rcumstances. For years
it has been almost painful to me to look down from a height; as for
going down a ladder, in ordinary times I could not do it. However,
here there was no help for it; a commanding officer cannot order his
men to do what he will not do himself, so up and down we went in full
marching order. Bearer work was carried out among the stony hills
which surround the harbour.

Finally, on the 24th April, the whole armada got under weigh, headed
by the _Queen Elizabeth_, or as the men affectionately termed her,
"Lizzie." We had been under steam for only about four hours when a
case of smallpox was reported on board. As the captain informed me he
had time to spare, we returned to Lemnor and landed the man,
afterwards proceeding on our journey. At night the ship was darkened.
Our ship carried eight horse-boats, which were to be used by the 29th
Division in their landing at Cape Helles.

Just about dawn on Sunday the 25th I came on deck and could see the
forms of a number of warships in close proximity to us, with
destroyers here and there and numbers of transports. Suddenly one ship
fired a gun, and then they were all at it, the Turks replying in quick
time from the forts on Seddul Bahr, as well as from those on the
Asiatic side. None of our ships appeared to be hit, but great clouds
of dust were thrown up in the forts opposite us. Meanwhile destroyers
were passing us loaded with troops, and barges filled with grim and
determined-looking men were being towed towards the shore. One could
not help wondering how many of them would be alive in an hour's time.
Slowly they neared the cliffs; as the first barge appeared to ground,
a burst of fire broke out along the beach, alternately rifles and
machine guns. The men leaped out of the barges--almost at once the
firing on the beach ceased, and more came from halfway up the cliff.
The troops had obviously landed, and were driving the Turks back.
After a couple of hours the top of the cliff was gained; there the
troops became exposed to a very heavy fire from some batteries of
artillery placed well in the rear, to which the warships attended as
soon as they could locate them. The _Queen Elizabeth_ was close by us,
apparently watching a village just under the fort. Evidently some guns
were placed there. She loosed off her two fifteen-inch guns, and after
the dust had cleared away we could see that new streets had been made
for the inhabitants. Meanwhile the British had