Charlie Thicke's Letter
Mr. S.E. Thicke has received a most interesting letter from his son, Charlie, which is written in the form of a diary. We give below some of the items in brief which will be of interest to our readers:
Thursday, June 10, left Montreal with grand send-off. Had 1,500 on board. Had good day down St. Lawrence, arriving in Quebec that night, and was inspected by the Duke of Connaught.
Friday goy out to sea, passing where the str. Empress of Ireland went down. Submarine close to us. Weather fine.
June 16, lots of sickness on board. Sick myself. Too rough to go on deck. All sick, officers as well. 10 pm boat stopped, lights out. In a field of icebergs.
June 16, lots of excitement on board. Ship's alarm sounded, every man on board with life belts on ready to get into boats, but was only to list us. Was inoculated again, making four times in all.
Thursday, 17th. Weather brighter. Feeling sore after inoculation. Getting tired of voyage. After to-night every man to sleep on deck for fear of submarines and no lights to be seen.
June 19th, thought we saw submarines. Captain turned in different direction, but only a floating deck. It is a beautiful day, and we shall soon be in. We landed this evening. Some crowd to greet us. Nothing but war. I must mention that the last day we were chased by six torpedo boats, and had to hoist our flags, and it did not take them long to catch us, and when they got to us we gave them the semaphore. Some excitement, every one thinking, but didn't know if they were German boats or British, but they happened to be our own escort. And talk about whales. I saw a few, and the whole back of one, and you know that fish called the porpoise? I saw about a hundred of them jumping in the water.
As I said before, there were thousands to greet us when we landed, and all the sailors off battleships cheered us and sang songs. We landed at Plymouth, traveled all day on the train, and arrived here in the evening. It was well on to midnight when we reached the camp and went to bed. Next day they broke it to us that we were reinforcements to the 48th Highlanders. Some class! I am feeling better than I ever felt before, and am sure some Scotchman!. . Am having my picture taken.
