We left Wellington wharf on Wednesday afternoon
about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and anchored in
the stream. We remained there until 6.30 a.m.
this morning when we fell into our places in
line and slowly steamed away.

A tug came off and sailed around the ships
at 6 a.m, entertaining a lot of ladies and the
Prime Minister (Hon. W. F. Massey) the Minister for
Defence (Hon Jas Allen) & Hon F. M. B Fisher who is
Minister for something else.

We must have been somewhat of an
imposing sight for Wellington , 10 transports
containing about 8000 troops & 2000 horses,
& 4 warships.

The weather was fine & warm and
a very calm sea, so smooth that the motion
of this boat was hardly perceptible. This
is very fortunate as it will enable the men
to get their sea legs and the horses to get
used to their stall & the movements of the

ship.

As soon as we were clear of Wellington
we assumed the following formation
H.M.S. Minotaur (Flagship China Squadron)

H.M.S. Philomel
Arawa (10) Maunganui (3)
H.M.S. Philomel, Athenic (11) Hawkes Bay (9) Japanese Warship "Ibuki"
Orari (6) Star of India> (8)
Ruapehu (5) Limerick (7)
Waimana (12) Tahiti (4)

H.M.S. Psyche
This formation we understand will be
adopted throughout the voyage.

The Japanese ship is the most powerful
vessel of our escort, and is very heavily armed.
I do not know yet the number of her guns,
but some are 11 inch. The "Minotaur" carries
10 inch guns.

epistles we will be allowed to send
after that, I don't know.

I propose to post this narrative from
each port if I can. Perhaps you will
be able to reconstruct it into proper form,
and make a tale out of it.

It is now 9 o'clock. I am going to
lay down for 3 hours prior to going on
duty at 12 o'clock. Good night .

Nothing of very great
import to record today. Having wandered
round the ship from 12 midnight until
4 a.m, and then having again wandered
around with the Brigadier nearly all
the morning, I spent a very slack
afternoon mostly snoozing.

We have started a
course of lectures every evening except
Saturdays & Sundays. They are being
given by a Major Loach of the 13 th Reg r.
of Infantry. A man who has brought
a very fine military library on board,
and has evidently made a study of

military history, in spite of the fact that
his h's are anywhere but in the right
place. In civilian life he is a plumber.
He proposes to conduct through all the
phases of a campaign. It will possibly
prove very interesting.

In the short space of time during
the day we have for our own amusement
has been mostly spent revolver shooting
at pieces of board thrown over the side.
Sometimes it is hit, most often it is
missed: in any case it is difficult
to hit anything moving from a moving
ship.

We nearly got excited about 4 o'clock
this morning. We were awakened by
a long blast on the siren, and promptly
imagined all kinds of things. It turned
out to be someone who had fallen over
the wire connecting the siren on the
funnel with the bridge. The General
signalled from the Maunganui" to know
what the h. l was the matter.

The weather is beautiful, the sea

calm and everyone is getting very fit.
Personally I have not been so well for
a long time and hope to be better still
before we arrive at our destination.

I am writing this on Tuesday
afternoon , as owing to the lecture last
night I was not able to put anything
down. I notice I have dated it Monday ,
and merged the two days into one.

Tomorrow, Wednesday , we are due
to arrive in Hobart about midday,
and will probably stay about 24 hours.
No leave is to be granted, but we are
all, infantry & mounted alike, going
for a two hours march, ostensibly to
stretch our legs but I thing more
particularly to endeavour to astonish
the natives of Van Dieman's Diemen's Land .
It is a pity there is so much gallery
playing about this show.

We got some news or less indefinite
news by wireless today, something about
the American wireless station at Honolulu
having been destroyed. That may mean

Today has been just like a summer's day
& we might almost have been sailing on a
lake. Long may it continue.

Tonight we had what to some must
be their first taste of war conditions. During
dinner an order came down to cover all
lights on portholes etc, and we go along
showing from the outside as few lights
as possible, in fact only navigation
lights are exposed. This is adopted
as a precautionary measure, in case
any German ships may be about.

We have over 1100 troops on board
& 400 horses.

This morning we awoke to rain
and a choppy sea. Practically no work
was done except such as was absolutely
necessay, looking after the horses etc.
The men, or a large proportion of them
were and are suffering a good deal
from mal de mer and generally presented
a very woebegone appearance.

