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While it was general knowledge that the First Australian Contingent was about to leave its native shores—26th September—no exact date was mentioned as the day of departure. For one very sound reason. The German cruisers had not been rounded up and some of them were still known to be cruising in Australian waters. They could be heard talking in the loud, high-pitched Telefunken code, but the messages were not always readable, lucky as had been the capture early in the war of a code-book from a German merchant ship in New Guinea waters. The newspapers were prohibited by very strict censorship from giving any hint of the embarkation of troops, of striking camps, or of anything that could be communicated to the enemy likely to give him an idea of the position of the Convoy that was now hurrying from the northern capitals—from, indeed, all the capital cities—to the rendezvous, King George's Sound, Albany. That rendezvous, for months kept an absolute official secret, was, nevertheless, on the lips of every second person, though never named publicly. It was apparent that the military authorities had an uncomfortable feeling that though they had blocked the use of private wireless installations, messages were leaving Australia. I will say nothing here of the various scares and rumours and diligent searches made upon perfectly harmless old professors and others engaged in peaceful fishing expeditions along the coastal towns; that lies without the sphere of this book. It seemed almost callous that the troops going so far across two oceans, the first great Australian army that had been sent to fight for the Mother Country, should be allowed to slip away uncheered, unspoken of. For even the final scenes in Melbourne, where there were some four or five thousand people to see the Orvieto, the Flagship of the Convoy, depart, formed an impromptu gathering, and for days before great liners, with two thousand troops aboard, had been slipping away from their moorings with only a fluttering of a few handkerchiefs to send them off. Still, the troops had crowded into the rigging and sang while the bands played them off to "Tipperary." In every port it was alike. How much more touching was the leaving of the Flagship, when the crowd broke the barriers and rushed the pier, overwhelming the scanty military guards and forcing back Ministers of the Crown and men of State who had gone aboard to wish Major-General Bridges success with the Division. It was unmilitary, but it was magnificent, this sudden welling up of the spirit of the people and the burst of enthusiasm that knew no barriers. Ribbons were cast aboard and made the last links with the shore. Never shall I for one (and there were hundreds on board in whose throat a lump arose) forget the sudden quiet on ship and shore as the band played the National Anthem when the liner slowly moved from the pier out into the channel; and then the majestic notes of other anthems weaved into one brave throbbing melody that sent the blood pulsing through the brain.

Britons never, never will be slaves

blared the bugles, and the drums rattled and thumped the bars with odd emphasis till the ribbons had snapped and the watchers on the pier became a blurred impressionist picture, and even the yachts and steamboats could no longer keep pace with the steamer as she swung her nose to the harbour heads.

All this was, let me repeat, in striking contrast to the manner in which the ships in Sydney Harbour, in Hobart, in Port Augusta, and from other capitals had pulled out into the stream at dusk or in the early hours of the cold September mornings and hastened away to the rendezvous. Before the final departure I have just described on the afternoon of 21st October there had been a false alarm and interrupted start. The reasons for this delay are certainly worth recording. The Flagship was to have left Melbourne—the last of the Convoy from Eastern waters—on 29th September. That is to say, by the end of the month all the details of the Division had been completed, and were embarked or ready for embarkation. Indeed, some had actually started, and a number of transports left the northern harbours and had to anchor in Port Phillip Bay, where the troops were disembarked altogether or each day for a fortnight or more. For the reasons of this we have to extend our view to New Zealand. It was not generally known at the time that a contingent of 10,000 men from the sister Dominion were to form portion of the Convoy, and that two ships from New Zealand had already left port, when a hasty message from the Fleet drove them back. Now it became the Navy's job, once the men were on the ships, to be responsible for their safety—the safety of 30,000 lives. It had been arranged that the New Zealand transports should be escorted across the Southern Ocean to Bass Straits by the little cruiser Pioneer—sister ship of the Pegasus, later to come into prominence—and another small cruiser, as being sufficient protection in view of the line of warships and destroyers patrolling the strategic line north of Australia, curving down to the New Zealand coast. The German cruisers, admittedly frightened of an encounter with the Australia, had been successfully eluding that battle-cruiser for weeks, and were skulking amongst the islands of the Pacific destroying certain trading and wireless stations, and apparently waiting for an opportunity to strike at the Convoy. One scare was, therefore, sufficient. The Dominion Government refused to dispatch the troops without adequate escort, and in consequence all the programme was thrown out of gear, and the Minotaur—flagship of the escort—went herself with the Encounter and the two original cruisers to New Zealand and brought across the whole Maoriland Contingent. The alteration in the plans resulted in a delay of three weeks, for the warships had to coal again before proceeding across the Indian Ocean. However, it was better to be safe than sorry, and the delayed Australian Convoy was released in the third week of October and the ships commenced to gather at the appointed rendezvous.

