Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 156
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[Page 156]
blotting out everything and making navigation difficult. We crawled gingerly past the town wondering what we were going to hit and when we were standing about on the quarter deck making lots about our chances when suddenly there was a yell from forard "Close watertight doors" and then we felt the bump.
The fog was so thick that it was impossible to see a yard but we felt some object come bump bump bump down our side till at last we saw an old paddlewheel passenger ferry with one paddlewheel off and her side splintered like match wood. We had caught her a sliding blow and before the ship could be stopped she had drifted down our side being strafed every few yards by our boats and guns and every object which hung outboard. By the time she reached our quarter deck she was a sorry spectacle and her loin [planks?] looked worm eaten and rotten.
The packet was pretty full of people returning home from business and the women began to faint and the men look scared. It was probably pretty disconcerting to have