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[Page 74]
came off & took Gen. Allanby & staff ashore.
19.3.19
At 6 a.m. the wind having decreased in force we hove up & made for the Inner part of Marseilles & made fast at the transport wharf. The Troops disembarked at 10 a.m. & the civil passengers remained on board for the night.
20.3.19
At 10 a.m. all the passengers left & we took in 200 civilian 1st & 2nd Saloon passengers mostly French for Egypt. We could not obtain coal or water at Marseilles so left at 4 p.m. for Port Said & going to call at Malta for water on the way. We had a good run up town & in the City of Marseilles & met several America officers. It appears that hundreds of thousands of America troops passed through here during the last few months & from what we could gather from the French the Yankee troops were not very popular with the British & French troops & civilians.
21.3.19
At noon we steamed passed the South of Sardinia Island & shaped a course towards the Channel between the South of Sicily & north of Tunis, Africa, a very dangerous part as this place was surened [?surrounded] with submarines they having laid mines extensively from here towards the Island of Malta. A passage has been swept but it will take years before the work here alone is finished. Again in the course of time, gales will cause mines to break adrift & float about causing it very dangerous for shipping. We have on board several civilians for the British war office civil service office,