e Union Steamship Company's _Goorkha_, and the Castle
liner _Braemar Castle_. The _Assaye_ was a new boat, and this was her
maiden voyage. She carried two regiments, the 2nd Norfolk and the 2nd
Hampshire, and the fact that the Hampshire is the territorial regiment
of the port, accounted for the unusually large crowd that assembled on
the wharf beside which the _Assaye_ lay. The business of despatching
transports had become so commonplace at Southampton that unless there
was some special interest attached to the embarkation there was no crowd
at all. Only the town loafers would assemble in any strength. But many
of the Southampton people had friends in the Hampshire Regiment, so
there were some thousands pressing round the barriers that surrounded
the dock shed into which the trains on arriving were drawn.

It was on board the _Assaye_ that I spent the greater part of the
morning and afternoon, piloted by a naval lieutenant who was in charge
of the embarkation. I perched myself high up on the flying-bridge and
watched the busy scene below. In the next dock was the _Goorkha_, into
whose commodious maw were pouring the 2nd Lincolnshire Regiment, the 9th
Field Company Royal Engineers, the 14th Brigade Staff, the Cavalry
Brigade Field Hospital, the Fifth Division Field Hospital, and No. 12
Company Army Medical Corps. Further away, alongside the dock extension
jetty, the _Braemar Castle_ was receiving the 1st King's Own Scottish
Borderers, No. 7 Bearer Company, and No. 19 Company Army Medical Corps.
In the _Assaye_, however, were men of only two colours, the Norfolks and
the Hampshires. The Norfolks arrived first, and were promptly embarked.
The 'tween-decks of the _Assaye_, having been constructed specially for
the purpose, were more commodious than those on most other transports,
and certainly they were better ventilated, for a great open shaft ran
right up from the bottom of the ship to the upper deck, and round this
were grouped the tables at which the men, in messes of sixteen, were to
be accommodated. The men seemed pleased with their quarters and with the
general arrangements made for their comfort, but they were almost
laughably critical. The fact was that the soldiers were in great danger
of being spoiled by the fuss that had been made of them before they
embarked. It is well that we should cheer the soldiers up by our
enthusiasm, but, as everyone knows, the British public did much more
than that. "Tommy Atkins" was t