Yet I am loath to think that this alone was the reason for the delay. One can read now into events happening at the heart of Empire a very significant cause for hesitancy to send this Australian Contingent to England for service in France. For matters in Turkey were already unsatisfactory. On 25th September messages had reached London of the preparations of the Turks on the Sinai Peninsula and the activity of the Germans in the Ottoman Empire, led by that extraordinary personality Enver Pasha. It was certain that every effort was being made by Great Britain to preserve peace with the Turks, but the Porte was taking a high hand, and it appeared that war would become inevitable. How far the Australian Government was taken into the confidence of the Foreign Office one can only guess. It must be supposed that Major-General Bridges, the Prime Minister, and Minister of Defence, together with the Governor-General of the Commonwealth, were in possession of the main points of the diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Turkey. Matters, too, in the Persian Gulf were very unsatisfactory in the beginning of October, and by the time that the last ship of the Convoy had left port it was certain from the attitude of Turkey, as reflected in the reports of Sir Louis Mallet, British Ambassador at Constantinople, that war would be declared. Military preparations pointed to an attack on the Suez Canal being pushed forward with all speed, and it was therefore necessary to have a large defending force available to draw on. So far as it is possible to read the inner history of events, this was the actual reason for the holding up (strange paradox as it may sound) of the Convoy until the destination of the 30,000 men should be determined. For it must be conceded that, with the Cape route open, not very much longer and far safer, with the venomous Emden raiding Indian waters and the German Pacific Fleet ready to dart out from the Northern islands, it was more feasible than using the Suez Canal with such a vast convoy of ships. As a matter of fact, this was the route chosen. True enough, when the time came, the landing of this army in Egypt for training "and war purposes" must have carried great significance to the Turks; and the plea of the badness of the English climate at the time preventing training in England, served as good an excuse as did the German cruiser menace in New Zealand waters. For while there may have been a lingering suspicion in Lord Kitchener's mind that perhaps the camps at Salisbury might not be ready, it was a trump card to have a body of 30,000 troops ready to divert either at once or in the near future to a strategic point against Turkey. Be all this as it may, the combined Convoys did not leave Australian shores until 1st November, and on the 30th October Sir L. Mallet had been told to ask for his passports within twelve hours unless the Turkish Government dismissed the German crews of the Goeben and Breslau from Constantinople. So actually when leaving the last port the Convoy were directed against Turkey. Yet I suppose no one for a moment read in all the portents of the future even a remote possibility of the landing of the Australian troops in Turkey. Later it was admitted that while training they would simply defend Egypt—to German plotting the one vital point to strike at the British Empire.

Let us return, however, with an apology for the digression, to the gathering up of the Convoy. King George's Sound, the chosen rendezvous of the fleet, is a magnificent harbour, steeped already in historical associations. It offered as fine an anchorage as could be wished for the forty transports and escorting warships. The harbour might have easily held three or four times the number of ships. Yet was this host of forty leviathians sufficient to find no parallel in history! True, the Athenians in ancient times, and even the Turks in the sixteenth century, had sent a fleet of greater size against the Order of St. John at Malta, had entered on marauding expeditions, but hardly so great an army had they embarked and sent across the Mediterranean. Here was a fleet crossing three seas, still disputed—though feebly enough, it is true.

ANCHORAGE OF AUSTRALIAN

AND

NEW ZEALAND TRANSPORTS

IN

KING GEORGE SOUND

ALBANY, OCTOBER 31^st 1916

Of many thrilling scenes it needs no great effort of memory to recall that Albany Harbour as those on the flagship saw it first through the thick grey mists of the early morning of 26th October. Almost the last of the Australian ships to enter port, the wind drove the waves over her bows and cast the spray on the decks. Most of the Divisional Staff, barely daylight as it was, were on deck, peering through the mists to catch the first glimpse of the host that they knew now lay at anchor in the harbour. First it was a visionary, fleeting glimpse of masts and funnels, and then, as the coast closed in darker on either bow and the beacons from the lighthouses at the entrance flashed, I could see ships gradually resolving themselves into definite shape, much in the way a conjurer brings from the gloom of a darkened chamber strange realities. The troops were astir and crowded to the ships' sides. They stood to attention as the liner glided down the lines of anchored transports, for the mass of shipping was anchored in ordered lines. The bugles rang out sharp and clear the assembly notes, flags dipped in salute to the General's flag at the mast-head. It was calm now inside this refuge. A large warship was creeping under the dark protection of a cliff like a lobster seeking to hide itself in the background of rocks, and the men learned with some surprise it was a Japanese cruiser, the Abuki. She remained there a few days and then steamed out, lost in a cloud of dense black smoke, while in her place came the two Australian cruisers, the Melbourne and Sydney. Each night the troops watched one or others of these scouts put to sea, stealing at dusk to patrol, and not alone, the entrance to the harbour wherein lay the precious Convoy.

