Series 01: Anne Donnell circular letters, 25 May 1915 - 8 July 1918 - Page 44
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[Page 44]
Friday 23rd
Now for last night it was simply beautiful up on deck gliding along in a smooth sea in the bright moonlight was charming, the boys were singing as usual- we Sisters gathered together & sang "Australia we'll be there" to them & Major Kent Hughes waved our flag. Every one on the boat appeared happy & why shouldn't we- on the way to work. When 9.30 came we were settled to our quarters & there was an unusually anxious air about, but being somewhat accustomed to fancy alarms we prepared for the reality if it came & went trustingly to sleep. At 12.30 Alas what had happened- The boat stopped, the bell rang & the foghorn gave one tremendous blow. I wonder if you can imagine the rest. The experiences that were told this morning was very amusing- but at the time the majority thought their last hour had come. I confess I did- so did Sister Daw. We were up like lightening but she called out to the man on duty- what is it-& he said "its all right Miss it's only the fog. We went back to bed- but no one had any more sleep. The fog horn blew incessently the rest of the night & we were disappointed in the morning to find ourselves in Meditteranean Waters & had passed through Gibralta without seeing it. One of the Officers was telling us what an anxious night they had- the Captain just everted a catastrophe, as we were on the point of colliding with a sailing vessell & immediately after a large boat passed within 20 yards on the Port side so no wonder there was a stir.