Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 335
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[Page 335]
immortal strains of Tipperary for many months in every port we visited, and they began to pall. In the two days of our stay we sandwiched in a dinner, two dances, a garden party and a motor picnic, so the kind folks of Nassau did us pretty well. We were truly reaping our reward for the dreary days at Lavandeira and the Abrolhos.
Nassau, like Bermuda is thoroughly American, the only thing obviously British being the Union Jack of which one occasionally saw signs in the Government offices. From there we departed for Jamaica once again, a place which, as I have said, we were rapidly coming to look upon as home. We arrived at Kingston on June 4th, and again sat down without a job. We had gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. A few months before one would have thought that the Sydney was the only cruiser at the disposal of the Admiralty; we rushed hither and thither all over the Atlantic, chased rumours and ghosts, ran down innocent merchantmen, and were beastly energetic; now we were simply burning coal and going for rides and providing spectacles for school children. No-one minded being in harbour or sitting at ease in the Club, and no-one really minded being at sea on a real job; but all growled at banzai cruises round the British possessions. Still one supposes that it was necessary to keep a couple of fast cruisers ready at hand to dash anywhere in case anything got out from neutral harbours.
So we sat down against the wharf once more for a week, and then left to indulge in more frightfulness at a place called