During the day the rain ceased &

the wind freshened & the sea rose a little,
adding somewhat to the general misery on
board. This is certainly one of the
best sea boats of the lot, judging by the sight
of the others rolling & pitching about. I
forgot to add that we sail 3 cable lengths
apart (about 600 yards) & roughly 1 mile
between the two lines.

Nearly everyone has gone to bed although
it is only 8.30 p.m. I am sure in many
cases they are not feeling as fit as usual.
I am very sleepy and will follow their
example.

This morning was fine
with a fairly heavy swell which did not
improve the health of the men & horses.
I was detailed for orderly officer which means
that I keep two ships watches of 4 hours
each during the 24 hours. Today I was
on from 12 noon until 4, and I go on
again @ 12 midnight until 4 a.m. My
duties consist of wandering all over the
ship and reporting once every hour.

It is a tiring occupation as there are so
many holds to get in & out of, and it
is necessary to make a complete tour
of the ship every hour.

Church parade this morning @ 10.30 a.m.
Very short, owing to the sea and the wind.
I did not attend being occupied in fixing
up some back pay for the men, with the
paymaster Capt. Braudon , a Wellington
man.

The rest of the day has been spent
watching the other transports ship seas.

Our daily routine is as follows:
Reveille 6. am. Stables 6.30 am. Breakfast
(men)7.30 am. Afterwards clean up & tidy
bunks etc. Parade 10.15 am. Stables 11.15 am.
Dinner 12.30. Parade 2.30 pm. Stables 4 pm.
Tea 5.15 pm. Light out 9.15 pm.

We have Breakfast @ 8. am. Lunch 1 pm,
Dinner 6.30 pm. Besides afternoon tea &
supper. Surely we are likely to get very
fat on our journey.

Our first port of call is likely to be
Hobart & we expect to be there either

Wednesday night or Thursday morning.
How long we shall stay there is very
problematical.

What a trade the newsboys will do when
we arrive there.

I spent a very pleasant evening the
first one on board in the ship's doctor's
cabin in company with a man named
Hawkins who is sort of A. D. C. to the
Brigadier ( Col. Russell ) and who used
to be in the 11 th Hussars. I met
Hawkins when I was in Hastings last
January, but did not remember him
until we had been talking some
little time.

He asked me in Wellington if I
would put a horse of his with mine.
It is apparently a very favourite
animal and used to race as a two-
year old when it held the N. Z. record
for 5 furlongs. It is called Gold Bird,
and is a very large chestnut, standing
over 17 hands. Nothing much to look
at, and privately I have my doubts

as to whether it will see the voyage
through.

But to return to my evening with
the Doctor, a man called Fry . The
three of us discussed many subjects,
and we found Fry a most interesting
man. He has served in the U. S. army,
and was part of the force sent out to
avenge General Custer when he & his
army were massacred by the Sioux
under Sitting Bull . He is related
to Buffalo Bill , and amongst other
things he told us that Cody the
aviator who was recently killed
was no relation at all to Buffalo Bill .

Amongst other things we discussed
our probable destination and Hawkins
explained the method of conducting a
war by the War Office.

There is a large room containing
a map of the world which is laid out
in sectors on different tables so that
people may walk in between. On
this map are placed all the different

units of the army & where and what
they are doing. In the case of war
the Commander in Chief wishes to move
troops from one place to another. He
looks on this map & sees he has so
many thousand troops say in Egypt ,
which he wants to send to France ,
he then looks to see with what he
can replace those troops and he sees
10 transports sailing from N. Z , containing
so / many men, horses, guns etc, & sailing
at a certain rate. He may issue
orders to immediately divert those troops
to Egypt , even though they they may be
only 1 days sail from Durban , which
was their original destination. The
whole system depends from day to day
on the situation, and it is very
questionable whether any one anyone at all
at the present moment knows what
our ultimate destination will be.

We are told we may send
letters without being censored from our
first port of call, but what sort of

anything in the way of international
complications with America . We hope to
learn something more definite at Hobart
tomorrow.

The other day we were all running
round like distracted chickens, orders being
countermanded every five minutes, this
was before we left Wellington , and some
one said they thought the General was
on board, when one of the men
remarked "Yes, general disorder." It
was rather funny.

