Chapter 20 – Ronald

Archie Barwick records in his diary that the waters around Aden were “alive with sharks”, In Great Spirits , p. 17.

Condensing sea water to drink – described in letter by Vern Smyth to his mother, cited by Peter Plowman in Voyage to Gallipoli , pp 203-204

“Unforeseen circumstances decide that the force shall train in Egypt and go to the front from there. The Australians and New Zealanders are to form a corps under General Birdwood. The locality of the camp is near Cairo”:  Message from Sir George Reid to General Bridges in command ship Orvieto , quoted by Charles Bean, Bean in Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18 , vol I, pp 110. The 1st Battalion War Diary reports that this message was relayed from the Orvieto and received on the Afric at 11:45am on 28/11/1914.

Archie Barwick reports not being able to see the canal from his vantage point and feeling like he was “going to rush the beach”, In Great Spirits , p. 17. He also records passing through at around 6 miles an hour and staying up to enjoy a “bright moonlit night”.

Charles Bean recorded in his diary that along the Suez Canal he saw tents and fortifications on the eastern bank – refer Bean’s Gallipoli—The Diaries of Australia’s Official War Correspondent , edited by Kevin Fewster, p. 34-36.

The Afric had a quadruple expansion steam engine according to the ship specifications provided by Peter Plowman, Voyage to Gallipoli , p. 280.

Archie Barwick records an reaching Alexandria “…a fine lot of captured German ships all tied up to the wharfs… a sure sign of Britain’s power on the water.”, In Great Spirits , p. 18.

The First Battalion war diary states that the men of disembarked for a six and a half mile route march at Albany in Western Australia on 30 October 1914 and returned on board the Afric that day. Shore leave was not granted until disembarking at Alexandria on 8 and 9 December 1914 (39 and 40 days later). The biblical account of Noah records continuous rain for forty days and forty nights in Genesis 7:12. Also that after the flood waters receded and the Ark came to rest on mountains of Ararat [in modern day Turkey] - Genesis 8:4, then Noah waited a further forty days before opening a window and sending out a raven to see if the water had dried up – Genesis 8:8.