Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 230
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[Page 230]
got up, guns were swung out and loaded, and we went to battle-stations in good earnest. Those of us whose duty lay below sat down and waited for the bump that never came; for just as our skipper was meditating a shot across their bows the enemy switched on lights, answered our signals, and proved to be a couple of coasters steaming in company for protection. They thought we were a German raider. So all hands went peacefully back to bed. Next day we made King George's Sound, and on steaming into the harbour found ourselves the last to arrive.
Both the inner and the outer harbour were full of ships, and the ships were full of troops - Australia's and New Zealand's first contribution to Armageddon. The seven New Zealanders, and fine big grey ships they were, had arrived the day before under the wing of the Minotaur, a big armoured cruiser from the China station. The rest, thirty-three ships, were Australia's share, and they were of all sizes from the Orvieto, the Orient Company's newest liner, to the Southern, an impossible little ditcher carrying horses, of which more anon.. Albany was having the time of its life. The streets and shops and hotels were full of soldiers having their last run ashore, and with flags waving and bands playing all wore a festive air: the shadow of what was coming was not yet visible. The warships Minotaur, Melbourne and Sydney were busy coaling, and at dawn next day the troopships got under way.
The Minotaur went well out ahead about five miles,