Sullivan letter diary, 27 October 1915-9 October 1917 / Eugene Sullivan - Page 93
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[Page 93]
Here again we were coaled by natives still lazier and dirtier than the proceeding mob. They passed the coal from one to another in mat baskets. Their bosses also black, distinguished from the others by wearing dilapidated cork helmets, had to be continually jabbering at and threatening them to keep them at work.
Numbers of natives rowed out to the boat in canoes, regular dug-outs made of a trunk of a tree, and dived for pennies. These they thrust into their cheeks until they bulged out like a ball and still they jabbered away as if they had nothing in their mouths. They were like fish in the water. We did not pull into the wharf at all at Dakar but pulled out as soon as we had coaled. The three other boats still accompanying us.
This time we were under the escort of the "Swiftsure" a sister ship to the triumph, sunk in the Dardanelles. She was bought from the Sicillian Government at the time of the Boer War.
We also took a gun on aboard at Dakar and mounted it on the stern. It was a fair size a 4.7 in. From here we made a swift run to England, with Lights obscured at night and nobody allowed even to light a match on deck after dark. When we were nearing the Channel and a day's steam from Devonport three Torpedo Boat Destroyers raced out to meet us and from then on we steamed along independently, each accompanied by one of them.