THE TRANSPORTS SAIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 165, 18 December 1914, Page 6

THE TRANSPORTS SAIL.

| SCENE AT ALBANY. GREAT FLEET IN MOTION. NEW ZEALANDERS' WAR CRY. A red-letter day for the members of the expeditionary 'force was Sunday, November 1, for on that .day the transports of the combined New Zealand an<! Australian force:! sailed from Albany. The following description of the departure of the groat fleet is given by Mr. A. 13. Patorson in the Sydney Horning Herald:— Tlie shins arrived at Albany in ones and twos and threes, till at last all the fleet was gathered. They anchored in the roadstead outside the inner harbor of Albany. There they swung at anchor fir five clear days, while water a nl co.il were taken in by the vessels that, required them. Each day there was a report that we were to sail on the following day, but day after day passed, and no move was made bv any of the ships. A couple of small men-of-war came and went, but the ships that were to escort us still waited. At last on Saturday, October 31, word passed round in the mysterious way in which word does pass round at sea that the transports would leave next morning. Two sick men and one sick officer were sent ashore from our vessel, and all hands turned in v. ith serene hope that this at ' las,', was the real signal to move. Ill AuY. TO SAIL. ' <!r»:y davwi ftcs pretty well everybody astir, and all eyes keep turning to the " flagship, of the transports. All sorts o f , hours have rumored as the time of departure. Time goes on, and still ne move. IA red sun rises behind a long island away out to sea, on which is a lighthouse, sharply silhouetted against the sky. The island is at the end of a long sea-lane of waterway, land-locked ou either side by bare rugged hills, with here and there a patch of gorse showing yellow against the sombre green or the scrub, or the dull brown of the rocks. Not a sound, nor any movement of any living thing, comes from the. frowning hills on either side of the waterway. It is as if they were watching the transports getting ready for | sea. From these, too, comes no noise at all that can be heard from one ship to another. The watcher on the deck of the inshore vessels sees the three long l rows of ships lying silent as painted | ships at their anchors. The only sign of life is the column of smoke pouring from eacli funnel, and this alone it is that tells ■ us that Australia's greatest maritime, venture is about to put out to sea. Each ship seems to stand out double her natural size, every spar anil rope snowing clearly against the rosy sky. The sea is - dull, still grey, without a ripple. A vague electric restlessness is in the air. What are those coming out of the inner a harbor? Two grim, gliding leviathans, : going majestically out to sea to take J their places as guardians of the fleet. There is something uncanny in the absolute silence with which everything is done. They glide past the frowing cliffs, whose feet are awash with the sea, through the long lines of waiting transports, and are soon lost to sight steaming right out into the eye of the sun. THE DEPARTURE. Then there is st'r at the stern, a gliding, oily rush of water, which tells us that the screw is turning at last. At least a thousand pairs of field glasses are centred on her anchor chain. Link by link it comes in-board, and the leader of the fleet is under way. Noiselessly the great ship gathers speed, and moves ahead htrough the waiting deep, and, as she goes out the vessels that -ire I to foll*w her in line get silently under way and fall in line behind her! Now is seen a very pretty evolution as the leader draws out past the lighthouse and turns sharply to the i west, rising to the lift of the opei:i I sea, and as each big vessel clears the gateway of the harbor she, too, swings round to the west after her leader, and seems {., dip her head into the waves with a sort of enjoyment at being once more on the trail. As gracefully as a fleet of swans after some great leader, they drop into place and soon are rising to the sea. j Suddenly, too, we realise that we are f under v.ay. So silently docs the anchor come in, so smoothly do the turbine engines work, that only the sailors on board know that we are moving, till the rocky headlands begin to glide past