On the morning of the 28th the New Zealand Convoy, consisting of ten ships, arrived, and anchored just inside the entrance of the harbour. From shore the sight was truly wonderful. Three regular lines of steamers, each crammed with troops and horses, were lying in an almost forgotten and certainly neglected harbour. What signs of habitation there were on shore were limited to a whaling station on the west and a few pretty red-roofed bungalows on the east; while the entrance to an inner harbour, the selected spot for a destroyer base of the Australian Navy, suggested as snug a little cove as one might wish. Opposite the main entrance behind the anchored Convoy was the narrow channel leading to the port where the warships anchored, protected from outer view behind high cliffs from which frowned the guns of the forts. It was from these forts, commanded then by Major Meekes, that I looked down on to the ships—that was after nearly being arrested as a spy by a suspicious vigilant guard. Each day three ships entered the port to coal, until the bunkers of the whole fleet were filled to overflowing, to carry them across the Indian Ocean. All was in readiness. It only needed the signal from the Admiralty to the Convoy and its escort and the army of 30,000 would move finally from Australian shores. This was the mustering of a complete Division for the first time in the history of the young Dominion. It had not as yet even been operating as an army in the field, but here it lay, taking thirty ships to transport (with ten more ships for the Maorilanders), in the same historical harbour where as early as 1780 a British frigate had put in for refuge from a storm and for water. It was this port, too, that two Princes of royal blood had visited; while later, at the beginning of the present century and a new era for Australia—the Commonwealth era—the King of England, then the Duke of York, had come. His visit was as unavoidable as certainly it was unexpected, for he had sought refuge, like the ancient British frigate from a violent storm; but, liking the spot, the King decided to stay, and festivities were transferred to Albany in haste. In 1907 the American Atlantic Squadron, under Rear-Admiral Speary, during its visit to Austral shores, had anchored in the broad bay. Thus had tradition, in which this assembly of the First Australian Expeditionary Force marked so deep a score, already begun to be formed round the beautiful harbour.

It will not be out of place to quote here the disposition of the troops and the ships bearing the men of the Contingent. It was the largest of any convoy during the war, steaming over 6,000 leagues. The records need no comment beyond pointing out that the indicated speeds of the ships show how the speed of the Convoy had to be regulated by the speed of the slowest ship—the Southern—and that the arrangement of the three divisions of transports was based on the pace of each, the object of which is apparent when viewed in the light of the necessity of the Convoy scattering on the approach of enemy ships, and avoidance of slow ships hindering those of greater speed.

In the closing days of October the message was flashed through the fleet that the Convoy should get under way on 1st November, and that right early in the morning, for Major-General Bridges, no less than Captain Gordon Smith, who had command of the Convoy (he was Second Naval Member on the Australian Naval Board), was anxious to be off to his destination. That that point was to some degree fixed when the ships left port I have no doubt, though the masters of the transports actually did not know the route until they were some hundred miles clear of the coast and the Minotaur set the course to the Equator. Incessantly all through the night previous the tug-boats had churned the waters round our vessel's sides, darting off now to the uttermost ship of the line—the Miltiades (she had English reservists on board), now to return from the lighted town which lay behind the Flagship with rebellious spirits, who had come near to being left behind, to explain away their return now as best they might. To and fro panted the motor-boats, with their eyes of red as if sleepy from overwork. The General of the Division, in fact all his Staff, were up late settling these cases. I wondered at the matters that needed his personal attention; even though the ships were to be together for weeks, still they were in a sense isolated. When the last tug had departed and the last lingering soldier been brought from the shore and sent off to his own ship, there stole over the whole sleeping fleet a great peace. It was Sunday morning.

