Chapter 82 – Jayjay

Details from Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services, 1914-1918, Volume 1, Part 1: The Gallipoli Campaign by Arthur Butler:

p. 283 – Troopships were used as ambulance carriers from Gallipoli.

p. 324-326 – Ambulance carrier troop ships were also known as “black ships”. These were hurriedly equipped and often greatly overcrowded, taking 4-5 days to travel from Mudros harbour (Lemnos Island) to base hospitals at Egypt or Malta.

p. 331 – On 13 August, Egypt and Malta were declared “full” and had no further capacity to receive wounded.

p. 399 – The first wounded from Lone Pine and other August offensive feints started to arrive in Egypt on 10 August 1915.

p. 401 – Motor and horse ambulance wagons provided transport at Alexandria, the latter found to be more suitable for serious cases over cobbled roads. Six ambulance trains were running. Most free hospital beds in Egypt during the August offensive were in Cairo.

p. 418 – In the rush of August 1915, some serious cases “reached event the auxiliaries”. Each of the auxiliaries had a small operating theatre.

Details from Gallipoli – An Australian Medical Perspective by Micheal Tyquin:

p. 67 – The journey of the wounded from Lemnos to Alexandria took four days.

p. 68, 75 – “black ships” were not painted white, an internationally recognised colour for medical ships, and not protected under international law (Geneva Convention) as  hospital ships were.

p. 88 – At the wharves of Alexandria, casualties were transferred by horse or motor ambulance to hospital trains or local hospitals. A photo is included of the wharves at Alexandria. Hospitals in Alexandria and Cairo received little, if any, advance warning of the arrival of casualties. On 13 August, 800 Gallipoli casualties arrived and were admitted to No. 1 Australian General Hospital at Cairo (from 11:00pm to 3:00am the next morning).

p. 90 – A photo of a horse drawn ambulance in Cairo (AMW J02139).

p. 115 – An nurse’s account is provided, recalling August 1915, when wounded troops arrived at a Cairo hospital, how they were “placed on the ground with a tarpaulin and blanket under them, another over them and not a stick of clothing on them after cutting off their uniform.”

p. 116 – At No. 1 Australian General Hospital in Cairo, convalescing patients were allowed to roam the city’s streets.

p. 118 – Self-inflicted wounds were common at Gallipoli.

Details from The Other Anzacs – Nurses at War, 1914-1918 by Peter Rees:

p. 46 – Luna Park, a former Cairo amusement park, was converted into an auxiliary hospital soon after the landing in April 1915. Initially the skating rink had 500 beds made of split bamboo. The operating theatre was set up in a former ticket office.

p. 54 – Wounded arrived in Alexandria wearing a ticket with the nature and severity of their wound, pinned or tied on to the front of them.

p. 91 – An example of a ship being infested with rats. Troops shout “Are we down-hearted?”, respond “No!”

p. 107 – “…wanting flowers on your grave next” response to a grumbling comrade.

Details from The Australian Army Medical Corps in Egypt in 1914-15 , by James Barret and Persival Deane:

p.42 – Photo of motor ambulances at Heliopolis in Cairo

p.44 – Photo of an operating room at Heliopolis, including a table of instruments laid with a  white table cloth.

p. 47 – Photo of a Hospital train unloading at Heliopolis. Sitting up patients were unloaded first, then cot patients were loaded two per motor ambulance. The distance to hospital was less than a quarter mile.

AWM photo C01672 shows a cradle used to move wounded men on and off of hospital ships.

AWM photo P01350.013 shows the Luna Park skating rink at Cairo, after it was converted into the no. 1 Auxiliary Hospital, full of patients.