J'ai l'honneur d'etre avec l'assurance de ma plus haute
consideration.

(_Sd._) "LIMAN VON SANDERS,

"Commandant en chef de la 5me
Armee Ottomane.

"Commandant en chef des Forces Britanniques,
Sir John Hamilton, Excellence."

_23rd May, 1915. H.M.T. "Arcadian."_ Blazing hot. Wrote all day. Had an
hour and a half's talk with de Robeck--high politics as well as our own
rather anxious affairs. No one knows how the new First Lord will play
up, but Asquith, for sure, chucks away his mainspring if he parts with
Winston: as to Fisher, he too has energy but none of it came our way so
he will have no tears from us, though he has friends here too. The
submarine scare is full on; the beastly things have frightened us more
than all the Turks and all their German guns.

_24th May, 1915. H.M.T. "Arcadian."_ Vice-Admiral Nicol, French Naval
Commander-in-Chief, came aboard to pay me a visit.

Armistice from 9.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. for burial of Turkish dead. All
went off quite smoothly.... This moment, 12.40 p.m. the Captain has
rushed in to say that H.M.S. _Triumph_ is sinking! He caught the bad
news on his wireless as it flew. Beyond doubt the German submarine. What
exactly is about to happen, God knows. The fleet cannot see itself wiped
out by degrees; and yet, without the fleet, how are we soldiers to
exist? One more awful conundrum set to us, but the Navy will solve it,
for sure.

_25th May, 1915. H.M.T. "Arcadian."_ Bad news confirmed. The Admiral
came aboard and between us we tried to size up the new situation and to
readjust ourselves thereto. Our nicely worked out system for supplying
the troops has in a moment been tangled up into a hundred knotty
problems. Instead of our small craft working to and fro in half mile
runs, henceforth they will have to cover 60 miles per trip. Until now
the big ocean going ships have anchored close up to Helles or Anzac; in
future Mudros will be the only possible harbour for these priceless
floating depots. Imbros, here, lies quite open to submarine attacks, and
in a northerly gale, becomes a mere roadstead. The Admiral, who regards
soldiers as wayward water babes, has insisted on lashing a merchantman
to each side of the _Arcadian_ to serve as torpedo buffers. There are,
it seems, at least two German submarines prowling about at the present