Australia in Arms. Phillip F. E. Schuler
in the light of the necessity of the Convoy scattering on the approach of enemy ships, and avoidance of slow ships hindering those of greater speed.
In the closing days of October the message was flashed through the fleet that the Convoy should get under way on 1st November, and that right early in the morning, for Major-General Bridges, no less than Captain Gordon Smith, who had command of the Convoy (he was Second Naval Member on the Australian Naval Board), was anxious to be off to his destination. That that point was to some degree fixed when the ships left port I have no doubt, though the masters of the transports actually did not know the route until they were some hundred miles clear of the coast and the Minotaur set the course to the Equator. Incessantly all through the night previous the tug-boats had churned the waters round our vessel's sides, darting off now to the uttermost ship of the line—the Miltiades (she had English reservists on board), now to return from the lighted town which lay behind the Flagship with rebellious spirits, who had come near to being left behind, to explain away their return now as best they might. To and fro panted the motor-boats, with their eyes of red as if sleepy from overwork. The General of the Division, in fact all his Staff, were up late settling these cases. I wondered at the matters that needed his personal attention; even though the ships were to be together for weeks, still they were in a sense isolated. When the last tug had departed and the last lingering soldier been brought from the shore and sent off to his own ship, there stole over the whole sleeping fleet a great peace. It was Sunday morning.
Heaving up her anchor at six o'clock by the chimes of the distant clocks on shore, the Flagship led the way from port. The waters were calm. No white-winged yachts came to circle round the fleet, only a tug with a cinematographer on board waited for the ships as they slowly went forth on to the perilous deep, each ship dipping its flag, paying tribute to the General on the Flagship, even down to the New Zealand transports, painted all a dull warship grey. The cruiser Melbourne lay in harbour still, while the other warships had gone ahead to the open sea, the Minotaur and Sydney gliding gracefully through the dull waters, leaving in their wake a terrible wash of foam, as warships will. The bugles still rang in our ears, though the wind from the south blew the notes astern. Amongst a group of officers I was standing on a skylight of the dining saloon watching the moving panorama behind. To bring the fleet, anchored facing the head of the Sound, into motion meant the gradual turning of each ship so that they passed one another, and because the entrance to the harbour was not quite wide enough, the Flagship went out first, barely making 10 knots, followed by the Southern, and the others in their line behind. We watched her bows buried in the sea one minute and then
DISPOSITION OF UNITS OF THE 1ST DIVISION IN THE CONVOY AND PLACES OF EMBARKATION.
| No. | Name. | Tonnage. | Speed. | Embarking at— | Troops. | O. | M. | H. |
| A1 | Hymettus | 4,606 | 11½ | Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide | A.S.C. and horses | 5 | 106 | 686 |
| A2 | Geelong | 7,951 | 12 | Melbourne and Hobart | Mixed | 47 | 1,295 | — |
| A3 | Orvieto | 12,130 | 15 | Melbourne | G.O.C., Infantry and details | 94 | 1,345 | 21 |
| A4 | Pera | 7,635 | 11 | Sydney | Artillery horses | 5 | 90 | 391 |
| A5 | Omrah | 8,130 | 15 | Brisbane | Infantry and A.S.C | 43 | 1,104 | 15 |
| A6 | Clan MacCorquodale | 5,058 | 12½ | Sydney | Horses | 6 | 113 | 524 |
| A7 | Medic | 12,032 | 13 | Adelaide and Freemantle | Two companies Infantry, Artillery, A.S.C. and A.M.C. | 28 | 977 | 270 |
| A8 | Argyllshire | 10,392 | 14 | Sydney | Artillery | 32 | 800 | 373 |
| A9 | Shropshire | 11,911 | 14 | Melbourne | Artillery | 42 | 794 | 433 |
| A10 | Karoo | 6,127 | 12 | Sydney and Melbourne | Signallers and A.M.C. | 13 | 388 | 398 |
| A11 | Ascanius | 10,048 | 13 | Adelaide and Freemantle | Infantry | 65 | 1,728 | 10 |
| A12 | Saldanha | 4,594 | 11 | Adelaide | Horses | 4 | 52 | 274 |
| A13 | Katuna | 4,641 | 11 | Sydney and Hobart | Horses | 5 | 94 |
506
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