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[Page 43]
& sent back to Germany daily. I obtained a huge bell found in the ruins of a Cathedral at Bulgaria which had been blown up by heavy artillery. The bell has Belgarian characters & weighs 100 lbs. with a crown on the top of it. The same made of bronze. I gave it to our Captain & suggested he should pass it on to the Sydney Museum.
27.12.18
8 a.m. off Varna having steamed slow so as to be there at daylight. Heavy fog prevailed so we had to drop our anchor & await the fog lifting 4 miles off the minefield which is off the Port of Varna.
28.12.18
8 a.m. Fog still prevailed & we could not see beyond a few hundred yards so it was too much of a risk to run & try & pick up the bouy which the British torpedoe boats had laid to mark the narrow channel of 400 yards wide for a distance of 11 miles. At 2 p.m. the fog cleared & we sighted two British mine sweepers a distance of 1 mile away, they being on their way to Varna to clear the minefield & like us having anchored until clear weather. At 2.30 p.m. we hove up & proceeded to Varna picking up the small marks laid down in the shape of bouys, passing within a few hundred yards of the rocks laying near the land. We proceeded to the harbor & made fast at the wharf at 4.30 p.m. Hundreds were down of the Civilian & Military population of Varna. We found out after that we were the first British troopship there since the war began.