Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 277
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 277]
yet they turned one's fancy lightly towards a comfortable billet in Farm Cove, and served to pass the time.
After a due interval the Sydney made Bermuda, a chain of over a hundred islands ranging in size from about forty square miles to something much smaller than Garden Island in Sydney Harbour. This group lies in the Gulf Stream 690 miles south-west of New York, and is a favourite winter haunt for such New Yorkers as are able to get away from the blizzards further north. The main group of islands lies in a sort of horseshoe, and each is separated from its neighbour by a channel, often only a few feet wide, which is spanned by a bridge. One can ride a bicycle from one end to the other. Before [Admiral] Lord Fisher's regime Bermuda had been an important naval station with a cruiser fleet based thereon; but in the process of economy which set in it gradually fell into disuse. Still, there was a large floating dock, and when we arrived the place had been re-commissioned and had become the headquarters of the North America and West Indies squadron.
Bermuda is one of the few places where the motor car is not. By law no motor-propelled vehicle is allowed to be landed, and everybody from Governors and Post-Captains down, propels himself sedately on a bicycle. The roads are made of hard white coral and are good though narrow; so cycling is by no means unpleasant. But it is a hard blow at first to have to pull one's socks up and push wherever one wants to go. There are six large American hotels, three of which at any rate