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[Page 120]
March 13th 1916 Sgt Ten French 2nd Lieutenant.
March 14th 1916 Filling belts to-day, leaving to-morrow Saturday. Parade. Simpson came back.
March 15th 1916 General mix up, packing up etc.
March 16th 1916 Duty Sec. Packing up etc. Left Camp at about 7 o'clock. Baggage Guard, entrained at about 12 in same old cattle trucks only for a change this time the truck was covered in coal dust.
March 17th 1916 Train left 1.55 a.m. and arrived at Alexandria about 10 a.m. after a very cold night. Came on board "Arcadian" H 1 at 11.45 worked like blazes all day, loading gear etc. Left Egypt at 5.45. Slept on deck. Weather very wintry and wet, but got in a good sleep. Two guns mounted, but was too rough to keep them up.
March 18th 1916 Still very rough, several sick, 2,300 troops aboard. Very rough day. Innoculation.
March 19th 1916 Rough night. Feeling effects of innoculation.
March 20th 1916 Calm to-day, tried all guns, all very satisfactory. Passed Malta at about 4.30. On Guard to-night.
March 21st 1916 Rough weather. Had to dismount guns.
March 22 1916 Still fairly rough. Put the guns up again last night, but had to dismount them this morning. Our destination in sight to-night. Everybody is packing up. General confusion.
March 23rd 1916 Up at 5 a.m. this morning. Had a hot bath, came on deck and saw magnificient sight. The Sun was just rising over the Hills which surround Marseilles, and the white Cliffs looked fine. We are now in the Quay and busily engaged tasting the fine oranges. The Harbour, what there is of it is mostly artificial. The view as we first saw it looked very like Gallipoli. A Railway and Tram line runs along the shore. Later:- disembarked a fairly long wait on the Wharf during which we had Dinner. Then a March for about a mile to the Station. We did not see too much of the town, but we were struck with the beauty of the women and the scarcity of the men folk. Of course we had a good reception. Arriving at the Railway we were very much surprised at the class of carriages we had to travel in. They certainly were a fine contrast to the old animal trucks of Egypt. We tried our very poor French here to bad effect. Train left at about 4 o'clock and we travelled through the most glorious scenery until dark. Passed through five tunnels, the last one being about three miles long.
March 24th 1916 Had a fairly comfortable night though we were