Heaving up her anchor at six o'clock by the chimes of the distant clocks on shore, the Flagship led the way from port. The waters were calm. No white-winged yachts came to circle round the fleet, only a tug with a cinematographer on board waited for the ships as they slowly went forth on to the perilous deep, each ship dipping its flag, paying tribute to the General on the Flagship, even down to the New Zealand transports, painted all a dull warship grey. The cruiser Melbourne lay in harbour still, while the other warships had gone ahead to the open sea, the Minotaur and Sydney gliding gracefully through the dull waters, leaving in their wake a terrible wash of foam, as warships will. The bugles still rang in our ears, though the wind from the south blew the notes astern. Amongst a group of officers I was standing on a skylight of the dining saloon watching the moving panorama behind. To bring the fleet, anchored facing the head of the Sound, into motion meant the gradual turning of each ship so that they passed one another, and because the entrance to the harbour was not quite wide enough, the Flagship went out first, barely making 10 knots, followed by the Southern, and the others in their line behind. We watched her bows buried in the sea one minute and then

DISPOSITION OF UNITS OF THE 1ST DIVISION IN THE CONVOY AND PLACES OF EMBARKATION.

No.	Name.	Tonnage.	Speed.	Embarking at—	Troops.	O.	M.	H.
A1	Hymettus	4,606	11½	Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide	A.S.C. and horses	5	106	686
A2	Geelong	7,951	12	Melbourne and Hobart	Mixed	47	1,295	—
A3	Orvieto	12,130	15	Melbourne	G.O.C., Infantry and details	94	1,345	21
A4	Pera	7,635	11	Sydney	Artillery horses	5	90	391
A5	Omrah	8,130	15	Brisbane	Infantry and A.S.C	43	1,104	15
A6	Clan MacCorquodale	5,058	12½	Sydney	Horses	6	113	524
A7	Medic	12,032	13	Adelaide and Freemantle	Two companies Infantry, Artillery, A.S.C. and A.M.C.	28	977	270
A8	Argyllshire	10,392	14	Sydney	Artillery	32	800	373
A9	Shropshire	11,911	14	Melbourne	Artillery	42	794	433
A10	Karoo	6,127	12	Sydney and Melbourne	Signallers and A.M.C.	13	388	398
A11	Ascanius	10,048	13	Adelaide and Freemantle	Infantry	65	1,728	10
A12	Saldanha	4,594	11	Adelaide	Horses	4	52	274
A13	Katuna	4,641	11	Sydney and Hobart	Horses	5	94	506
A14	Euripides	14,947	15	Sydney	Infantry	29	2,202	15
A15	Star of England	9,150	13½	Brisbane	Light Horse	25	487	457
A16	Star of Victoria	9,152	13½	Sydney	Light Horse	26	487	461
A17	Port Lincoln	7,243	12	Adelaide	Light Horse	19	351	338
A18	Wiltshire	10,390	14	Melbourne	Light Horse and A.M.C.	35	724	497
A19	Afric	11,999	13	Sydney	Infantry, A.S.C., and Engineers	48	1,372	8
A20	Hororata	9,491	14	Melbourne	Infantry	66	1,986	118
A21	Marere	6,443	12½	Melbourne	Horses	4	80	443
A22	Rangatira	10,118	14	Brisbane	Artillery, Infantry, and A.M.C.	15	430	450
A23	Suffolk	7,573	12	Sydney	Infantry	32	979	8
A24	Benalla	11,118	14	Melbourne	Infantry and A.S.C.	49	1,185	10
A25	Anglo-Egyptian	7,379	12	Brisbane and Melbourne	Horses	6	105	492
A26	Armadale	6,153	11	Melbourne	Lines of Communication	—	—	—
A27	Southern	4,769	10½	Sydney and Melbourne	Horses	5	136	281
A28	Miltiades	7,814	13	Sydney and Melbourne	Imperial Reservists	—	600	—

DISPOSITION OF UNITS OF THE 1ST DIVISION IN THE CONVOY AND PLACES OF EMBARKATION.

No.	Name.	Tonnage.	Speed.	Embarking at—
A1	Hymettus	4,606	11½	Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide
A2	Geelong	7,951	12	Melbourne and Hobart
A3	Orvieto	12,130	15	Melbourne
A4	Pera	7,635	11	Sydney
A5	Omrah	8,130	15	Brisbane
A6	Clan MacCorquodale	5,058	12½	Sydney
A7	Medic	12,032	13	Adelaide and Freemantle
A8	Argyllshire	10,392	14	Sydney
A9	Shropshire	11,911	14	Melbourne
A10	Karoo	6,127	12	Sydney and Melbourne
A11	Ascanius	10,048	13	Adelaide and Freemantle
A12	Saldanha	4,594	11	Adelaide
A13	Katuna	4,641	11	Sydney and Hobart
A14	Euripides	14,947	15	Sydney
A15	Star of England	9,150	13½	Brisbane
A16	Star of Victoria	9,152	13½	Sydney
A17	Port Lincoln	7,243	12	Adelaide
A18	Wiltshire	10,390	14	Melbourne
A19	Afric	11,999	13	Sydney
A20	Hororata	9,491	14	Melbourne
A21	Marere	6,443	12½	Melbourne
A22	Rangatira	10,118	14	Brisbane
A23	Suffolk	7,573	12	Sydney
A24	Benalla	11,118	14	Melbourne
A25	Anglo-Egyptian	7,379	12	Brisbane and Melbourne
A26	Armadale	6,153	11	Melbourne
A27	Southern	4,769	10½	Sydney and Melbourne
A28	Miltiades	7,814	13	Sydney and Melbourne

