'PAPERS RELATING TO THE MESOPOTAMIAN COMMISSION from SIR E. BARROW'S ROOM' [‎90r] (179/1386)

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FIGHTING THE TURKS.
A seaman of the Royal Navy writes from
Ismailia :—
Of course you have not known our whereabouts
for some time, at least not definitely, but probably
you guessed that we convoyed all the Indian troops
across the Indian Ocean. Only once did we veer
th f ^ptenous job, and that was to go south
to the Laccadive Islands in search for the^Emden,
of troons OC, w et 'r? Cd Bombay for a further batch
tw h£ u ? U ld , n p t ^ vc much excitement during
th^it time, but had to keep our. weather eye lifted,
as the enemy s snips were still at large. We had
caps of work to do, getting the ship ready for battle.
After convoying wc came to Port Said, just before
Christmas, where we remained until January 26
Wmg had a fairly good time at Christmas and
recenmg the Kings Christmas card. There is one
thS 8 *. w 111 alwa y? out in my memory—
C k[\ s tmas card with six buttons and cotton
attached winch the Christian Endeavour sent to
each man. Each card had with it a letter from one
The one 1 had ca me from Hull
^°"^ e , we kf ve received a simple recognition from
good people, the majority of whom, I suppose, arc
among the middle and poorer classes.
leffc Port r ^ id °n January 26 for Kartara.
where some of ine enemy were gathered. Oui-
soldiers were retiring, the Turks advancing. We
got m position m the Canal and let drive, startine
with our small guns and scon ranging our heavies!
011 should have heard us chccr when we fired our
first angry shell, but I don’t think the Turks liked
/ very muen, for they retired behind the sand dunes
caving about 300 dead, which our shrapnd and
caoght. The same night a party got ririit
d Z i 0 ,u tlle Canal bank witb gun-cotton, but we
aDd the i?J 1 i r 5 Pped cotton a ud nipped,
birthday, nothing much took
place, but on the 28th we got a call to Ismailia, a few
miles up the Canal, which the Turks were trying to
bombard, but their shell fell short into Lake TuSLh
\Ve put a few of our pills into them and they retired.
Then we went up further to Toussoum, where the
enemy had reached the banks and launched pontoon
to get across. This was a real go ; there were sniners
all along the bank, but we carefully kept under
and C soo C n diS.^ ^ Wh ° UnfortunateI >' «° fc
t It is, of course, the first time I have been under
fire ; it was funny and exciting. Fancy a battloshin
afthouihrif to' ’ ifc a,,most soe nas absurd^
although if they had known where to aim manv of
us would have been put out. I had my evTalong
^ a few Taiks behind an u^-
'‘■"d 1 Put a common shell into them*
IhP did not snipe any more. After plenty of firing
the 1 urks drew .off, and we had one man killed 3
have returned to Ismailia to await a fresh
^ aim } e Ji ten us that the enemy
1,. •^ ,ono the enemv is within o 0
jiules of the Canal. ^ Several Turks surrendered and
we sent a party out into the desert and brought’back
many wounded Turks. Now wo are looking^forward
the ' r ? ardan °hes and bombard toe forts
.^J^uwhde we remain here and keep a good
look-out for the return of the enemy 1 ^
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