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Page 2
As the name implies, the Bearers convey the wounded to the dressing
station (or Field Hospital, as the case may be). Those in the Tent
Division dress the cases and perform nursing duties, while the
Transport Division undertakes their conveyance to Base Hospital.
It was decided to recruit the Fourth Field Ambulance from three
States, A Section from Victoria, B from South Australia, C from
Western Australia. Recruiting started in Broadmeadows, Victoria, on
the 19th October, 1914, and thirty men enrolled from New South Wales
were included in A Section. Towards the end of November B Section from
South Australia joined us, and participated in the training. On the
22nd December we embarked on a transport forming one of a convoy of
eighteen ships. The nineteenth ship ---- joined after we left Albany.
Details from the Ambulance were supplied to different ships and the
officers distributed among the fleet. Our last port in Australia was
Albany, which was cleared on the last day of 1914--a beautiful night
and clear day, with the sea as smooth as the proverbial glass.
THE VOYAGE
The convoy was under the command of Captain Brewis--a most capable and
courteous officer, but a strict disciplinarian. To a landsman, his
control of the various ships and his forethought in obtaining supplies
seemed little short of marvellous. I had the good fortune to be
associated with Captain Brewis on the passage from Colombo to
Alexandria on board the ---- and his friendship is a pleasant memory.
The fleet was arranged in three lines, each ship being about three
lengths astern of the one ahead. The sight was most inspiriting, and
made one feel proud of the privilege of participation. The ---- towed
the submarine AE2, and kept clear of the convoy, sometimes ahead, then
astern, so that we viewed the convoy from all points.
The day after leaving Albany a steamer, which proved to be the ----,
joined us with C Section of our Ambulance. Signals were made for the
---- ---- to move ahead and the ---- to drop astern, the ---- moving
into the vacant place. The manoeuvre was carried out in a most
seamanlike manner, and Captain Young of the ---- received many
compliments on his performance.
Three days later a message was flagged from the ---- that Major
Stewart (who commanded the C Section of the Ambulance) was ill with
enteric, and that his condition was serious. The flagship then sent
orders (also by flag) "Colonel Beeston will proceed to ---- and will
remain there until next port. ---- to provide transport." A boat was
hoisted out, and Sergeant Draper as a nurse, Walkley my orderly, my
little dog Paddy and I were lowered from the boat deck. What appeared
smooth water proved to a long undulating swell; no water was shipped,
but the fleet at times was not visible when the boat was in the trough
of the sea.
However, the ---- was manoeuvred so as to form a shelter, and we
gained the deck by means of the companion ladder as comfortably as if
we had been in harbour. Major Stewart's illness proved to be of such a
nature that his disembarkation at Colombo was imperative, and on our
arrival there he was left in the hospital.
The heat in the tropics was very oppressive, and the horses suffered
considerably. One day all the ships carrying horses were turned about
and steamed for twenty minutes in the opposite direction in order to
obtain a breath of air for the poor animals. In the holds the
temperature was 90� and steamy at that. The sight of horses down a
ship's hold is a novel one. Each is in a stall of such dimensions that
the animal cannot be knocked about. All heads are inwards, and each
horse has his own trough. At a certain time in the day lucerne hay is
issued. This is the signal for a prodigious amount of stamping and
noise on the part of the animals. They throw their heads about, snort
and neigh, and seem as if they would jump over the barriers in their
frantic effort to get a good feed. Horses on land are nice beasts, but
on board ship they are a totally different proposition. One
intelligent neddy stabled just outside my cabin spent the night in
stamping on an adjacent steam pipe; consequently my sleep was of a
disturbed nature, and not so restful as one might look for on a sea
voyage. When he became tired, the brute on the opposite side took up
the refrain, so that it seemed like Morse signalling on a large scale.
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