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Transcriber's note: This diary was written by Alexander C. Nichols of the submarine A.E.2. When John Wheat made an escape attempt from the Turkish P.O.W. camp, it was Nichols who accompanied him in the first attempt to reach the sea. Their mission failed due to bad weather, starvation and sickness]
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Prison Life At St. Stefano. by A.E. Nichols who put in nearly two years there untill being released in Nov 1918.
St Stefano taken on the whole was about the best prison camp in Turkey, although it, too, had a good many hard times, but situated within easy distance of Constantinople, and surrounded as we were by many good friends, who could convey news of our treatment to the Dutch Embassy, we usually managed to get a considerable amount of freedom, but still, I must start from the beginning, and give as near as possible a true account of the doings of prisoners and their guardians whilst there.
About the first week in January 1917 news came through to Afion-Kara-Hissar where I was then interned that a number of prisoners were to be transferred to Constantinople to work for the government. I was suffering from fever and dysentery at the time, but determined, if possible to get away with the party, as the prisoners were dying at the rate of two or three a day with fever; I managed to get my name on the list, but had little chance of getting away, owing to illness. However, I managed to secure a large raw opium pill, which I swallowed a few minutes previous to the doctors inspection, and so managed to get away. It was very cold and miserable when we set out for the railway station, but our miseries were doubled after we arrived there.
We were packed like cattle into goods trucks without sleeping accommodation, and no sanitary arrangements whatever. The journey from Afion-Kara-Hissar to Constantinople occupied three days, and I do not think one of us felt our toes for the whole of that period. The cold was intense, and many of the men suffered untold agony from the effects of it, but all journeys must come to an end some day, and we eventually arrived at Hydaaidar Pasaha station.