Sunday 4th July 1915, to Gwendoline Bragg

Robert writes to his mother from on board the ‘Knight Templar’ the transport ship which is taking his division to the Mediterranean. From now on the post is much more sporadic and takes two or three weeks rather than a day or so (the envelope is postmarked 17th July).

He’s obviously rather shocked at the accommodations, particularly for the horses and it takes several days to fall into a routine. He details the cramped quarters for horses and men on board.

Robert is acting 2nd Lieutenant and one of the officers in charge of censoring letters, he’s very conscientious and as he notes at the top he’s censoring his own letters in line with new rules. The places he mentions (as detailed in the War Diary and his other letters) are mostly censored, they are due to go through the Straits of Gibraltar the following night (10.30pm 5th July) then past Malta where Robert hopes to get a letter off.

I am censoring this myself under new regulations which have come out since I wrote it.

On Board, [censored]

Sunday July 4th

Dear Mum

I don’t know when I shall get a chance of posting this to you, not befor[e] [censored] I am afraid; but I am writing it now on the off chance of catching a pilot boat or something at [censored]. We go through the [censored] to-morrow night. This is not exactly what you would call a joy ride; I will give you a summary of what we have so far done.

We left Witley as you know on Wednesday evening at 7.35 (from Goldalming as a matter of fact) Everyone behaved very well & we got off without a hitch. I was very annoyed that Wednesday happened to be early closing day so I went off minus lots of things I wanted to get notably soap writing paper & a few more thin shirts. That was on[e] of life’s little ironies. However I hope to be able to get them at [censored] or somewhere else. Well we travelled all night and got to Devonport at 5am on Thursday morning. We immediately started loaded up. This boat was fitted up as a troop ship by the New Zealand Government who must have intended putting mules in it, for they have built the stalls so narrow that some of our horses wont go through the two uprights of the stalls.

It took several hours of jolly hard work to get all the horses in because of course some of them were frightened and kicked up a fuss. Also the men weren’t used to the stalls. However we finally got them all in and turned our attention to the rest of the baggage. Then we had a well earned breakfast. All that morning we fussed round straightening up things. We came in two trainloads Ellison & I & my section first & then the rest of the battery under the Major. This second train arrived at about 9 am. I got a chance to send off one or two letters before lunch. We sailed at 3p.m.

We got a royal send off from all the boats in Plymouth harbour and also from the people of Plymouth itself who turned out on that promenade just in front of the hotel where we spent our first night in England. It was a very jolly seeing Plymouth again; it is a cheery place. How we enjoyed those two months there didn’t we. We struck a bit of a swell outside & rolled about a lot being so empty. Quite a lot of people were sick, but not nearly so many as I expected. Ellison succumbed on the second day but is alright now. We ended up the first day by watering the horses at 11.p.m & jolly weary we were too.

Next morning we started stables at 6.am. just watered & fed, mens breakfasts at 7.15 but ours at 8.30, rather too long to wait; I was hungry. The Major got quite dickey waiting for it and I think had a little faint on his own. We started “mucking out” at 8. no easy job. It means that the horses have to be taken out of their stalls one by one, the partitions taken down, the bottom boards taken out & scrubbed & then put back again Well we finished mucking out & straightening up the decks at 4 p.m that afternoon.

We have three batteries & the Head Quarter Staff on board; and two horse decks, one below the usual deck and then another set of stalls on the usual deck. The tops of these stalls are roofed over s & form the mens decks. We are most frightfully crowded, you absolutely cant move. It is bad enough now, being only fairly hot, what it will be like when we get into the really hot part, I don’t know.

On Saturday we were much quicker at mucking out & were all clear by 12. To-day Sunday was the record as we had finished by 9am. It is an awful sweat trying to exercise the horses; we take them out about 6 at a time (on each deck that is & there are two horse decks forward & two aft) and solemnly promenade them along little strips of coconut matting put down on the iron decks for the purpose.

You have to be frightfully careful about keeping them on it too; otherwise they go down in a moment & are rather hard to get up. I have two down so far & that was because they kicked up a fuss when we were putting them back into their stalls & kicked the matting away.

We don’t seem to worry much about submarines. We have armed guards of course and two guns on deck. On the first day we got a bit of a shock as we passed a small black object sticking up vertically from the water. It couldn’t have been a periscope because it never moved as we went past. The men got very excited though. It is frightfully hot now as we have a following wind & not a breath of air. I will add some more to this probably before I post it.

Good night March.

Your loving son, Bob.

Wednesday

By Jove its hot. Those horse decks this afternoon were almost unbearable. The poor old horses just stand in their stalls & pant. When they get too bad we have to take them out and tie them to the hatches so that they can get a breath of air.

We have given up wearing tunics & go about in shirt sleeves all day & even then you cant move a step without dripping. I am afraid we shall lose a few horses if it doesn’t get a bit cooler; fortunately to-night a breeze has sprung up & we can breathe again. We pass all kinds of interesting things I wish I could give you details of them all. I will some day.

I have been censoring letters all this afternoon and can hardly refrain from using all the men’s expressions such as “I hope this finds you as it leaves me, in the pink” some of their letters are simply killing they nearly all write two one home, about half a page & then a long one of many sheets to their best girls. A nice little breeze has sprung up & it is much cooler. I have got a little list of things I want.

1. Tobacco. Three Nun’s in 2oz tins about 1 tin a week

2. Chocolate

3. Toilet paper

4. Matches

5. Another thin shirt made of solaro rather expensive but almost necessary once a fortnight

6. Electric light refill No

I think that is all but if I get any more inspirations I will add to this letter befor[e] I post it.

Well Cheer Oh March & Pard. Give my love to all my little friends Cicely & Mrs Gill

Bob

Photos courtesy of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. RI MS RCB/A/05

Notes and General Information

While Robert has censored his own letter in line with regulations the unit War Diary and his own later letters give a timeline for the trip which took almost two weeks. The ship left Devonport via Plymouth then travelled down the coast of France, round Portugal and Spain and through the Straits of Gilbraltar then stopping briefly at Malta which is possibly where this letter was posted.

According to the unit War Diary the ‘Knight Templar’ actually departed at 3.30 on the 3rd July. The diary lists 13 Officers 464 other Ranks 407 Horses 12 Guns 63 (4 wheeled) vehicles & 5 (2 wheeled) vehicles arriving at the ‘port of embarkation’ [Devonport] and embarking on S.S. “Knight Templar”. D Battery followed the next day on the S.S. Karoo.

The ‘Knight Templar’ was a ten year old cargo vessel, run out of Liverpool which had been commandeered for service. It had initially brought over two thousand men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force up to Egypt, arriving in May 1915.

As can be seen from this slightly blurred image of horses transported by ship and from Robert’s description, the ship was crammed as full as possible. However, where Robert suggests the stalls had been built for mules this may be true rather than an exaggeration: mules were used for transport of supplies throughout the Gallipoli penninsular in their hundreds.

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