at odd moments, and it
was rare that I could go far without being disturbed, and writing a
few sentences half a dozen times a day, or even oftener, often ended
in a jumble.)

Of the five British landings the one at Sedd-el-Bahr (V. Beach) was
the most difficult and disastrous.

On the 24th of April we were still lying at Tenedos, and in the
afternoon were transferred to the "River Clyde". We learned the
previous day that we were to land from this old coal boat that had
been rendered so peculiar with her great, gaping holes, and khaki
splashes on her starboard side. She had been an object of curiosity to
us in Lemnos harbour, no one having any idea of her purpose.

Before dark all the men were served with tea and food, which we were
told was to be their last solid meal. Soon after this the men retired
to rest in a hold near the stern which had been allotted to the West
Riding Engineers and ourselves. The officers took up their quarters in
the stern deck house, where we had cocoa, tinned meat, etc., after
which we too tried to make ourselves as comfortable as possible in the
most uncomfortable of all quarters, most shutting their eyes and
pretending to be asleep.

Our nerves were now fully strung, we knew we were on the very eve of
the landing, which we were assured was to be rendered easy by the
Navy, which had promised that their bombardment was to be so terrific
that nothing the size of a cockroach would be left alive on the
peninsula. We soon learned to our cost how difficult it was to
substantiate this assertion.

From Tenedos we were but a small party of ships. In the pitchy
darkness we had fallen in with the bigger fleet coming direct from
Lemnos, and as we crept along, every ship in total darkness, we could
just make out other ships alongside us. One with big hull and unusual
length of guns was immediately on our port. At close quarters there
was no mistaking this for anything but a dummy warship.

After a time the searchlight on the point of the peninsula could be
seen sweeping its rays in long, regular flashes across the sea. By
this time those ships that had furthest to go were ahead of us to the
right and left. Just as the inky darkness was beginning to be
dispelled there was a change in these lazy flashes. We were detected.
At once they changed their long, comprehensive sweeps into sharp jerks
from one ship to another as each hove into the rays. The searchlight
soon went out, while hurried messages we