Howard who came down to see Prescott; was able to show him to the cabin & made myself known to him.
By 1.30 most of the men were back, but one on the officers had taken a run up to Largs by car & reported that a number of our men were there at the hotel playing fast & loose, so a picket of 30 men under an officer was sent up to bring the offenders back.
Meantime my duty on the gangway was most unpleasant, getting the names of men late turning up, searching them for liquor, of which I had the pleasure of smashing 10 or 12 bottles of beer & brandy, punctuated occasionally by the hoots of a section of the men who had come on board. It was a disgusting sight to see some of the men staggering back with difficulty, & one being carried back in an absolutely helpless condition. Abt 8 of them placed in the cells at once, leaving them until relieved at 5, when I placed them under open arrest pending court martial.
While on the gangway my mail of 12 letters was handed to me, but they had to stay in my pocket until after dinner at night.
By abt 3 o'c all the cargo & mails were on board but the picket was still out. It was a long wait for them, & just as the colonel was talking of sailing without them, they hove in sight bringing with them 1 prisoner! He was