Chapter 13 – Jayjay

The First Infantry Battalion War Diary records that the troop transport ship Afric , carrying the 1st Battalion, arrived at Albany on Sunday 25 October 1914. The convoy departed a week later on Sunday 1 November 1914. AIF war diaries can be accessed via the Australian War Memorial website: http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/awm4/

The First Battalion History states, of the voyage from Sydney on Afric , that “The first night at sea was fairly rough, but all hands soon settled down.”

Peter Plowman describes the ship modifications made for troop transport in Voyage to Gallipoli (chapter 7 “Preparing the Ships”). Plowman describes how cargo holds were converted to accommodate troops, including that “…large use was made of hammocks, which were slung from hooks attached to wooden beams…The sleeping quarters would also be used for meals, so wooden tables with attached bench seating were installed beneath the hammocks.” A photograph of hammocks hanging over tables in a ship’s hull is also included (p. 64). Plowman also describes the spectacle of the convoy departing, stating that “Almost the entire population of Albany had come out to watch the grand departure.” (p. 126).

The smoke put out by the Japanese warship Ibuki is mentioned by Charles Bean, Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18 , vol I, p. 102: “The coal eaten by the Ibuki sent rolling through her funnels a dense pillar of smoke which hung over her like a canopy. By day it must have been visible for forty miles.”