DISPOSITION OF UNITS OF THE 1ST DIVISION IN THE CONVOY AND PLACES OF EMBARKATION.

No.	Troops.	O.	M.	H.
A1	A.S.C. and horses	5	106	686
A2	Mixed	47	1,295	—
A3	G.O.C., Infantry and details	94	1,345	21
A4	Artillery horses	5	90	391
A5	Infantry and A.S.C	43	1,104	15
A6	Horses	6	113	524
A7	Two companies Infantry, Artillery, A.S.C. and A.M.C.	28	977	270
A8	Artillery	32	800	373
A9	Artillery	42	794	433
A10	Signallers and A.M.C.	13	388	398
A11	Infantry	65	1,728	10
A12	Horses	4	52	274
A13	Horses	5	94	506
A14	Infantry	29	2,202	15
A15	Light Horse	25	487	457
A16	Light Horse	26	487	461
A17	Light Horse	19	351	338
A18	Light Horse and A.M.C.	35	724	497
A19	Infantry, A.S.C., and Engineers	48	1,372	8
A20	Infantry	66	1,986	118
A21	Horses	4	80	443
A22	Artillery, Infantry, and A.M.C.	15	430	450
A23	Infantry	32	979	8
A24	Infantry and A.S.C.	49	1,185	10
A25	Horses	6	105	492
A26	Lines of Communication	—	—	—
A27	Horses	5	136	281
A28	Imperial Reservists	—	600	—

ORGANIZATION OF CONVOY.

No.	Name.	Tonnage.	Speed.	Officer Commanding Troops.
	1st Division.
A3	Orvieto	12,130	15	{Lieut.-Colonel D. S. Wanliss
				{(Flagship of G.O.C.)
A27	Southern	4,769	10½	Lieut.-Colonel R. T. Sutherland
A4	Pera	7,635	11	Lieutenant E. W. Richards
A26	Armadale	6,153	11	Major P. W. Smith
A12	Saldanha	4,594	11	Lieutenant P. A. McE. Laurie
A13	Katuna	4,641	11	Major S. Hawley
A1	Hymettus	4,606	11½	Major A. A. Holdsworth
A23	Suffolk	7,573	12	Lieut.-Colonel C. F. Braund
A25	Anglo-Egyptian	7,379	12	Lieutenant W. Standfield
	2nd Division.
A18	Wiltshire	10,390	14	{Lieut.-Colonel L. Long
				{(Divisional leader)
A7	Medic	12,032	13	Major A. J. Bessell-Browne
A11	Ascanius	10,048	13	Lieut.-Colonel S. P. Weir
A15	Star of England	9,150	13½	Lieut.-Colonel R. M. Stoddart
A2	Geelong	7,951	12	Lieut.-Colonel L. F. Clarke
A17	Port Lincoln	7,243	12	Lieut.-Colonel F. N. Rowell
A10	Karoo	6,127	12	Captain H. L. Mackworth
A21	Marere	6,443	12½	Captain C. H. Spurge
A6	Clan MacCorquodale	5,058	12½	Major A. J. Bennett
	3rd Division.
A14	Euripides	14,947	15	{Colonel H. N. McLaurin
				{(Divisional leader)
A8	Argyllshire	10,392	14	Major S. E. Christian
A9	Shropshire	11,911	14	Colonel J. J. T. Hobbs
A19	Afric	11,999	13	Lieut.-Colonel L. Dobbin
A24	Benalla	11,118	14	Lieut.-Colonel W. K. Bolton
A22	Rangatira	10,118	14	Lieut.-Colonel C. Rosentha
A16	Star of Victoria	9,152	13½	Lieut.-Colonel J. B. Meredith
A20	Hororata	9,491	14	Lieut.-Colonel J. M. Semmens
A5	Omrah	8,130	15	Lieut.-Colonel H. W. Lee
A28	Miltiades	7,814	13	Major C. T. Griffiths

NEW ZEALAND TRANSPORTS.