Letter 7

At Sea
1st June 1916
Thursday

Dear Mother Father & Nancy,
The last ten days have been full of "the latest" ie when we were sailing. Every day we had different rumours as to when we were going & every rumour came from H.Q. of course. We had to keep our gear all packed in readiness to go at any moment. The "gear" consists of web equipment with a big bag or valise on the back, which holds overcoat & a change of clothing & strapped over it is 1 blanket & water proof sheeting. The whole affair weighs about 40 lbs & as we carried no cartridges in front to equalise somewhat the weight on our back the gear fits horribly & feels like 80lbs & gives the shoulders fits.

Last Friday we had a route march in full marching order minus the valise. All the New Zealanders in our camp were in it. We left at 5 am & came back at 8.20 am & went about 10 or 12 miles. We were glad to get back for by 8.30 it is pretty hot. We were due to get up at 3 am that morning but the guard forgot to wake the bugler & so we slept peacefully till 3.45 am.

I forgot to tell you I think that for about 4 days from the 19th onward we had a deuce of a heat wave. In our tents it was 120° to 125° & even at 9 pm it was 96ƒ. After that thank heaven we had really cool weather for Egypt until the last 3 or 4 days when she got decidedly warm again.

I was reading a book last night & the author said something about "the lovely Pyramids & the beautiful Sahara desert." I give in about the Pyramids but I'm blest if I can see where the lovely part of the desert comes in. He'd never been near it I bet.

It was pretty rotten when you come to think of it that we were within 2 1/2 hours of one of the most famous places in all the world & we never saw a sign of it. We never saw the Pyramids, the museum or the Mosques or any other famous old Egyptian relics.

We are out of the heat at any rate & that's a blessing.

We entrained at the camp & came on to Alexandria & thence to the boat. To get from the camp to the train was one of worst experiences I've ever had. It was about a 1 1/4 miles but we had to carry our full equipment & our big Kit-bags as well. It was blowing & all the sand & dust possible covered us from head to foot & made us look like dirty flour. We only had 3 spells - not more that 2 1/2 minutes altogether. We were all done when we got into that train & a few of the officers got talked about more than they should have perhaps.

The day we left I ran up against Buffer Smith. Do you remember him? He enlisted with the Australians & has had a few experiences all told. In 21 months he has been in 21 different camps. He has been on Gallipoli & on the North, South & East frontiers of Egypt. I had a 3 hour talk with him.

Our whole coy struck guard on Sunday night till Monday 6 pm. So we didn't get much sleep & the next night we left & didn't get to Alexandria till 5 am & no sleep in the train so the night on the ship we slept like logs. We sleep in hammocks & are packed like sardines down below. We have to keep our life belts on all day & have them on our hammocks at night. They are a beastly nuisance for they cover up all the pockets but no doubt if we had to use them in the sea they would be more than useful.

Well all I have waxed eloquent for some time now & will let you know the rest when I arrive at our destination.
See that you all keep fit
Your loving son
Alister

Click to read Letters from World War 1 - Part 3
Click to read Letters from World War 1 - Part 5

Watch for more in this series.