THROUGH THE RED SEA.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIX, Issue 10, 13 January 1915, Page 6

THROUGH THE RED SEA.

THE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE.

FIRST GLIMPSE OF ENEMY'S COUNTRY.

TROOPS IN GOOD SPIIUTS

(Melbourne Age Correspondent.) v SUEZ, Nor. 30, .At the entrance to the Red Sea the Australian troops obtained their first •glimpse of the enemy's territory. They saw more than that. They rsaw'Wts that had been destroyed on ■idie Arabian side of the Strait of Babel-Mandeb. Fi om this * point onward until they reached Port baid, they were to find other. traces and signs of war. ■_ At Aden we learnt the state oi affairs on the Suez isthmus, and there was much speculation as to what might Be the revolt of this tresa adversary coining on the scene. Aden, a town horrible, even and desolate, -dumped down at the forot oi bald •crumbling hills, did not look any more attractive because we jomux warships in the harbor, except, tnat our convoy completely failed tae Karbor and overflowed into the roaaStead and gar© the port an importap.ee unusual to it. l .When a fleet such as the one col-, veying the Australian troops trom one side, of the globe to the other ±^«IS^^i>£S "SoSS along the route, the troops K£n to |i-asp what' flte- Empire '3 T meaniand the significance of tS wordl Our *ips, coaled convenienty at Colombo and again at -Sn nave steamed up the Red Sea, and will be able to coal again at Port Sid foi the Man anl Territorial troom that guard the canal make it a sfii waterway, so though we are L the very heart of things, as.it we are still very much out of touch with.events in Europe. With perfect confidence to are •oassinff along the fringe of the memy's country to the-troops encamped at various points on %. edge of the desert, atid to the esoorfc' that Sards us, and we are gradually; /"working to a point whence it will be to strike a blow. One might Save read the-portent of ail this in

cables - at our i ast port o f ca u. it only at Aden we i earnt o f the oJiano . es at . t h e Admiralty and of the appointment of Lord Fisher, of the proKress o f the Allies, and the heroic £ barge of tlie London Scottish. This news was passed from lip to lip, from g j. gl - as we lay Aden ,. it was here we had to {n water< MILITARY ACTIVITY AT ADEN. On the map you will find Aden, a spot of red at the corner of an immense country where the Arabs and Bedouins have stagnated under the rule of the, Truks Dry bare_as Aden may look unbearable as the climate appeared .for white troops to laibide in it it was when we anchored, throbbing with concealed energy. It contained an unsuspected sting. Its strength as a base was more strikingly apparent at night, when the gaunt hills stood out m sharp contrast against ■_ the sky of doep Trussian blue., and the lights v gleamed glimmered from small crevices in the hillside. During the daytime .1 had seen fedia^ troops moving in single' file along bridle-tracks around these hil s, and the glitter of .bayonets m the sun. Dark and foreboding as the

aspect of these hills now was, at night, one kn^w that they had guns mounted in the rocks- Across the.

sluggish water of the harbor the brilliant lays of a, searchlight guided from a point low down near . the water's edge sought out the ships. • It1 lit their hulls and decks witha^ kind -of phosphorescent glow as it.circled round from the distant ocean on to the warships that lay waiting with guns pointed to the flat-roofed house.? on T/he shore. It was hard to realise this was a British town on the very i edge of the desert into which during the day I had ventured somewhere at ! the back of the ranges. It was supposed there were Turkish troops mustering in their own territory, besides Arab tribes. One was not surprised therefore to oome suddenly on a camel corps camped on the sand. It Tv-as d&cidedly strange^ to approach the.camel lines at night, and-to.see these animals swaying their -flattopped heads, and swinging vthemselves gently backwards and forwards, to hear, too, their curiously; human cries, and the muttermgs of native troops as they rested by their rifles. | SC 4TTERED TENTS AND BLOCKHOUSES. La/ter one stumbled across the tents of an English regiment of troops, wearing short breeches, which I expect our men will be clad in soon.* It" was furiously routing, -Walking over the brow of the hill. There were suddenly stretched' out before me in the moonlight scattered tents and blockhouses and low barracks, which I had seen as we approached the harbor from the eastward, and I marked the bare lulls that reminded one of

forts. ■ ] A most effective ■ realisation that there w»s a state of war came when I landed at a little jetty from a native skiff, and was challenged! by an Indian lancer, who rose up from a sentry box of sand bags ho had built for himself and his comrades. Later, when I returned by the same route with some officers, the stillness of the might was broken'by a challenge uttered in English, "Halt!" Under the gleam of a swinging oil lamj) I could again see the daric faces of■ the native soldiers, and catch the glint of polished steel. "Friend," we answered. "Pass, friend. All's well," and we walked oh to our boat. By day I had seen a few camel teams passing along in line with /their native, owners, bringing goods from the desert to trade. A motor dashed out to the outskirts of the town, and passed the sentries and on through the native villages. Occasionally a miserable horse or a donkej' passed along with a listless rider. .

We had a surprise visit while in port from a man on another ship that was lying about a hundred! yards from us. He had discarded his clothes, and swum across the shark-infested waters and scrambled up the sides of our ship. We left port at dawn on the morning of 26th November in very much the same formation as we had! lefit Australian waters, except that the New Zealand ships werfe on our port bow and slightly ahead. Owing to part of the fleet having arrived over night and anchoring in the outer harbor, getting the ships into position necessitated some pretty manoeuvring. What a sight it Was to see these ships gradually getting under way. Now on this side one ship ■wjould gradually overhaul another, and then, another and another, until they were all down to a steady speed. We led the way, guided by the cruiser ahead. From the direqtion in which we were heading there came past us other transports. They were swifter but smaller craft than ours.

