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 deg. 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.

We reached Colombo on the 13th January, and found a number of ships of various nationalities in the harbour.  Our convoy almost filled it.  We were soon surrounded by boats offering for sale all sorts of things, mostly edibles.  Of course no one was allowed on board.