My Diary in Serbia Part 12

We arrived at Piraeus at 6 a.m., landed at 8, then took the train to Athens, and went straight to Cook's office and wrote letters to friends staying here, arranging to return for any answers. We then took a carriage and went to the museum; the statuary is very fine and beautiful. We returned to Cook's and found a letter from our Greek friends, inviting us to luncheon at 1 o'clock. We had an hour and a half more to spare, so took a carriage and went to the Acropolis. It is indeed wonderful the view of Athens from the top, most beautiful.

We thoroughly enjoyed this sight; the trees all along are most interesting--avenues of pepper trees, date palms, aloes and cactus; we also saw a few orange trees. We then went to our friend's house at 1 o'clock. There were three married sisters and their children, and an English girl, governess to the children. After luncheon they took us sight-seeing, first to the Polytechnic Inst.i.tute, founded in 1837 by some wealthy Greek, and containing memoirs of the Greek War of Independence, portraits and native costumes, and the clothes of the Greek King who was shot at Salonika. A tomb has been erected on the pavement there where he was shot, and a chapel is to be built near.

The pistol that shot him was in the case with the clothes. We also saw many flags that the Greeks had captured in many different wars, a sword of Lord Byron's, and his portrait and visiting card.

After leaving here we took the carriage and drove round the princ.i.p.al streets, then went to the Keremakos market, where there are wonderful tombs containing the remains of three people in each; the bones are visible, and the statue of the bull. We then went down the oldest streets, and to the ancient Church Eglise de Capnicarea. We saw the temple, the bank, the general post office and the theatre; had tea at a cafe and took the train back to the port, and arrived on the boat in time for dinner. Another lovely night; I slept on deck. I forgot to mention we pa.s.sed, on Wednesday, some burning rocks; the chief officer told us they are set on fire by oil by the shepherds, to watch their flocks by night.

Friday, _October 22, 1915._

We did not leave Athens until 8.30 this morning. We were held up much longer than we expected. An aeroplane followed our boat for a little way, but it was a Greek one, so we had nothing to fear. At 3 p.m. we had quite an excitement; a message was sent to the s.h.i.+p to say we had to go into the Island of Milos for orders; submarines had been seen round the neighbourhood. We got into Milos and found five French battles.h.i.+ps, submarine destroyers. One of the maritime s.h.i.+ps was in the harbour that had been torpedoed two weeks ago. The island is very picturesque; the houses are built in the Turkish style. We remained in the harbour for about two hours. We have a submarine destroyer escorting us, also another s.h.i.+p was with us, so we feel quite safe.

Written notices were sent round to each pa.s.senger with instructions what to do in case we were struck. The captain had an anxious voyage from here on, keeping watch all the time. We kept going out of our course and the destroyer and our boat were constantly signalling to each other. We had to come round by Crete instead of Cape Matapan. The wind has risen and it is very rough; most of the people are ill. We had a bad night, continuous thunderstorms and heavy rain. The boat is rolling as well as pitching.

Sat.u.r.day, _October 23, 1915._

It still continues very rough and very few pa.s.sengers are visible.

Nothing exciting has happened; our two escorts are still in front of us.

