Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 266
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[Page 266]
and entreaties that several officers went to bed to dodge her importunities. One of our engineers thought it was a good time to have a bath; but his citadel was stormed, and he was discovered like the picture of Psyche, though not as well clad, and asked for a subscription. He explained that he had no money on him as he was not a marsupial. Of Colombo itself there is nothing to say which has not been said many times before. The little moonlight trips by rickshaw along the beach between the G.O.H. [Grand Oriental Hotel] and Galle Face [Hotel], with the bobbing lights and tinkling bells, - new and fascinating to the tourist - have now become commonplace to most Australians; but one could not help contrasting the Colombo of 1914, with the stir and bustle of war all around, and that of 1916 when the writer revisited it. Tourist traffic had ceased; very few ships were sailing in and out; and the hotels and town generally seemed deserted. Most of the available manhood had packed its kitbag for the North.
On the fifth day, when the Emden was forgotted and the Sydney had again become an ordinary four-funnelled cruiser, we received orders to proceed to Malta "with the utmost despatch", which meant four-fifths of our horsepower and about nineteen knots. So at noon the Sydney left her moorings and started for Aden. We passed the convoy about Socotra going to the west of the island instead of the east, and the next day made Aden. A clump of barren rocky hills on the edge of the desert with a few low white buildings in the foreground, all bathed in the heat of hell, - this is Aden, which is never-