Every detail has been worked out and
rehearsed, and every officer and man should now know the peculiar role
which has been assigned to him.
The navy will have entire charge of the landing of these thousands of
men. Beach parties will go ashore with the first of the troops, and
officers from the ships will direct the movements of all the boats as
they bring the troops ashore.
This battleship belongs to a division which will consist of the
Australians, who are to land near Gaba Tepe. We are one of the landing
ships, and this afternoon received on board 500 officers and men of the
Australian contingent who are to form part of the covering force. They
are a magnificent body of men, and full of enthusiasm for the honorable
and dangerous role given to them.
At 2 o'clock the flagship of this division took up her position at the
head of the line. We passed down through the long line of slowly moving
transports amid tremendous cheering, and were played out of the bay by
the French warships. No sight could have been finer than this spectacle
of long lines of warships and transports, each making for its special
rendezvous without any delay or confusion.
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