The Fifth Battalion Highland Light Infantry in the War 1914-1918 | Page 3

intended to spend the honeymoon at his seaside residence. With
all a French gentleman's courtesy he made the officers welcome to his
house and sought his honeymoon elsewhere.
We found ourselves aboard the Transylvania again on the 12th June,

and sailed at dusk. Our course was Northwards, so now, we thought,
we were in for the real thing. Gallipoli and the Turk would know us in
a few days time. To travel hopefully, reflected R.L. Stevenson, is better
than to arrive. Ere Crete was passed the ship put about and steamed for
Alexandria again. A wireless had been received recalling us to Egypt,
the reason for this volte face being, we understand, congestion at
Mudros, the advanced base.
[Illustration: OFFICERS OF THE BATTALION. GAILES CAMP.
JULY 1914.
2nd Lt. R.M. Miller, 2nd Lt. T.A. Fyfe, Lt. and Q.-M. T. Clark, Lt. A.B.
Currie, Lt. T.S.S. Wightman, Capt. D.E. Brand, 2nd Lt. E.M. Leith, Lt.
N.R. Campbell, Lt. K. Macfarlane, 2nd Lt. J.F. Moir, 2nd Lt. J.E.
Milne, Lt. R.H. Morrison.
Capt. J.B. Neilson, Capt. H.C. Macdonald, Major A.M. Downie, Major
D.A.C. Reid, C.F., Col. F.L. Morrison, V.D., Major T.L. Jowitt, Capt.
J.R. Simson, Capt. John MacDonald, Capt. George Morton, Jr.
2nd Lt. J.W. Main, 2nd Lt. Lewis MacLellan, 2nd Lt. J.W. Malcolm,
2nd Lt. E.T. Townsend.]
Alexandria on our return was dimmed in the heat and choking in the
sand clouds of a khamsin. This wind blows off the desert and man is
almost prostrate in its scorching blast. We had met a particularly hot
one--Alexandria had not known its like for years. The move back to
Aboukir was therefore very trying. We were now rejoined by the
Transport Section, and Major Jowitt and his party also returned. They
had gone direct to Mudros in the Mauretania, where an attempt was
made to post them to the 29th Division. The compliment was declined
on the ground that their unit was in the offing. After transhipping to the
Donaldson liner Saturnia, which was nearly hit by bombs from an
aeroplane, they were sent to Alexandria by the Minnetonka.
About this time Colonel Morrison had the pleasure of dining with the
Sultan of Egypt at his Palace near Alexandria, his tartan slacks
attracting considerable notice.

On 28th June we again embarked for Gallipoli, this time on the
Menominee. The Transport Section were left behind at Aboukir as there
was no room for them in the small sector occupied by our troops in
Gallipoli. We were all aboard and ready to sail by 4 p.m. All aboard did
we say? Then where's the Padre? Last seen going through the town
with the intention of making a few final purchases, he was now
nowhere to be found. As the relentless ship cast off and moved down
the harbour, his tall and for once dismayed figure came in sight on the
quay. Too late. Too late. All ranks crowded to the side shouting advice
and sympathetic cheers.
But the Padre was not to be denied. With the resource of the hero in the
film play, he routed out a motor boat and came speeding after us. Down
the ship's side hung a rope ladder to which clung a couple of natives in
a small boat. Overtaking us in great style, the Padre leapt into this and
essayed the ladder, but his pith helmet got in the way and his cane and
parcel of purchases burdened his hands, so he threw the lot to one of
the natives and began the precarious ascent. Half way up a swing of the
ladder brought him under a shoot of water from the ship's side, and at
the same moment an extra burst of cheering from the decks drew his
attention to the native who, as the best way of carrying the helmet, had
good humouredly donned it. It was a trying situation for any man, but
the Padre did full justice to the occasion and was eventually hauled on
board amid wild enthusiasm.
In spite of submarine scares the voyage up the Aegean Sea was a
pleasant one. By day the succession of rocky islands (among these
Patmos, where St. John was inspired to write his Revelation) shining in
the sea like jewels in an azure setting, marked our progress and recalled
their ancient story.
In the evening impromptu concerts were held, at one of which, on the
fo'c'sle decks the pipers played "The 5th H.L.I.'s Farewell to Aboukir,"
composed by Pipe Major Thomson. Can its plaintive harmonies still be
heard, or did they perish with him when he fell just ten days later?
At dawn on the 1st July we sighted Lemnos island. Soon we were lying
in Mudros Bay among over 120 ships, British and French of all sizes

and types, from battleships to submarines, and from great ocean