Private Peat | Page 5

_S.S. Zeeland_ at Quebec. The comment of the people looking on was
that they had never seen a finer body of men. And that was about right.
Physically we were perfect; morally, we were as good as the next, and,
taken all in all, there were no better shots on earth. Equipped to the
minute, keen as hunting dogs, we were "it." Surely a wonderful change
this month's training had wrought. And I say again if the credit for it all
must be given to any one man, that man is Sir Sam Hughes.

In a few hours we were steaming down the St. Lawrence, and the next
day we slipped into Gaspé Bay on the eastern coast of Canada, where
we joined the other transports. Here thirty-two ships with as many
thousand men aboard them were gathered together, all impatiently
waiting the order to dash across the Atlantic.
We did not have to wait very long. On Sunday, October the fourth, at
three o'clock in the afternoon, we steamed slowly out of the harbor in
three long lines. Each ship was about a quarter of a mile from her
companion ahead or behind, and guarded on each side by cruisers. I
have memorized the names of the transports, and at this time it is
interesting to know that very few of them have been sunk by the
German submarines.
The protecting cruisers were: _H.M.S. Eclipse_, Diana, Charybdis,
Glory, Talbot and Lancaster. The transports were in Line Number One:
_S.S. Manatic_, Ruthenian, Bermudian, Alaunia, Irvenia, Scandinavian,
Sicilia, Montzuma, Lapland, _Casandia_;
Line Number Two: Carribean, Athenia, Royal Edward, Franconia,
Canada, Monmouth, Manitou, Tyrolia, Tunissian, Laurentic,
_Milwaukee_; Line Number Three: The Scotian, Arcadian, Zeeland,
Corinthian, Virginian, Andania, Saxonia, Grampian, Laconia,
Montreal, The Royal George.
All the way across the Atlantic we were in sight of each other and of
the cruisers. Personally, the scene thrilled me through and through.
Here was the demonstrated fact that we, an unmilitary people, with a
small population to draw on, had made a world record in sending the
greatest armada that had ever sailed from one port to another in the
history of man. Personally, I felt very proud because of the thirty-three
thousand soldiers on these boats only seventeen per cent. were born
Canadians; five per cent. Americans, and the other seventy-eight were
made up of English, Irish and Scotch residing in Canada at the outbreak
of the war.
There were no exciting scenes on the way over, except when some wild
and woolly Canadian tried to jump overboard because of seasickness.

We were a long time crossing, because the fastest transport had to cut
her speed down to that of the slowest, and the voyage was anything but
a pleasant one. When we finally steamed into Plymouth, the gray-backs
outnumbered the soldiers by many thousands. The invasion of England!
CHAPTER II
IN THE OLD COUNTRY
We were the first of the British Colonial soldiers to come to the aid of
the Motherland. Judging from the wonderful reception given us, it was
easy to see that the people were very pleased at our coming, to put it
mildly.
My first night on English soil I shall never forget. After three weeks on
ship coming over, we were all pretty stiff. The night we landed in
England we marched many miles, and as a result my feet were awfully
sore. So, when we finally arrived at Salisbury Plain and were
immediately ordered to march across the Plain another ten miles to
Pond Farm, I knew I shouldn't be able to do it, and confided my
troubles to Bill and another fellow named Laughlin. After we had gone
about four miles we came to an inviting haystack; it was too much for
us and all three of us slipped out of line, but before we could reach the
stack we were caught by Major Anderson. Bully old major! He
volunteered to carry my pack. In turn, I carried his greatcoat, and we
continued the march.
It wasn't very long before another haystack came in view and again we
couldn't resist the temptation. This time we made our goal, and there
we slept until early morning. Thus I passed my first night on English
soil. Two days later we landed in camp, after visiting Devizes,
Lavington and Salisbury City on the way. Laughlin wore the major's
coat, and by this device got through where otherwise we should have
been pinched.
After the first two days in England it began to rain, and it kept on
raining all the time we were there. The people round about the country
told us that never before in their lives had they seen such rains, but this

must be characteristic of people the world over. In Western Canada
when strangers come and it gets really