Diary account of the Dardanelles campaign.

£2,250 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

Stevenson departed Liverpool for the Dardanelles on HMT 2810, which was the Olympic sister ship to the ill-fated Titanic. Passing Gibralter they soon came across a life boat full of French sailors, whose ship had been sunk by a German submarine. They took the crew on board and immediately commenced pursuit of the enemy submarine: “About 4pm hostile submarine sighted… The siren was blown several times and was the most eerie and dismal sound we ever heard. It seemed almost as though the ship was uttering a cry of despair… Gun on fore suddenly fired boat swung right round almost in our lengthand heeled right over so sudden was the turn Gunner on aft gun then fired and submarine made off when we were right round we were sull speed ahead up med. again so submarine could have caught us… Very noticeable no excitement but considerable curiosity. It is believed a torpedo had been fired but missed as boat swung round.” There’s a detailed description of Lemnos, which Churchill felt was an ideal launching site for an attack on the Dardanelles, and much speculation among the men over their final destination. On October 7, they disembarked on W beach “along a ‘Pier’ which consisted of several boats joined up” and soon settled into trenches. Stevenson’s experience of trench warfare is dreadfully monotonous and many of the entries report the ongoing movements of Turkish troops, shelling attacks, moving between trenches, the occasional bath in the ocean. He regularly reports the death and inj

• Year: 1916

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