Letter from Angus McLean

Below we quote from a letter received by Mr. John McLean from his brother Angus, who recently landed in England as a member of the Canadian reinforcements for the 1st and 2nd contingents, the letter being dated from Shorncliffe, England.

DEAR BROTHER: -
Arrived safe at last. We landed here last night at 11 o'clock, being on the train all day yesterday. We left Montreal on June 10th and landed at Plymouth on Saturday night, June 19th. Believe me we were glad to land. We went down to the west of France and were escorted across the Channel by two destroyers. We had dandy weather and it was only rough for two days. We were nearly all sick on Sunday, but on Monday we were all right and it was calm the rest of the way. We were inoculated last Wednesday, on the boat, but it did not take very badly as it was the third time, the first and second taking pretty bad with me. Last Friday night we had to sleep on the decks with our life belts on and the life boats swung out and ready all the time, as a protection against mines and submarines, but we didn't see any.
We have dandy quarters here. The barracks are built like tenement houses, long and narrow, ten men to each section. We are connected with a Highland Battalion, but have not got our uniforms yet, will get them in a few days.
We passed through London yesterday, and it is sure some town from what we saw. At every step we made there was a bunch of girls after Canadian coins and our badges. We couldn't get off without they were trying to pull them off. We have seen all kinds of war machines now. We saw the first zeppelin this morning, although it was a long way off we could see it with the naked eye. We also saw the boat that sank the Kron Prinz, and she is sure some boat. There are a bunch of wounded Canadians here from the 1st and 2nd contingents, but have not seen any that I know. . . Tell the bunch that everything is going well, and when we get the kilts we will send you a picture."