6.40.—We have had no shells since I wrote the above, for which we are thankful. When examining the situation before breakfast I felt that the whole valley up to Achi Baba was to be ours before night. Advances all along the line have been made, some units having gained about 700 yards, the French also taking a trench which they afterwards lost. This is the usual way with the French, they have repeatedly broken our line across the peninsula.
The Turks have to-day used their heavy guns much more freely than on any previous day, and doubtless have inflicted considerable damage on our troops, but the range they have been firing at pointed to their having removed their guns further back, which points to their expecting to lose Achi Baba, which they have certainly held with the utmost fortitude. I am attributing the peace we have had to-day at Lancashire Landing to this fortunate event, if my conjecture is right.
I visited the "River Clyde" to-day to find she has a number of new holes punched through her, those on the water line having completely flooded her. Her stern now rests on the bottom, and the lowest hold is full of water. All this time only one shell has actually burst inside the ship, and it entered a cabin on the starboard side, blew all the fittings to pieces, chunks flying through everything, some entering the engine room where they perforated and carried away pipes, and blew the roof of the cabin off. An officer showed me the effects of the rifle and machine-gun bombardment on the night on which I spent four hours in a boat and watched the thousands of bullets striking fire over my head. Many had actually perforated the steel plates, 9/16th-inch thick, and there were deep dints innumerable. We had twelve machine-guns on board that memorable day, the one in the bow being managed by the son of the Earl of Leicester. This gun was said to have done brilliant work. A large pile of empty cartridges still lies where the gun was posted, and I carried away a few of these as the only memento I possess of April 25, barring the memory of a hellish day and night.
To-day we felt that we were probably beyond the reach of the enemy's big guns, and a load is apparently off every one's mind. Many sang late into the night, and various hilarious games were indulged in, the one giving most fun being a bull fight, where one man held the end of a string about three yards long and tied to a peg, and carried a jug with a stone as a rattle, the other with a similar string having as a weapon a small bag stuffed with hay. Both were blindfolded, and the man with the bag let fly at the spot he thought the sound came from, the hit being usually many yards wide of the bull.
The casualties among the Turks up to May 8 are said to number 40,000. Since then the Australians have accounted for another 7000. To the present date the total is probably not less than 60,000. We ought to be well enough pleased with our work.
May 21st.—Had a walk round Tekke Burnu, the S.W. point of Gallipoli, where we have two 5-inch field guns. An officer to whom I spoke said he was the first to locate the whereabouts of the gun that threw the Jack Johnsons. We had all guessed from their whistle that they came from the right ridge of Achi Baba. Two of the shells fired at this battery failed to explode, and this man had the holes carefully exposed for their whole depth, and two poles placed in these pointed exactly to the same spot. Each of these shells had penetrated to a depth of 8 feet in very hard clay.
May 22nd.—About 1 p.m. there seemed to be a strange stir among our transports. I noticed no fewer than six make off in a body towards Lemnos, while Thomson remarked that a destroyer had been going backwards and forwards among the shipping off the point of the peninsula. We did not guess the reason of this till all at once I noticed a warship fire a shot towards Imbros. This was followed by others, and the splashes showed they were firing at something in the sea, no doubt an enemy submarine—which proved to be the case. About six shots in all were fired. Three destroyers were flying about in all directions, absolutely at full speed. Two turned and made for the spot where the submarine had been seen. It is a beautiful sight to see these boats turn in their own length when at full speed. From the rocks at Tekke Burnu I watched for two hours the man[oe]uvres of these and four warships. An anxious night will be spent by our naval brethren. Several other transports have disappeared and gone to the safe anchorage of Lemnos. A large four-funnelled French steamer had just arrived with troops who had no time to disembark, and she has turned tail and gone after the others.
May 23rd.—1.15 p.m. Am sitting near the top of "The Gully". This runs north and south on the west side of the peninsula. I am at a spot slightly north of Krithia, and in the very middle of our firing line. All the tops of The Gully, on both sides and along its ramifications, are lined with our men and all are blazing away at the hardest, while the Turks bullets keep up a constant whizz over our heads. The Worcesters have just gone into the trenches to relieve some other unit. One of the Hants men I have been sitting beside and talking to was in our hold on the "River Clyde" when we landed exactly four weeks ago. He tells me how gloomy his battalion was over the death of their C.O. that day—Colonel Smith-Carrington, "a grand fellow, the best man that ever lived," as he put it.
Wearying to death after twelve days of idleness I set off after church parade to visit the Hants Dressing Station where I knew Pirie was placed. I went along the Krithia road till I came to The Gully I once reached late one evening, when Thomson and I were sniped at. Here I chanced to meet my old cabin companion, Balfour, who directed me to the very top of The Gully where I came across a battery which again directed me further to the left. Here three bullets flew past me, a gunner saying these stray bullets were doing a great deal of damage. Balfour also told me that they had lost two men yesterday from the same cause.
At last I reached The Gully which is several miles long—over three—and averages 100 yards in width at the top. All the slopes are one solid mass of shrubbery—laurel, juniper, dwarf conifers, holly oak, and brilliant flowers innumerable. I brought back a bunch of Cytisus whose individual flowers might have been our broom (C. Scoparius).