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[Page 47]
The Australian T.B.D. Florilla, after undergoing three weeks of rigid training in Destroyer Warfare, left Corfu for Taranto, the main Italian Naval Base in Southern Italy. On the way there they picked up the transport "Briton", full of English troops en route to strengthen the Italian front.
Taranto was reached on October 10th, 1917 and the destroyers immediately ordered into the inner harbour where they were berthed cheek by jowl alongside some Italians, Japanese and French T.B.D's.
[The following paragraph crossed through.]
To get into the inner harbour of Taranto one has to pass right through the centre of the town itself. It is done in this way. The old town of Taranto is divided from the more modern town by a strip of water - actually an artificial canal, some four hundred yards long by forty broad. Over this canal is thrown a bridge which is only raised for the passing of shipping at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., daily, this bridge being the only connection between the two towns, or the two halves of the one town. Needless to say the passage through this tiny strip of water is also a passage through a vast concourse of people, who, held up by the raising of the bridge, gaze down on the passing ships, frequently with cries of "viva l'inglese! viva la francia", according to the nationality of the ship passing through.
Magnificent Shelter
The inner harbour of Taranto is a magnificent sheet of water capable of giving shelter to all but aerial attacks, to half the navies of the world. At the Eastern end lies a relic of treachery in the shape of the dreadnought "Leonardo di Vinci," blown up in the early days of the War, and now a mere shapeless mass of tangled steel bearing no resemblance to the once proud vessel that flaunted so gaily the flag of Savoy. The day after the flotilla's arrival, the entire personnel of the six ships were ordered to land and march