us, and we pass the waiting ships of our own fleet. As we pass each one it gets up its anchor and glides after us. AKE. AKE!" The New' Zealand transports, all painted the Same greyish black color, with black funnels, are still at their anchorage as wo steam past, and they give, us the old war cry—"Akc, ake, ake, Kia Kalia," we will liglit on for evr and ever. Past the frowning cliffs and the lighthouse we draw out to the sunh't sea, our division following in beautiful orjrr, each ship swinging graeefullv round u io line, as we set our curse for the L.ewin, and draw slowly no alongside the other two lines. * * ' 1 hilly thousand fisrliting men, representing Australasia, lire under way for the g,<at war. From the leading ship of our iim we saw a great siring of ships steaming al»ng m our rear, the one just khind us kicping always he.- distance, (lie w-i'te nam always at her bows, her «r.-a_t frame ;if|j„ g ilm i sinking' rhv thnucically to the swell. ALWAYS THERE. _ Day and night she is always <bire, just 1-. fund us, until the nursT.t becomes a snt of haunting "thiu. une lo:vS aft sometimes to see if by any chance si:,, may liave relaxed her pursuit lor an instant, but the great bow ami the towering deckhouses and brsige are always there, just behinl us: am: biinicl ber always trails vh ■ loi« hue U slrrs. The only chance is wh-u ' a vessel, going a trifle too 'ast, finds iijrselt closing on t j„, 01R , - m fr , ))|( . pf li-i' .alls cut of the line am! dales a slight detour so as to lose a little lis- ! twice without slowing her engines. : .Sometimes there are two or three yes ' si hi (Ml ol the line at once, aril it i<- ' a pr.su i-v relief after the lon' grim ' line of vessels. r It is a great experience for f'u ni'-r- 1 chant caMams, this navigating in li;ic c by day and night. Mcn-o'-wir naviga- 1! tort iii-e tiained to it all through their career, and rush through manoeuvres at full sreul with only a couple of cables le.-glbs between the vessels; but the captain of a, gigantic merchantman h:;s no iraetice at playing tricks with his vessel, and the further away he <vn keep from all others the better he is {■leased. ;t is fairly safe to sav that not, one captain left his bridge during ■Umliaicof the first, „io-h* ■ 1

I looking in: and not a bV. u!e- was made. It is not exactly the easiest tiii.iig'in the world to keep acMrat-; -I'Stunce ant direction at night with only a st-m limp ahead and a masthead light behind to give distance and direction. ADJUSTING THE PAt V. "\ he engineers had a field 'lav, 100. "he pace had to be kept down lo the pace of the slowest of the transport.!. With a fourtee:i-knot vessel to handle care had to be taken not to over-run the cors-.able, s;> to speak, "sil lie- ill-' gine roots bells tinkled pretty ".instantly until the puce was finally adjust ",1. A i-pri-il-ceiio hung ill cue!', vss.d',l ringing, and was lowered or rcijjd eicyiing a., she was slowing Jjevii ir making speed. At night a crimson light tok the place of the speed-cone. I All eyes were on the slowest ship. It j was expected she would prove the slowest of the fleet, but at first she hung en to her pa- er, as the bicycle men say, j s"rprisiiigly well. No doubt the in- i gine room stall' and stokers were get- , ting every ounce out of her, an I 'irj , a v. hile she did quite well. Eat a hi ad s-j'i made a big difference, and the g.ip ! ! e.'.tween the flagship and her chaser lengthened and Icngtheiieii until the fleet ' . I.ad to Le slowed right down every now , a.-,i' aga'n to let tiiat line cat V.i ty. . O.icc she was given a rather long ehavice [ to uli.su '.ip, and managed to get right , on the flagship's heels, whereupon elie I proudly lowered her speed-coe.e to half- : pace, win)), of course, suggested that ; the flagship was too slow to go; out her j chances to lower her speed-cone. ; ;\ PILLAR OF SMOKE. Away ahead of the whole flee;, just in sight, on the edge of the horizon, is a i pilar of smoke —a cruiser is clearing the > v.ay for us. setting the pace, giving t';,e f direction, and keeping a watearV. eye . out for enemies. Far away to slav- • board, just visible, on the sk\Tiv„\ is . another pillar of smoke keeping guard, t and another pillar of smoke dimly seen, low-lying vessel on th.! horizon to port show where a cruiser is day liinl r night keeping her watch over our move- [ ments. i So we move across the ocean like n . large regatta, of great steamships, al- - ways the same order being inflexibly . kept. It is sometimes hard to believe . that 120 miles have been covered since i one saw them last, they seem to be , so exactly in the same place. And al . ways behind us are the great towering . leviathans of merchantmen, each loaded . with men, horses and war material. , It is the most wonderful sight that f an Australian ever saw. i LETTERS FROM COLOMBO. I STRICT CENSORSHIP. ' DEPARTURI FROM ALBANY. ) ! A WONDERFUL SPECTACLE. 