Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 159
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[Page 159]
It was too near to be comfortable a large ship coming at us amidships at that speed would probably have cut us in halves as we were only wallowing along at six knots.
The Officer on the bridge had had his attention attracted by a tug towing three sailing ships and in his anxiety not to foul the tow he had not noticed this other ship coming up without lights.
We were without lights too and she probably did not see us till almost on top of us. It was of course nobody's fault it was just one of the inevitable risks of steaming without lights about in this fashion but the officer of the watch had his leg pulled hard for weeks. We would be sitting at dinner & some wag would ask innocently who had the first watch. "Oh Baldy has" Good God half a dozen would exclaim & immediately produce lifesaving waistcoats & collars from beneath their chairs solemnly put them on & proceed with dinner.
It was of course a cruel slander.
With mild excitement like this to relieve the monotony we did our ten days out and then returned