Letter from Roy Bruce to Maud Bruce

My narrative
has come to a sudden con-
clusion owing to the fact
that we have been requested,
not to give any information
regarding our whereabouts,
ports of call, destination etc.
There is no censorship so far
on letters to N.Z. , and I
have no doubt that a great
many will send full &
detailed accounts of our voyage,
and probably you will hear
far fuller accounts of things than I will send you.

Nothing of any importance
happened from our last port
of call until yesterday. You
will probably have already
heard this but perhaps not
full particulars.

At 7.30am wireless signals
for help, were picked up from
Cocos Islands and H.M.S. Sydney
immediately went off at top.
Great excitement everywhere
especially when about 10.30. am.
another cruiser suddenly
turned & went off as fast as
she could. Although the
cruiser was 3 to 4 miles away
you could see the excitement
on board. They were doing

all they knew, burning coal,
oil, sides of bacon etc. to make
her go faster (I won't swear
to the sides of bacon), however
before she got out of sight she
came back again, having
received a message to this
effect:- "Enemy has stranded
herself to avoid sinking.
Enemy was the Emden"
That is all we know about
it at present. The whole
engagement was over before
11 o'clock. It took the Sydney
somewhat less than 3½ hours
to go 40 miles & smash up
the Emden. Casualties 2 killed 13 wounded. It was an
extraordinary piece of luck
that the S.O.S (help) signals
sent at random from Cocos
should be picked up by us
just as we were abreast those
islands. They of course had
no idea there was anyone in
the vicinity; it was just a
shot in the dark.

I was inoculated against
typhoid the other day, & spent
a rotten day in consequence,
felt just like influenza but
soon passed away. Some of
the men were ill for several
days, and others only had a
stiff arm for a few hours.

Pinkie had a rotten time for
a couple of days but is alright
now.

We are very close to the
Equator and the heat is
intense, partly because we
are travelling so slowly &
partly because what breeze
there is is behind us.
I sleep on deck every night,
it is the only possible place.

The sea is very calm and
a beautiful blue, the pretty
little flying fishes fairly
numerous, and if we hadn't
so many horses on board &
didn't have to shut up all
the portholes at night, it would

be a delightful trip, in any
case it is not so bad.

We have had no war
news since we left our last
port, with the exception of
Britain declaring war on
Turkey (your dream is coming
truer & truer).

About a week ago, a
large liner passed right up
our lines crowded with
passengers. Little things like
that are very exciting now-
adays & help to break the
monotony in a wonderful
manner, we talked of
nothing else for at least two
hours.

The following wireless has
just this moment come in.
"Sydney will rejoin as soon
as all German prisoners are
on board, may take 24 hours".
This afternoon we are exercising
horses. Perhaps that sounds
rather impossible but we
walk them in a single file
around the saloon deck, it
makes a noise and a mess
but is very good for them. My
horses which are down in
No 3 hold can be exercised
at any time without dis-
turbing anyone else, provided
the sea is calm, and in

consequence they are fitter
than any horses in the ship.
They are in a freezing chamber,
and in very hot weather such
as we are experiencing at
present we get the refrigerator
turned on a little & it
cools the air beautifully.

This morning we did some
shooting by towing a target
astern.

There is one little thing
I regret & that is that I did
not bring any thin trousers
with me, these saddle tweeds
are very hot.

There are a good many

cases of measles on board, between
50 & 60, but fortunately they
are all of a mild type, &
the men quickly recover.

We are not allowed to send
any more copies of the "Athenic
Lyre" away from the ship. I
am not quite sure why.

Boxing is very popular
amongst the men, & we
spend what spare time we
have boxing & skipping. Just
now it is almost too hot for
amusements of that description,
but there is still a good
deal done.

We still have lectures in
the evening, and they are

very interesting.

Personally I am keeping
very fit and enjoying life
generally, but if this heat
continues much longer I
shall only be a grease mark.

I wonder whether I shall
hear from you at the next
port, I do hope so, it seems
in many ways such a very
long time since we left, &
yet in other ways the time
has passed very quickly. I
do so hope the time is
passing well with you dear,
and that you do not find
it hanging too heavily on

your hands. I hope you
will get interested in
something during the summer,
if you cannot play golf.
On what links I wonder will
our next game together be
played.

Afternoon tea has just
come in and as we do not
reach our next port for some
days yet I will continue
this later.

Since writing the above orders
have been received that all
letters to N.Z. will be censored,
it also adds that letters
sent closed are still liable
to censorship, but may be

delayed in transmission.
I am going to send this
closed and you may
receive it some day; at
the same time I will
write another about which
there can be no doubt,
so you will get some
news at any rate.

We crossed the Line
today, and Father
Neptune & his wives &
myrmidons came on board,
& proceeded to deal it
out in time honoured
custom. A large bath
was rigged up in a sail

and a tip up chair beside
it, then one man
shaved the unfortunate
one, another extracted a
tooth, another gave him
a pill & finally he was
tipped into the bath
and ducked. We who
had crossed the line on
a previous occasion fondly
imagined we were safe,
but nothing of the sort,
the opportunity was too
good a one to lose &
We were all indiscriminately
shaved & ducked. It was all very funny & greatly
enjoyed by the men.
The costumes of Father
Neptune & his wife,
especially his wife were
very good.

I saw a funny
sight the other morning,
I was walking along the
deck & came to a large
tub of water, but all
that was sticking out
was a head, two hands
& a book. A man was
sitting in it, full of
water, reading & perfectly

happy. He was probably
the coolest man on the
ship at the time.

The men arranged
an open air concert last
night, and there were
some jolly good items.
A quartette were especially
good.

Had a lovely bath
in a tropical shower
this morning. The first
freshwater bath since
leaving. It was good.
We danced about on
the Marconi deck without

even fig leaves for about
half an hour.

The horses are doing
very well, we have only
lost 3 so far. Blackmore
is very fit & so are the
others.

Well dear good bye
for the present. We expect
to be in Colombo tomorrow
14 th Nov r . Take every
care of yourself & Helen .
Give her a great big hug
& my love. Be happy
dearest.

With all my love
Your affec: affectionate husband Roy .