I don't suppose I shall have
another opportunity of adding to this
until after we leave Hobart . Later
on e I intend to give some of my
impressions of the officers on board.
There are over 50. and some are weird
specimens. Whether you will ever
receive them or not I don't know, as the
censor may get to work, and we may
not be allowed to write much. In any
case I will try & keep them until an
opportunity occurs to send them on.
I think the censor did get them as 'no more were received'

Roy

My last page
finished the evening before we arrived at
Hobart . Land was in sight when we awoke
on Wednesday morning and about 11.30 we
dropped anchor in the stream. The day was
gloriously fine and very warm. The vessels
on the right of the two lines moved up to
the wharf and took on a few stores etc while
the men went on a route march round
Hobart . Shortly after 6.30 pm our turn
came and we moved up alongside. There
was a big crowd down, but we had taken
the people by surprise, no one knew of our
arrival. It was a lovely evening, just
like summer, it was quite funny to see
all the people in summer clothes. During
the afternoon we had interestedly watched
the lads & and lassies making love on a small
neck of land rather prettily planted &
evidently a favourite resort. Our binoculars
got a lot of use that afternoon, and we
saw some really funny sights.

No leave was granted in the evening

which was a great disappointment to the men,
but as Hobart has not the most savoury of
reputations in some respects it was deemed
better to be sure on board than sorry afterwards.
Things are so bad there that the Australian
fleet was not allowed to call there last time
she was round.

As soon as we were alongside, women
in the most brazen way came down to the
ships and passed up their addresses through
portholes.

I was rather fortunate in getting
ashore for a run as I was sent to the
"Maunganui" with a message and this
entailed a walk of nearly 1/2 a mile to
another wharf. After I had finished on
the "Maunganui" I went for a short walk
into the town, but as I was alone, didn't
know anyone & all the shops were shut, it
was very dull and I soon returned to the
ship.

On Thursday morning (another lovely
morning) we got up at 5 o'clock and
about 7.30 went for a nine mile march.

It was very nice and we were very glad of
the opportunity to stretch our legs. For the
first hour we were leading, and of course
we don't know much about marching so
we made the pace fairly warm. It was
too much for the infantry who began to
drop out and at the end of an hour, they
took the lead to moderate the pace. There
is no doubt that it really was much too
fast, and we were quite glad to slow down.

Hobart is an awfully pretty place, &
the views from different parts of the domain,
which rises behind the town are really
beautiful.

The inhabitants turned out from their
houses in force and rather demoralised
the troops by giving them fruit etc,
however we got along fairly well until
passing a certain hotel, towards the end
of the march, some people rushed out with
large jugs of ale & glasses. This was
too much for some of the men, and they
were inclined to break ranks (& I don't
blame them) only the chose an unfortunate

time, for about 100 hi yards passed past
this particular hotel we ran into General
Godley , and things were only middling.
We all got hauled over the coals this morning,
but when the senior major at the head of
the column sets the example by drinking
a glass of beer on the road, the men can
hardly be blamed. It was really rather
funny, when one thought about it after-
wards.

We however fared better than the
infantry who are supposed to know some-
thing about marching, they were all
on the mat this morning and are
doing 6 hours pack drill punishment,
officers and all. It is rather rough.

We left Hobart about 3 p.m. &
are now (Friday afternoon) steering a
course N. N. W. presumably for Albany
or Freemantle . Our next port after
that is Colombo , so we go through
Suez after all.

Today is blowing somewhat &
we are settling down again to our old

routine.

This morning about 4 o'clock all
the hooters on the ships began to hoot &
we really thought the Philistines were
upon us. Some even rushed up on deck,
to find out it was only a fog bank we
had run into. I reasoned in my bunk
that if it was anything we should soon
know so why risk catching cold by getting
excited.

We left the "Psyche" behind at Hobart ,
and picked up the "Pyramus" instead.

Oh: I nearly forgot this: the first
night when we ran with "lights out," the
"Maunganui" didn't turn hers out at
once (I don't know whether the G. O. C.
thought he was privileged or not) but
anyway the "Ibuki" which was on
one flank signalled "If you expect
us to protect you, put those lights out
at once ", ," and the lights went out!
No wonder we got jumped on for bad
marching at Hobart !!

There is not a great
deal to record since last Friday, things
jog along more or less uneventfully.

