Letters From the Front

Dated:

The following is a letter received by Mrs. Mary Wells, form her son who sailed from Halifax, 13 September, 1916 arriving in England on 22 September.

“Dearest mother and Sister:

I will try and relate in full the events which have taken place since last I wrote.

Our battalion moved from St. Andrew’s, New Brunswick to Digby, Nova Scotia, four days ago.

The country around Digby is the most lovely I have ever been in, you know it is the land of “Evangeline” the country is all hills and mountains and I right on the sea, along the shore we see thousands and thousands of square yards of Codfish spread out in the sun to dry.

We pulled tent stakes at Digby a week ago last night, burnt everything in sight and entrained for Halifax. We travelled all night through Nova Scotia and arrived in Halifax in the morning. We were hurriedly embarked on the steamer (Matagama) along with two artillery units from Petewawa. Bill Kay and old C.C.I boy, is a sergeant in the 55th Canadian Field Artillery and is on this ship. We laid in the harbor all Tuesday and put out to sea early Wednesday morning.

There are three transports with us all crowded with soldiers, we are all sailing in a straight row and we are escorted by an Armored Cruiser which is leading.

I have been very sick ever since I put out to sea, and have been able to be on deck very little. We see sharks and whales in the water near the ship.

We are now nearing the danger zone and every port hole has a covering, and every crack is papered.

The “Olympic” also carrying soldiers passed us the other day. Nobody on board but the high ship officers know where we are bound for but we think Liverpool, we are always in the dark as to the time and place of our movements so here we go slowly steaming through the darkness, laboring in a heavy sea. no one is allowed on deck, and every life belt is in readiness. We are very near the danger zone tonight and we expect more convoys, (torpedo boats etc. soon.

Wednesday night.

I feel better today and the sea is not so rough. I went up on the deck this afternoon to see the boys boxing and wrestling. We had ship drill and in fifteen minutes after the alarm sounded everything on board the ship that breathed was on deck with life belts on.

Tonight the boys gave a concert in the dining saloon, in aid of the wives and orphans of the seamen of Liverpool, who have lost their lives at sea. The concert consisted of vocal solos, humurous numbers and songs, violin, banjo and piano selections, etc. We all enjoyed it immensely. We have not met our expected convoys yet and are in the danger zone. Tomorrow and until we land, we will all have to wear our life belts all day and the life boats are hung over the side of the boat in readiness to be lowered.
We have a large cannon on the rear of this transport to shoot submarines with. We do not expect to disembark until Saturday.

I forgot to mention that during the early part of our voyage a man fell overboard from one of the vessels and he swam for about ten minutes before the huge steamer was stopped and a life boat was lowered and he was rescued.

No names are painted on the ships and no flags are seen at all, we may sight land tomorrow night.

Thursday night.

Was as sick as ever this morning again but am feeling better tonight. We are now sailing very fast, steaming at full speed. We have now five torpedo boat destroyers as well as our battle cruiser, the sea is calm and we will see the Irish Coast in the morning, we will probably be in port tomorrow night.

The torpedo boat destroyers are long narrow small boats with nothing high above the water. Their points are sharp for ramming submarines and they have rapid firing gun on the fore and rear. They are very speedy, having a speed of 44 knots.

Besides soldiers on board we have about one hundred tons of mail for Liverpool, London, somewhere in France, etc. it is very nice on this boat, we have good meals, although I have had few of them. There are two berths in this room, each with two bunks one on top of the other. We wear our life belts all day. Ate with a life belt on.

Tuesday, Witley Camp England.

Sailed into Liverpool on Friday night and we were greeted loudly with cheers and flags.

There was a Zeppelin raid going on when we landed but not near Liverpool, we were put on the funniest train you ever saw, the cars are divided into compartments and each car is small and light. We travelled all night across England, through Manchester, Birmingham and many other large cities and towns. They were all in total darkness, in account of the frequent Zeppelin raids.

The working people live in thatched houses with thatched roofs. The dwellings and country are quaint and out of date. The air is not so invigorating as in Canada and our country is more modern. Witley camp is all composed of wooden huts. It is as large as Chatham with paved streets, a Y.M.C.A, a lighting plant, post office, etc.etc. There are thousands of soldiers here, all Canadians. Monday night and last night there were Zeppelin raids and we were all ordered to dress and prepare to scatter. The raid of Monday night, was near this camp and one Zeppelin was brought down only two counties away. About eighty people were killed by bombs. Two of the Zeppelins of the largest type were brought down by ant-aircraft guns.

We expect to go to the front within six weeks. Hurrah! Hurrah!

We have straw ticks to sleep on and are quite comfortable. We will be granted a week’s furlough before we leave and we are all going up to London, which is only 32 miles away and see the town. They will not take Canadian coins over here at all. The English money is very confusing.

Send me a few Planets.
With love. Harold