IN THE FIRING ZONE.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 February 1916, Page 10

IN THE FIRING ZONE.

CHRISTMAS ON A HOSPITAL SHIP. Christmas time on board the hospital ship Dongala, which took part in the evacuation of Anzac and Savla Bay, formed the interesting topics of letters recently received by her family in Wellington from Nurse K. Clark, formerly of the Wellington Hospital, who bad been nursing the wounded in one of the Egyptian hospitals, and had then been transferred to tlie hospital ship. Writing on December 19 from Imbros Island, where the ship was stationed at the time, she says; "We arrived at Lemnog on the 17th, and yesterday morning we got word to 'come to this plafe and lie i» readiness to be off in five minutes if necessary. Laat night we were all ordered off to bed at 9 p.m., expecting to be called up at two or three in the morning. Rumor has it that we arc evacuating the Peninsula, but of course long before you get this you will know whether that is true or otherwise. Anyway, something big is taking .pl»ce, and things are very mysterious. "As I sit here writing, I can hear a big bombardment going on, but we are unable to see anything, as we are right in Imbros Harbor, and it blocks the view of most of the Peninsula. There seem to be dozens of aeroplanes here. They have been, flying all day long. Just opposite us there is a big observation balloon anchored, evidently directing the firing of the guns. "Really we are on the edge of some big thing, and none of us will be very surprised if the hospital ships come in for some shelling or being torpedoed, once the Turks find out that we are really evacuating the place. Anyway, by the sound of thinges at present we quite expect to me most frightfully busy any time now. It is just too ghastly to feel that we have to give it up after all this place lias cost us. Still, I suppose there must be some very good reason for it, and it is only sinoe Kitchener's visit that things have been taking place," On December 2*2 Miss Clark writes:— "Sinoe my last letter we have had quite an exciting time. We got orders on Sunday night to go to Anzac, and we arrived there at 6 p.m., and stood by all night. Would you believe it—we only got two patients on board. One was badly wounded, and died next day, but the other had a bruised ankle only. About three a.m.. the last of the men, five medical officers and fifty orderlies, came on, and there was great excitement to think that both Anzac and Suvla had been evacuated with hardly any loss of life. They had been expecting such heavy casualties. "While we were lying in only about half a mile from the beach, the bullets were coming in all round us as thick as possible, and after several had come on board the captain thought it was time to put off a bit. Before the last of the men left Suvla they set lire to all their stores, and it was a great sight to see the whole place in a blaze. The naval people did the same to Anzac after we had left it the next morning. We got down to Mudroa Bay at 10 a.m. on Monday, and have been lying here j ever since. I

"It was a great sight yesterday. There were 110 fewer than 14 hospital ships in here, and countless destroyers, monitors and submarines. Really there seemed no room for the boats to move at all without crushing into each other, though it is a huge harbor." On! the 28th she writes:—"Since last £ wrote to you we have been up to Capo Helles. We went there on the 23rd, and started taking on patients that night, and on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we were still taking on patients, nearly all wounded. There had been a lot of lighting up that way, and of course now that Anzac and Suvla have been evacuated, everything is being concentrated upon Helles. While we were lying about half a mile from the shore, we were getting a good many bullets on board, and we had to be careful where we walked. One that was embedded in. the deck has now a little brass plate to mark the spot, with the date engraved upon it. Several others struck different parts of the boat, and things were somewhat exciting, as you can imagine. We finally up-anchored and got out of range. We saw quite a lot of bombarding, and it absolutely shook the ship several times ' on different nights. "On Christmas Day the weather was simply perfect, but it did not seem a bit like Christmas till ten a.m., when I the destroyer Bibble sailed round and serenaded us. It wa3 really 'sporty' the way the crew had got themselves dressed, their fancy costumes being striking to the last degree. They sang songs, and generally made things as gay as possible, for our benefit. Later the captain aiid officers of the Lefroy sent on a big packet of boxes of chocolate 'for the Matron and Sisters,' also a chart, a hat-ribbon and a most elaborate label to the parcel. There was gust exelioweir. opening the parcel. We pot r. box ai choeodate; and we dm™ lots for th; oiswt, '.lie hat-ribbon tw Ir'oc'i ■-''■ino tne luck to draw ~ five p.m. the com- ■ ■ aniitT ui x.n- ijefrn>'. fo officers, an the. •■nitit Tl^Tlf i fl ,. , lf t ), e K jnhla an( | - ''"Pe on board the • ' N " 1 " Afterwards ' r 'li> loi 1 the benefit U1 _ was so nice, and ' . <l«ite a lot. It * Christmas cheer. ni)t even have our ( we were still' t h " ' are to have it i>' the .■ we have after losing Mt It Wfc, 'a . the Egyptian hospitals that Miss Clarke came across her brother, who had been badly wounded at the first landing of the troops.