DESTROYED TURKISH FORTS SIGHTED.

It was exciting for Aden residents to hear on 16th November the distant booming- of cannons 70 miles away at Perim, where #he Turkish forte at the entrance "to the Red Sea were being shelled. Our convoy came up to these forts, or at least to within six miles of them, the day after we left Aden. I suppose the entrance at this straajt of Babel-Manda'b is not more than ten miles wide. In the middle is the island of Perim. Here on one side is Africa and French territory, and on j the other side Arabia and Turkish ; territory, with the now silent foitts. In the middle is the British island. If i the forts had been armed ■', with heavy ! guns they would have beeii.a menace I pipping.passing into, iEe, Red Sea, but tii« guns at Fort Turla were old and obsolefte. As we saw it"the fort consisted of bare hills 400 ft. above the rocks where the sea was breaking. Immediately behind, on the other side, were peaks, one 800 ft high, on the left, towards a point of the cape, which stretched out towards the Island of Perim, and the other 500 ft high and very precipitous. ! On each bank I could distinguish tracks and ruins, some of ancient date, and others just battered by the guns of our cruiser that had shelled the forts'. With good glasses one could trace a road that led up -from the settlement on. the beach to the forts. In the hands of a resourceful enemy the forts might have been dangerous, for they commanded the Island of Perim. We did not enter by bhe small strait—the passage between* ' the forts and the island—on account i of the number of our ships. The cruiser which had bombarded the forts had commenced at noon, and had silenced the forts by nightfall, by ! which time the Indian troops had been • landed under cover of the guns, but ! the place was then deserted, for the j rurkjs had bolted for the desert leaving a great quantity of ammunition, and a number of guns. Behind (the hills, on the other side of the strait, was Sheikh Seyd, a Turkish village on I the shores of a lagoon of some size, but there is a bar across the entrance. Fhe enemy had scampered away to the hills. We could see the hazy range in L the distance half enveloped in a sand j storm. ■ i LIGHTHOUSES WITHOUT LIGHTS 1 As we sailed further up the sea we got more indications that we were in waters hostile, without being in the least degree dangerous. The Red Sea is studded with islands. Lighthouses have been built on many of these. The Furkisli Government received a subiidy from Great Britain for men to tend these lights. They weip Arabs, blilt mostly they had been withdrawn it the beginning of hostilities, and the lights were unlit and the sea was without beacons. The lighthouses in many cases wore deserted, but in one [ saw a man in white clambering over x wall near his own lone dwelling. A.t Perim also we had seen an Arab whose camp was on the back slopes of the island, driving a camel up the sand's. However, he had taklen )the precaution of raising a British flag aver his hut. At first glance we had taken it for a red flag with a crescent. As we came- up to the head of the Gulf of Suez we found the lighthouses under the control of the JEgypti;in Government.. These h'jthts are still burning, giving warning of >

treacherous rocks, such, as The Brothers, that lie immediately in the track.

Each day we have passed transport ships going east. As we approached Suez the troops were in the very highest spirits at the prospeot of reaching the Mediterranean ana the last stage of the journey. For the first time m nearly four weeks the men wore their boots, which I noticed had been well oiled. At church parade they put on their shirts, which it was evident by the creases had been stowed away for some time. The wind had been freshening and the nights had become positively chilly. CHEERS EXCHANGED IN CANAL. For reasons impolitic to disclose at this juncture, our flagship had hurried on through the canal, and on ithe last day of the month we arrived at Port Said. It was a remarkable passage through the great waterway, held and patrolled by British troops. We had delayed at Aden only long enough to obtain our orders from military officers who hurripd o)i board and pnjt down ''several or. our own officers who would pick up the ships at the other end ■of the canal, 90 miles distant. Early in. the afternoon we entered the canal, and came on a camp of Indian troops. We saw a squad of them come running over the sand, jumping over trenches, while others came pouring out from behind fortifications down ito the banks of the canal, where they cheered in answer to the cheers of the fifth battalion on the flagship, j From this point on we kept meeting parties of soldiers, sometimes Indian regiments. sometimes Territorial j units, theft had arrived from England, and constantly we passed patrol parties. The Australians left none in doubt as to their nationality. The crews of tramp steamers, barges, ! dredges, cor-nl steamers nncl the sol- i ,(liars on l lie bank ',vera all told whence]

/the troops on board came. The air was perfectly calm, the questions and answers passed clearly and floated away across the sands. i As night fell, and the wonderful ' tones,of crimson and gold: and purple j shot across the sky, and the hills were j bathed in a pink mist, our bands struck up brisk marches. The ship was gliding slowly forward, and the troops, were roused to a pitch or intense .excitement. Good luck and good wishes were shouted to them j from the dark figures on the banks silhouetted against the evening sky. But the most extraordinary thing of ■ all was the action of the Indian ! when *hey heard the bagpipes. They [ could not see the pipers parading the decks, for the lights were not lit, out the pipe music stirred something in their blood, and they danced, flung up tueir arms, and cheered wildly. It was nearly midnight before the ship settled down (to sleep, and the j guards onl the edges of the canal answered midst the silence the calls from the sentries on board, or the enquiries of some officer who'wanted' to know if an English regiment he knew was camped there by the edge of the desei-t. In the morning, when the troops turned out, it was to find themselves at Port .Said. It had been a rapid run through the canal without a single stop. As the ship came to anchor the troops cheered. The sailors standing at the bows of a French man-of-war cheered, too. The other ships, being 24 hours' siteam behind us, will arrive to-morrow, «lst December. .