GETTING TO GALLIPOLI.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1436, 14 August 1915, Page 4

GETTING TO GALLIPOLI.

ADVENTURES ON THE WAY. (By Malcolm Ross). No. 1. ANZAC, Juno 24. II is one ihiug to star!, for Gallipoli; il is ((iiitp another thing to get. there, especially if yon are not a lighting man. “You’ll never gel. there, ’’ they tohl me in Cairo. “1 wouldn't huild on it.” said a man who had just come hack on a special mission. “Indeed, I should say yon haven’t a hope,’’ However. 1 interviewed colonels and gen ends and sent my credentials along In Sir lan Hamilton. Then I waited. In the meantime, there was plenty to dp at Cairo and Alexandria, for our men were coming back with stirring stories from the front. Then there came one day a message from Si-; lan The answer was “Yes.’’ That was very cheering. Genera! Maxwell sent, for me and gave me the news. Ho gave me a letter to a colonel at Alexandria, and the colonel looked me up anil down and in the eye, and sent me out to a general ,0 the headquarters at Mastapha. It wa< all rigid I could leave in a ship that warding to a certain island that day. Dm the ship caught lire in her bunkers; she had ammunition on board, and the crew hegai. to have in a hurry! That ship was out of the question, so 1 dashed alwml in a motor car. and in the afternoon found myself with a very limited amount o( kit on hoar a Cnnard liner, now a troopship. We got away next morning. The slop was crowded with t roops —most ly High landers, with khaki aprons over their kills. There were also various odds and ends of eampanies and staff cured of their sickness or healed of their wounds, going out to rejoin. Most of these had hem through slrcmion* days—and nights—in the trendies and on the beaches and cliffs hefoie (here had hoen time, to dig trenches. As we headed out to sea what, appeared as chaos quickly developed into order, and as we sal. down, to dinner the ) lino pipe hand of (he Highlanders gave ns a taste of iheir quality. The “Sassenach" and a few degenerate Scotsmen may joke as they like about rhe pipes, bid (here is no finer war music, and that evening in the twilight “The Bar ren rocks ot Aden." “Pihrocb o’ Donald Dim" and other favourites. Mending with the throb of (he engines and the eternal swish of the water along the vessel’s sides, seemed most appropriate, and i tim'd mem ories of the dim sheiling and the misty islands in many a Highland heart. These troops, fine-looking young fellows for the most part, were going out to a strange land to fight side hy side with the .Australians and New Zealanders and the Trench against the German-driven Turkish army. That afternoon there was an alarm, and We all took stations with our lefebelts on. There were submarines about, and it was just as well to be prepared, fade in the afternoon a watchful observer on deck might have seen one of the wireless operators hurrying up on to the bridge. A few minutes later tie 1 Hake of the ship was a graceful curve in the calm waters of the Mediterranean, anil il was clear that wo were betiding hack tar Alexandria. The timid ones immediately thought of submarines. The op timists let their thoughts run on three Ihings--(l) That, there was an armistice •<> discuss terms with tin- half-conquered Turk: (2) that. Ronmania and Bulgaria, had “cone in”; (31 that, we were through (lie Dardanelles. But no one memed to know tile reason of our sudden recall. We. had dinnev and the ship became hermetically sealed, to hide all lights. During the night we felt (he ship quiver as if she Intel iiit something. “1 hope it’s an enemy submarine.’’ said someone, as (he quivering reused. What Inn.! happened we never exactly knew, except, that- om- ship had shed ti ptopeller blade or two. and was not nowin so good a condition as before for dodging it German submarine, fit the early morning we could see through the smoky haze blown up from Alexandria tinlow coast line of Egypt. Two hours later we were slowly steaming to an anchorage insid - (he harbour. Evidently it was one thing to start, for Gallipoli, lint quite a different proposition to gel- there. We cursed our luck, and went down to breakfast.

