We hear Greece has been presented with an ultimatum demanding her to come into the war on our side, otherwise to demobilise within two days. Another story says she has already joined the other side, and that our fleets have been engaged.
November 26th.—The Germans are at present accusing us of carrying troops and ammunition on our hospital ships, an excuse given out to the world for sinking the first good prize of the sort they come across. Of the sixty-four hospital ships we are said to possess the "Aquitania" would make the most desirable capture, and our most dangerous spot is the Aegean, from behind any of whose numerous islands a submarine lying in wait may dart out.
We are now approaching Sicily on our way to Naples. We cannot go through the Straits of Messina after dark, and our quickest and cheapest way is to anchor for the night, but the danger of attack prevents this and we have to go right round the island. We are doing about 20 knots against a stiff head wind. When pushed beyond this the consumption of coal is out of all proportion to the increase of speed, and being in no hurry they prefer to stick to what is called her economical speed.
November 27th.—I have been talking to an officer in the smoking-room who, like myself, was waiting for the library to open. He wished to hand in "The Life of Oliver Goldsmith," by Washington Irving. He says he is descended through his mother from Goldsmith, and he had taken out this book to find where Irving put his birthplace. "At Pallas," as he expected, "they all do so; even Johnson, who wrote his epitaph, made the same mistake." Goldsmith's father was rector of Pallas, and his wife had gone home to her parents at Elphin, in Roscommon, and it was here this great writer was born.
Naples Harbour. We arrived at this historic place at 6.15 p.m. We began to get in among the islands of the Bay between 4 and 5, but daylight soon began to fade and we did not get a good view of our surroundings. The first land we approached was Capri on our left, an island famed for its wines. On the other side was a small island, little more than a huge volcanic rock, with the gleaming white houses of a small town half-way to the summit. We could see Naples away at the top of the Bay, large houses all the way up the high rugged hills on which the town is built in the shape of a horseshoe. Behind the houses on the sea front rises mighty Vesuvius, her highest peak covered with snow, and belching out volumes of smoke which roll down the side of the hill and stretch out to sea in one big dense cloud. The whole town is most brilliantly lit, the glare of street lamps being a relief after Gallipoli.
We had some mild amusement to-day. These submarines are still a terror to those in charge of the ship. All the invalid Tommies are in hospital dress, trousers and jacket of light grey, and a brilliant red cotton handkerchief round the neck. All officers who wished to go on deck were ordered to wear this dress on account of the German publication that we carried troops, and if spies saw a lot of officers in uniform—and we'll have spies among the coal-heavers—there might be some faint reason for their pretended suspicions. After tea we donned our new garb, and about twenty of us collected on the wheelhouse deck. Out came a sailor who shouted, "No one but officers allowed here, away you go". Then in a few minutes out came another, "Now you privates, clear out of this; this is only meant for officers". The disguise was apparently complete, and the two poor sailors were the only ones who did not enjoy the joke. Our service caps were also forbidden, and we had all sorts of headgear. I had a long scarf wipped round my head in turban fashion and was said to be the worst looking ruffian of the lot.
It was bitterly cold on deck, and about 2 p.m. we had had a shower of hail. The hills beyond Naples are covered with snow.
November 28th.—On looking over the rail on my way to breakfast I found we were coaling at the hardest on both sides of the ship, barefooted coal-heavers, all at the gallop, carrying their baskets of coal from the barges and tilting them into shoots down among the lower decks. Bum boats, not unlike those of Malta, swarmed about the harbour, loaded with merchandise, such as oranges, tobacco, picture post cards, and beautifully finished models of mandolines and guitars, the vendors yelling at the pitch of their voices. Their transactions were carried on away down on E. deck, and even at that low level a bamboo rod twice the length of a fishing rod, with a bag at the end, had to be hoisted to reach their customers. You bawled out your order, put your money in the bag, and your goods appeared in a minute or two.
Another of our leviathans came in this morning to coal, the "Mauretania," a Cunarder like ourselves. She is a big boat but is dwarfed by the "Aquitania". I notice her bridge is on the 7th storey, ours is on the 9th.
The air is sharp but it is bright and sunny. Vesuvius and the magnificent city of Naples stand out clear in all their glory, and away to the north one gets a good view of the lofty Apennines, all with their peaks covered with snow, and over these the wind blows icy cold.