Part 02: Dene Barrett Fry letters, 17th May 1915-16 April 1917 - Page 63

[Page 63]

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rigging, spar, or deck space. Some had no appearance of being wounded, while others had every sign of it. It was a stirring sight. They gave us three hearty ones (as usual) and, as usual we put our own throats out of action for a few more hours. A day or two out from Melbourne we met rough weather, which lasted right through the bight to Albany. I was oh! so sick for a while. Most of us were in fact. Jim was all right, he's never been sick yet. At 2.20 P.M. on Thursday 22nd we tied to a buoy at Fremantle. Here again no leave was given, and again the Infantry took it. But the difficulty of getting to the shore and back resulted in nearly eighty being unable to get back to the ship in time. We left Fremantle at 2. A.M. on Saturday 23rd and the above number were left behind & posted as deserters. At Fremantle we took on the ballance of one of the A.M.C. units, 30 men and a no. of nurses belonging to Col..Hashman's Convalescent Home, bound for England. I forgot to add that at Melbourne we added to our complement about 200 Tasmanian Infantry, reinforcements to the 26th Bat, and 500 Artillery, no 50 nurses and about 100 A.M.C. men.

The Indian Ocean was very calm. Every night concerts were held. These concerts are grand, but it needs someone specially endowed to portray the bohemian atmosphere of one of them. The "Australia Night" concert was easily the best of the lot, and we had programmes specially printed and sold, realising £150 for our wounded. The officers shelled out like sports