All the officers thoroughly enjoyed what was a new experience to most of us, all returning to the boat laden with parcels, and being unusually lively at dinner, and the wine flowing more freely than usual among a body of men who rarely drink anything but water—and very flat and unpleasant water it is too.
We left Malta at 6 p.m. en route for Alexandria, as I am told by the captain, who says it is no longer a secret. This is evidently to be the place of concentration of the 29th Division. Another transport, the "Kingstonia," left half an hour before us, amidst great cheering from the warships and us. We too had a right royal send-off from all the warships we passed, their decks being packed with cheering multitudes, and our French friends of the morning played the National Anthem again in the usual silence. We half expected it this time, but its coming so unexpectedly in the morning made it most impressive. Eleven powerful searchlights were playing at the entrance of this important harbour—a harbour which must be one of Britain's greatest assets. When thrown on us even a mile off the light was absolutely dazzling.
March 28th.—Churning all day through a sea of ultra-marine hue, with a brilliant sun overhead and a fair breeze behind. We are now a long way east of the longitude of Greenwich, the clock at noon yesterday being seventy minutes before G.M.T. This means a daily loss of sleep and consequently much swearing. At one time in the Atlantic we were between fifty and sixty minutes behind G.M.T.
There was a great fuss last night over the supposed discovery of six cases of measles in our unit. This morning a Medical Board sat and pronounced all the cases to be merely erythematous rashes following vaccination four days ago, and consequently the quarantine instituted last night has been relaxed, but only in a modified form, so as to let the guilty party down gently. As a result of all this unnecessary fuss the two field ambulances on board were nearly split into two camps.
March 29th.—Another quiet day and a calm sea.
Three interpreters joined our boat at Malta, they leaving home two days after us by a P. & O. boat. These men have a thorough knowledge of Turkish, Greek, and French.
The heat of the sun has been intense to-day, and a number of us were glad to don our helmets. These are not altogether a success, they are too heavy.
We had a short lecture on "Turkey" by one of the interpreters, when he spoke about the roads, which seem to be few, woods still fewer, water supply and some other points likely to be of practical interest to us shortly. Rains usually cease in the end of March, and, except for an occasional shower, the heat of summer lasts till the middle of September, the temperature being just under 100° F.
March 30th.—Lying in the harbour of Alexandria, where we arrived about 3 p.m. The day has been perfect, the temperature moderate till we came near land when the sun simply scorched us. At sea there is always a breeze, but as we now lie at anchor in the middle of the harbour the air is absolutely still and oppressive. We seemed to describe the letter "S" as we approached from the sea, this course being likely due to sand bars. To one who has never been in the East before the sight of this town with its huge commercial buildings, its great palm trees which are visible not far from the water's edge, and a harbour full of great liners, and looking big enough to hold all the shipping of the world, is a great education. Three ships have entered since we came in, one being the "Kingstonia," one of our divisional transports, another full of French troops. We were, of course, surrounded by boats trying to do a little honest trade with us, but our men were strictly forbidden to purchase anything from them owing to the risk of infection.
These boats were manned principally by Arabs in their peculiar dresses of brilliant hue and many wore the fez. All were burned as dark as an old penny. Owing to our being supposed to have had measles on board, although it was proved to every one's satisfaction that there was no reason for this suspicion, we had to enter with the yellow flag flying at the foremast. We had visits from official boats, one with the police flag, very likely expecting to hear that we had cholera or smallpox among us. At any rate the objectionable flag was soon hauled down and we half expected to get permission to land, but so far no orders have come from shore.