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[Page 41]
It is useless for the British & French to enterfere just now between the Turks personal political affairs. It appears that the present Sultan is very friendly with the Allies & practically all the Turks that pass across in the ferry boats close to the ship hundreds every ½ hour or so cheer our British troops as if they were formally on the Allies side. Constantinople shops, hotels & the general aspect of the streets seems to be in a very fair way.
2 p.m. We left for Varna Rumania with 400 troops including 100 Greek labor corp. & hundreds of tons of stores that we shipped at Salonika. We entered the Bosphoros, it is about 13 miles long & average distance of ¼ of a mile wide with houses build all along the water front & the whole appears lovely resembling Brisbane River. We passed the Palace grounds of the British Embassador now in ruins burnt down by the Germans during their stay in Constantinople. We steamed full speed & entered the Black Sea escorted & guided by a British Destroyer. At the entrance of the Bosophoros on the Black sea side they have very heavy guns. The Cliffs being one mass of artillery dozens of the largest guns known & the entrance for 11 miles out is heavily mined, so that pracically the place is impregnable. One can see it at a glance. At 3.30 p.m. we were clear of the minefield. Our destroyer escort left us & we proceeded on our