I would not be at all surprised to
see some trouble with the infantry before
we arrive at our destination. We have on
board 40 men from an Auckland regiment,
& they already have shown their teeth by
refusing to do the six hours pack drill
they were awarded after the Hobart march.
They refused point blank the first day, but
have done it since. It all seems very
weak & foolish and their officers do not in
the least know how to manage them.
Every night down in their sleeping quarters
there are stump orators more or less
inciting to rebellion.

Have just discovered there is to be
(so far) no censor on letters, but it is
strictly prohibited to send any cables.

I have been having another turn
on watch, and this morning (Monday)
took from 4 till 8. It was a perfect
daybreak, a cloudless sky, a calm sea

and a lovely sunrise. It is getting
warmer now and it will not be many
days before we begin to feel the heat in
earnest.

A man died on the "Ruapehu" last
night and was buried this afternoon, all
the ships stopped, we all lined up on
deck, the bands played the Dead March,
and it was all over and we went
on again to the strains of "Tipperary."

We expect to arrive at Albany on
Wednesday morning, and understand
we pick up the Australian forces there.
There will be a goodly number of ships
by the time we all get going. From
there we go to Colombo , unless anything
unforseen has occured occurred in the meantime.

The horses are getting on splendidly.
I have mine & also Pinkies' , about 62
altogether, down in one of the holds, where
they do much better than those on deck,
as they are not exposed to the vicissitudes
of climate, and live in a more or less
even temperature.

A raining morning but a fairly
calm sea. A change, and not altogether
an unwelcome one from the lovely weather
we have been having. A little rain at
times is appreciated, especially on board a
transport with horses.

At Hobart we published the first
number of the ships' paper - I am sending
you a copy at the same time as this goes.
I think it is not altogether bad for the
first copy, it will improve as it goes on.
Our next issue will be at Albany .

Capt. Hamilton the Editor editor told me he had
had any amount of copy sent in, but
it had been necessary to reject a lot as
being somewhat over the edge. I had had
thoughts of becoming a contributor, but
up to the present the only literary
compositions I can think of are more or
less unprintable. Perhaps I shall improve
later on.

I am also sending you a few
postcards which may prove of interest
to you. They are all taken on board

by the Marconi operator, who is doing
quite a good business.

Measles have broken out on board.
So far there are 14 cases, it remains to be
seen how much farther it will go among
the 1500 souls on board. Claude Bruce
my namesake is suffering from them.
Someone is sure to tell you it is I. I
am glad now I got mine over.

We ran into quite a crowd of
whales yesterday, they were puffing and
blowing all round us. Wild excitement
on board. Some owl suggested getting
revolvlers revolvers but he was shown the
error of his ways.

A certain Capt. Brown of the infants,
I mean infantry, said to me yesterday:
"I saw one of your men wearing trousers
with a red stripe yesterday, our fellows
have been missing some clothes lately, I
know it was one of your men because
he was wearing a mounted coat."

I pointed out to him it was far
more likely to be one of his own crowd

who had pinched one of our fellows
coats, and in any case, I said, if any
of our fellows were seen by their mates
wearing infantry breeches they would tear
them off them. There was no further
argument.

I have been paying the men this
afternoon, mostly to their satisfaction.
There is no paying in cash now, every
man is paid by an order on the
N. Z. High Commissioner, London , which
is also payable to the ships' canteen.
I don't think that many issued on
this ship will ever reach the High
Commissioners' office.

Since the canteen has been
taken over by the Government it is
going very well. Everything is very
cheap & tobacco is sold free of duty,
i.e. half price.

We continue our evening lectures
which are becoming very interesting,
although it is a pity most do not
take more interest in them.

Tomorrow we shall arrive in Albany ,
but what we shall do there or how long
we shall stay there I have no idea.
It is very doubtful whether any leave
will be granted.

The last time I was in Albany
12 or 13 thirteen years ago it was chiefly
noted for two Japanese ladies, if they
are still there they will be rather long
in the tooth by now.

We are getting bloaters, haddocks
& kippers for breakfast, amongst other things,
things are getting a little more English
even now. When we get past Colombo
things Australasian will rapidly recede
into the background, and the old & also
the new ground will rapidly open up
again.

This is all for the present till
after Albany , when I hope to start
a few character sketches of some of the
birds on board.

My moustache
It's Its mark.