Passing Cape Helles.

When morning fully broke the New Zealand transports were nearing Cape Helles. The big guns of the fleet were pounding the forts until the horizon seemed a mass of smoke and flame. Over against Kum Kale the French ships were hotly engaged; off Cape Helles the British stood close into the forts. Again we saw our old friend the “Askold”—now christened the “Packet of Woodbines,” because of her five long funnels. The noise of the naval bombardment was truly extraordinary—the sharp crack of the lighter guns; the earsplitting roar of the 12-inchers; and booming clearly above

[Photo by Col. Hughes, C.M.G., D.S.O.
A Battleship covering the Transports.
The old “London” steaming towards Anzac Cove.

them all, the tremendous reports from the 15-inch guns of the “Queen Elizabeth.” Watching from the rail, the soldiers were very sorry for the Turk. It seemed impossible that anything could live through such a bombardment. At the morning service, with the reverberation of the incessant gunfire assailing our ears, we found it difficult to hear the padre reading “In the midst of life we are in death.” From across the water the bark of the 6-inch guns struck harshly on the singing of the soldiers' favourite hymns.

Just opposite Gaba Tepe the transports slowed down. Like children kept inside on a wet day, we were very impatient. page 77 A desire to be doing something possessed all ranks. The men broke up cases and split the wood for kindling fires ashore. Every man pushed seven or eight pieces through the straps on the back of his pack. Many seized the opportunity to write the letter that most thoughtful soldiers write at the beginning of a campaign—a letter to be carried in the breast pocket and only to be forwarded by the comrade that buries him—tender farewells, simply and beautifully written, as men always do write when they are face to face with the things that really matter.

[Photo by the Author
Transports off Anzac Cove on April 25.
The ship in the foreground has disembarked Echelon A and is steaming out to make room for the next transport.

In groups of four the transports, covered by the battleships, moved up to about a mile off shore, disembarked the troops of the first echelon, and then moved to the rear, letting the next four continue the manoeuvre. On our port side the old twin-funnelled “Majestic” belched a stream of 12-inch shells on the ridges; away to starboard, the four long funnels of the “Bacchante” were dimly discernible through a tremendous column of smoke. Southwards, as far as the eye could see, were transports innumerable, and closer in-shore, the angry, barking battleships.