Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 227
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[Page 227]
bridge overboard; but that was in the nature of a luxury. We were content to take a greater risk and live in civilised fashion. The only accident we prayed deliverance from was a shell in the wine-cellar, because the insurance had run out and the company wisely enough declined to continue the risk. However, from day to day our risk became beautifully less.
We were a mess of sixteen in the wardroom, of whom seven were Australian by birth, while the rest, thanks to an acquaintance born of several commissions served on the station, had become Australian by inclination. At any rate the mess was a happy family, and there was a complete absence of cleavage between the members of the Royal Australian Navy and those of the parent Navy. Of the men about half were Australian, the more skilled ratings such as gunlayers being of course Englishmen. In a new Navy this must necessarily occur; but it is a necessity which time will eliminate.
The run round to Albany was made for the greater part in beautiful weather, and with the ship in peace routine all had a comfortable time which was appreciated after the continual "panics" of the Pacific cruise. Awnings were spread and deck-chairs dug out, and one slept and lazed while the ship plugged on at fourteen knots south and then west. One of the first things the new-comer noticed at sea was the absence of vibration in a turbine-driven ship: it is just the difference between a pneumatic and a solid tyred car. The writer's cabin was over the forward port propellor, and yet at most speeds the