Then farin' mioll ll* r period of wailing it ll cl uncertainty. An order was posted I fiat we liad In mi'll hack because I In-re was no more room for I mops til tin' front , and tor no other reason. The last words were underlined. The orders also slated that, the troops were to disembark and proceed to Aboitkir. I 'mil niched officers would “piolv airly” embark on another ship on the follow ing’day. While we wen' kicking.ouv heels on deck ami s|icculat ing upon the more or less immediate future, we saw a second Ciinarder returning with her troops through the harbour neck. She must have been well on towards her junrneUs end before .-die had turned. She seemed to haw a list to port, and the rumour ran that she had been torpedoed. It was not so. Sbe also bad come back, etc., “and for no otln-r other reason;’’ We (the limit I aehed, who were anxious (o get out) possessed onr souls in patience all that day ami all the next day. At noon we hoarded the other steamer and watched (hern loading thing.—tilings (b.il the censor might, ileal with in an article. About 6 o’clock we were ready, but some of the crew and half (he stokers were ashore —drunk! Several of those who remained on board bad never been to sea before. It was doubtful if we could sail that night, after all. The ship's siren sounded many and weird blasts, ami presently various men came rolling down the dockyard .streets, “drunk and raising Cain.” They were hauled anil pushed on board. Then we sheered off from (he stone quay, glad to get. away from the stinking old town, for Hie “kbamseen,” accompanied by an inseparable dust that got into our eyes and ears and throat, had hit ns in the early morning, and remained with us all day—a gruelling blast from the furnace of I lie Lynibian desert. 11 cooled off in the evening. as we headed out to see watching the last of the Highlanders embarking for their new' camp; and listening to the- dying strains of their pipes blown faintly across the waters. The Harbour was crowded with many ships, amongst them some Greek vessel.held Up on suspicion of contraband. The German ‘sublimi'llic.' UlTc siispcclcd o| having a base in the islands Aegean : It was a time to beware of the gifts of the Greeks We were glad fo be at seti again, in the tents at Zeilonn and at Alexandria it was llfideg. F. At any hour of the dav in Cairo you might pies a native Inm-ral with il.-. human hearse-bearers carrying the strangelydraped coffin shoulder high, the weird procession of chanting mourners scurrying along on foot through the crowded .streets. At Khartum the average daily tempera I tin' for three weeks—for three weeks, mind you!—had been Jlfldeg. ill the .-bade. One dav in Cairo it bad climbed to 112 in tinshade, or two degrees below* the record of thirty years. The next day we had a cold snap*—it fell to 00! One began to symjiatlii.se with Ibe wounded man lack from tile trenches, who said be Would rather be dead at Gallipoli than alivt; at Cairo! Perpoint Ily I found some solace in reading again Sleevens’ inimitable chajitcr on the pathology of thirst, and in subsequently endeavouring to get the* Arab barman to concoct an “Abdul Hamid." This he did with so much success that for once realisation came speedily and surely in the wake of expectation. A.- I write we are somewhere off Crete, and the sobered stokers are getting an extra, kick out of the screw. Like many of our sjiijts, this one Inis been at the making of 'hjstory, and has herself made history in these last few months of I lie great, war. The Ciinarder which we left with her winged jiropeller had been at the landing on Gallipoli and had been Hit. She. too, had been out to the Peninsula and had had some lucky escapes, esjtecialfy when the “laubcs” were dropping bombs iu expectation ot finding the geqej-iiJ stall’. Once in England she- had beep |l;e 1/onie of some linn drods of German Jirisoners--classed as a prison bulk! At another time, owing to the stranding of a lag troopship—-sho had housed 4500 ibitisii troops, and hail fed them for three days, though she. was just off a long voyage. The other day she brought the 50 New Zealand nurses from England to Egypt. 1 have just been talking to one of our English padres about them, lie was struck with their enthusiasm for their Work and their adapability and willingness to do anything that came their way—such things a?, fie said, the English nurses had to have done for them. On the way out there was a tug-o’-wal', and the New Zealanders easily pulled thefr sisters from the Motherland across the mark.