THE YPRES TIMES
Thereafter the enemy, either because he thought the evacuation business was
a hoax, or because he thought he had fired off most of his ammunition, gave us no
further trouble, but this behaviour on his part was more than compensated for
by that of the sea, which at Suvla had been like a duck pond all through, and
so far at Helles had been quite calm.
On the morning of the last day we woke to find a fresh breeze from the
south-west which increased as the sun rose, and did not go down at sunset, and
by that time there were waves breaking on shore, which was the very last thing
we wanted, because we had to embark in K lighters.
These lighters are very much like the ordinary lighter but are completely
decked over and have their own motive power. I say are, when perhaps I should
have said were, as I very much doubt if they still exist, or ever will exist again.
A vessel of this kind is necessarily very difficult to handle in such a sea as
was running that night, and should either of the two lighters detailed to take us
off fail to get alongside the jetty, we should be in the deuce of a mess.
The night was very dark. Our rear-guards got away from the front line and
down to the beach unknown to the enemy; the first lighter got alongside the jetty
all right, when the second lighter, which was following close beind her, suddenly
swung off, turned broadside to the shore, and grounded fast.
Our situation was distinctly awkward. We had 800 men to embark in one
lighter, the maximum capacity of which was supposed to be 400, and all too little
time before dawn, and the Turks probably also, would be on us.
Somehow or other we crammed 650 men into one lighter, who as far as
1 know were none the worse for being jammed in like herrings in a barrel, though
the lighter had all it could do and made no end of fuss in getting away from the
jetty on the way to a transport, where she eventually arrived safely.
Orders came from W Beach that we were to send the 150 men remaining
down there for embarkation. The General sent me in charge of this party with
orders to go by the shore, which between Gully and W Beach was backed by
low cliffs, and as we moved off I can still see him in memory moving up the cliff
by the land road, carrying his Gladstone bag, which was afterwards the subject
of a parody on a well-known song.
We reached W Beach a bit wet as we had to wade through the sea in places,
and there found two lighters still alongside the jetty, embarking on the one
furthest from the shore.
The jetty, and a considerable distance inland and out to sea was brightly
lit by an ammunition dump blazing on the cliff just above us, the S.A.A. crackling
like rapid fire, but the gun ammunition was not yet ignited, and I was just going
to agree to the Captain's suggestion that we should put off to a transport when
W. arrived much perturbed at the General's absence, and demanding that the
lighter should remain at the jetty and take him off on arrival.
I could not believe that the General had not already embarked as he had had
a much shorter distance to travel than we had, but I agreed to remain, as it
seemed impossible that W. could have failed to see him with the jetty lit up as
with a dozen arclights.
As a matter of fact the General and the two officers with him were at that
moment on the far side of the wire covering W Beach, and had they not
providentially met a demolition party coming in, who showed them the gap they
could not find, they must have been taken prisoners. They got to the jetty
safely, embarking in the inshore lighter. We must have been beside the jetty