Sunday, _October 24, 1915._

This morning a large steamer signalled to our destroyer, so it left us for two or three hours and then returned. In the night it was exchanged for another one. We were told that they had to be very careful along this route, as nine boats were torpedoed in one week; naturally we were all more or less anxious, looking down into the cold water. I much dreaded the risk we ran as I should much prefer to be shot or sh.e.l.led to being drowned. We heard that we reach Malta in the evening, but owing to our having to go so much out of our course we did not arrive until the following morning at 6 a.m. It was an anxious night; neither the captain nor the chief officer appeared for dinner; no end of men were on the watch for enemy submarines; it seems that there are many in the Mediterranean just now, and we were told that this is the worst danger zone at present. The Germans have a specially large new one here which is doing a lot of damage. It has been very rough all night, and the boat had to slacken speed as we were not allowed to enter Malta before 6 a.m. I met a very interesting English lady from Constantinople on board this morning. She has lived there for forty years. Her husband is a doctor. She had three sons--two solicitors, the third an invalid. He suffers from fits. The youngest son's name was down on the list to be sent to Gallipoli with the English and French prisoners, whom the Turks were sending from Constantinople, in the hope that this would prevent our troops from bombarding Gallipoli. This poor mother was so distressed, and pleaded so hard to the Turkish officials that they consented that her son should be released. She then made another plea for her husband to be allowed to leave the country, and he left for Malta. Then she procured the release of her delicate son, and he also joined his father, and now she herself is on her way to join them. The other two sons were not allowed to leave; they are being kindly treated, but have come down to breaking stones. I felt very sorry for her, but admired her courage and cheerfulness in such distressing circ.u.mstances. All her valuables from her lovely home she sent to the Turkish bank, but of course has no hope of seeing them again; they are sure to be confiscated. Fifty or more of our men were sent to Gallipoli from Constantinople, so that should the place be bombarded they would be the first to fall; but the English and French threatened the Turks with other reprisals, and they were withdrawn. They left the s.h.i.+p and spent five days in a mosque, where they had to rough it terribly, though the officials were very kind to them, and on their return to Constantinople gave them a good dinner. Everybody out here speaks so well of the Turks, and all those we have met seem so very sorry that they are fighting against the English, and they said it would be their ruin joining the Germans, their great dread being the loss of Constantinople. Three little birds are following our boat, often coming on board; one is a robin, but the other two we do not know. We had several cats on board and were much afraid for the safety of the birds. Two sparrowhawks also pursued them.

Monday, _October 25, 1915._

We were allowed to land at Malta at 8 a.m. As we only had three hours on land we took a carriage, only 1 fr.80 the hour, and drove all round. The carriages are different from ours, so picturesque, and the Maltese women, with their curious headgear, are very fascinating. We went first to the gardens to see flowers and palms, which were looking lovely, then to the Church of St. John's, where a service was taking place, so we remained a little time. We saw the Governor's Palace, then the Chapel of Bones, formerly attached to the hospital. Over 2,000 skulls are shown, and the remaining framework of the body is most artistically arranged, but very gruesome. We had not time to enter the museum as we had to do a little shopping before returning to the boat. We sailed at 11.30, still very rough, and we could not keep a straight course; our escort was with us.

There were three suspicious characters on board, and we hear they had been locked up.

Tuesday, _October 26, 1915._

Still very rough, and most of the pa.s.sengers have had to retire; those who were able to remain played bridge.

We have no b.u.t.ter for tea, only biscuits and dry bread; this was not such a hards.h.i.+p to me as to some of the other pa.s.sengers. We had had no b.u.t.ter in Serbia for more than three months as b.u.t.ter cost there 7_s._ per pound, and as we could only obtain such small quant.i.ties, even at that price, it was not worth buying for our large unit.

Wednesday, _October 27, 1915._

We had a bad thunderstorm to-day, and the sea is still very rough.

Nothing of any importance happened.

Thursday, _October 28, 1915._

We arrived at Ma.r.s.eilles at 8 a.m., for which we were all truly thankful, as it is not much pleasure to be facing such dangers as we had done.

At the Customs our luggage was most carefully searched, even the leaves of our Bibles and other books being turned over. We were all much amused and wondered if we should be searched next. This I believe happened to some of the women, but not any of our party.

We had our pa.s.sports seen, and also paid a visit to the police station to obtain a pa.s.s to Boulogne. This took up most of the day, and we remained two nights in Ma.r.s.eilles. There is an Indian camp, as they come here to be climatized before going to the front. It was interesting seeing them about the town.

Sat.u.r.day, _October 30, 1915._

We left at 7 p.m., and on our arrival at Boulogne found the times had been altered, and our boat did not leave until the next day at 3 p.m.

Monday, _November 1, 1915._

When we got on to the quay a hospital train came along, and we were told our King was in it, and his boat left just before ours, so we felt quite safe--and not at all sorry when we arrived once more in England.

Butler & Tanner Frome and London