3 l Accompanied by its convoy of cruis- ■. ers, the New Zealand squadron of ten r transports entered Albany Harbor an ~ October 28 and there found the Aus--3 tralian force ready for departure. Early on the morning of Sunday. November 1, j the ,'iS troopships steamed out of AI- - bany. "Words are poor things to cotf- - vey the wonder of the spectacle as tlfls a ships moved out that bright morning," i a trooper on the Waimana writes. ''lt t was as inspiring as it was unique—an e event of moment in the history of the war and of Australasia. It was war and of Australasia. It was the personification of colonial patriotism inspiring as it was unique--an event F . of moment in the history of the and fighting spirit. A thousand pities s it was that such a grand spectacle c should have taken place practically un- .. witnessed and its inspiration lost. But . it could not be otherwise when safety l depended upon secrecy. i, "When the propellers of the last ves- > sel to leave the harbor began to move, >• the first steamer was already miles away. When the open seat was reached - the fleet assumed a set formation. The ; I Australian ships, in the lead, formed > into three lines and the transports from ) New Zealand into two lines. Nothing j ivas announced as to the probable ilesti- ; nation of the troops and speculation L was rife amongst the men. Eagerly they i watched the lines swing into a 'north- .. westerly course, and jumped at the conL conclusion that Colombo would bn the , next port. The scraps of war news re- . ceived at Albany had contained the information that the South African rebel- . lion had assumed grave proportions, and • many of the men held /irmly to the opinion that Durban or Capetown would ; be the next place sighted. The- dayfi ; wore on, the weather growing warmer and warmer, and still the course re- ■ mnined the same, until it became obvious that the original conjecture had been correct. Colombo was reached on ' Sunday, November 13. IN THE TROPICS. '"ln perfect weather the fleet entered the tropics, and, though sulfering from a marked disinclination to do anything strenuous, the New Zealanders eiijoyeit the experience. A large canvas bath was erected on the after-part of the ship and it was appreciated to the full. By degrees the clothing of the men became scanty, and it looked probable that bathing trunks would become the conventional dress for mess, but what was termed "nudity" was prohibited by order. The New Zealanders' inherent love of fresh air was soon apparent in the large numbers who found a place ou the decks to sleep. This was ideal—except when a tropical downpour occured suddenly at midnight. Th • davs were filled in with the usual routine—|ihysi.'al drill and occasional rifle practice at a target towed astern. Each day a gang was set to work shifting coal from a hold aft to the bunkers. Stripped to the waist, the men descended into the depths to load the baskets, which were hoisted and wheeled along the deck In such a climate it proved work of the most arduous nature, but everyone worked with a will, each gang striving to establish a record in the amount of coal shifted. CROSSING THE EQUATOR. "On November l:!, the line was crossed. The day was wet, and although the ceremonies proposed by the ship's officers and engineers eouhl'not be lield, the soldiers had celebrations of their oivn, which made up in vh/ ()! - and enthusiasm anything lackiii" 'in qnai'ithess of the ohl-fashioi,,.,! custom. <;„„. gers boated the ship and the sentence on the victims was passeit ami curried out in a manner which savored of American quick justice. Officers did not escape, not even the majors commanding squadrons. All were plunged through the bath."