to go to England to-morrow?" I only _said_, "No, sir, not particularly;
I think it would be rather cold there just now, and I should like to see
the war through," but I _thought_ to myself, "What has gone wrong that
he wants to ship me off?" because we had worried through some very thick
times of difficulties together; but then he explained to me that _he_
had been chosen to go home in charge of the sick on the ship on which
Lord Roberts was to go--the _Canada_--and he was to choose two sisters
and some good orderlies to take with him; he thought the trip would do
me good, as I had not been really well since my accident, and he thought
I could certainly come out again if I wished, but (of course) I should
very likely not get back here as Superintendent. I did not mind that at
all, as for some time I had been keen on seeing some work farther
up-country, and it seems likely that this place will become more of a
"Rest Camp," and less of an acute hospital as time goes on.
Anyhow, he seemed to wish me to go with him, so in ten minutes I had
made up my mind to go, and we had decided to take Sister ---- (one of
our original batch of sisters) with us; and then there were the
orderlies to choose.
It was 5.30 P.M. on Monday when I got my marching orders, and the Major
had to leave the next day at 12.17, and we to follow him at 3.40 P.M.,
so you can imagine we had a rush, and there was little sleep for us that
night.
The R.A.M.C. Lieutenant was put in temporary charge until the P.M.O.
could send a Major down; my senior sister took over the Superintendent's
duty for me, and I had to show her all the details about the mess
accounts, stores, linen, washing, &c.; arrange to send my dog back to
the people who had given him to me (as I should not have been able to
land him in England); send my saddle up to Maritzburg to be sold, so as
to make room in my saddle-box for packing curios, &c.; to say nothing of
my own packing up, and heaps of other things to arrange about.
I could not go to see any of the many friends who had been so kind to
us; but before the ship sailed I was able to write fifteen letters of
farewell and apologies, and managed to send them ashore.
There was a good deal to settle about the servants too: our good
Madrassee cook was to leave the next day, and all the black boys said
they "no stay if the big boss and the little missus go to England"; but
perhaps they will settle down again.
All the orderlies came crowding down to the station to see us off, and
gave us such cheers; and John and the other black boys were all mopping
their eyes, Charlie holding on to my little Bobs, who was whining and
struggling to come with me--but he will go back to a very good home.
When we got on board at Durban we found the ship had to go to the outer
anchorage. We were disappointed that we could not even go up the town to
say good-byes, and really we might have had another night ashore, as
Lord Roberts never came down till the next day.
Our good friend, Mr. T., from Pinetown, kindly came on board to say
good-bye, and brought us a lovely hamper of flowers, some of which we
arranged in Lord Roberts' cabin.
Fifty men were to leave the day after we did, so they will be very light
in the hospital, and the P.M.O. said he should not send more down till
he had settled the staff.
Lord Roberts came on board with his staff at 6 P.M. on December 5th, and
we sailed at once. Only 400 troops came on board at Durban, but we heard
we should have 1200 after Cape Town.
The _Canada_ is a splendid boat, with the finest stretch of upper deck
that I have seen on any ship. From Durban to Cape Town the saloon was
very empty; besides Sister and myself there was only one lady on board,
the wife of a chaplain from Wynberg--they have been to Ceylon for a trip
with a shipload of Boer prisoners.
Besides Lord Roberts, we have on board General Ian Hamilton, General
Kelly-Kenny, General Marshall, Lord Stanley, and others.
I was shown a copy of the orders about the Medical Company to be put on
board this ship: it read, "to include two specially selected
sisters"--it sounded like choosing turkeys for Christmas!
There is a hospital with eighty-four cots on board, but, as the men were
supposed to be chiefly time-expired men and not sick troops, we did not
expect very much work.
We had fine weather coming round the coast, and Lord Roberts went ashore
to receive addresses both at East London and at Port Elizabeth; after
Port Elizabeth there was a very heavy swell till we reached Cape Town,
and poor Sister ---- was so bad we were quite glad the hospital was
still empty.
Before we reached Cape Town Lord Roberts came up to speak to me, and we
had quite a long chat; he was very anxious that we should have
everything that we wanted for the hospital.
He told me that Lady Roberts and his two daughters would join us at Cape
Town; and two sisters who have been nursing her are coming home with the
Miss Roberts who has been ill.
At Cape Town Lord Roberts had a great reception, of which I got some
good photos. When I could get away from the ship I went up the town and
wired to my brother in Kimberley, to tell him that I was going home, but
after doing so I thought I might as well inquire whether, by any
chance, he was down in Cape Town, so I went to his club, and was much
surprised to find he was in the town; so I left a note to arrange to
meet him next day.
The next day was Sunday, and Sister and I went to service in the
cathedral (which Lord Roberts attended with his staff), and then my
brother met us, and took us up to an excellent lunch at Mount Nelson
Hotel.
After lunch Sister ---- went off to see some friends at Wynberg, and my
brother and I went to see various friends in the suburbs, and finished
up with supper with the S.'s at their lovely Kenilworth home. It was
nice meeting so many old friends; and then I went back to sleep on
board.
The next morning I made a raid on the Red Cross Society and the "Absent
Minded Beggar" people to beg for games, cards, books, tobacco, &c., for
the men on the way home; and in a few hours' time they sent me on a
splendid supply. Then it was "Ladies' Day" at the club, so I found time
to run up to lunch with my brother there, and he had some old Kimberley
friends also lunching with him. After that the troops were coming on
board, so I had to go back to duty.
I was appointed Lady Superintendent for the voyage, and two more sisters
were sent on to help us--also three Roman Catholic sisters who had been
nursing in Bloemfontein, had a passage home on the _Canada_, and were to
be "available for duty" if I wanted them.
The Cape Town people gave Lord Roberts a great send off on December
10th, and H.M.S. _Doris_ escorted us out to sea.
We have very comfortable cabins, and the Major (who is P.M.O. on board)
invited Sister ---- and me to sit at his table in the saloon with four
other officers, so we are well looked after.
A great many of the men are wounded, some of them going home for
operations. We had twenty sent straight into the hospital before we
sailed, and we soon began to fill up there and to get busy.
Before we reached St. Helena one poor fellow of the Yeomanry had died;
he did not seem particularly bad when he came on board, but he came down
to the hospital saying he felt "a bit queer"; his temperature was only
100°, but we admitted him at once, and he was evidently just beginning a
relapse (enteric), and then he had a dreadful septic abscess and other
complications, so we had to isolate him in a little cabin, to reach
which we had to go past all the stables--there were several horses on
board, including the charger poor Lieutenant Roberts was riding when he
fell. He was so bad one evening that Sister ---- volunteered to sit up
with him, but when I went to relieve her at 7 A.M. we could both see
that he was dying, and Sister offered to stay so that I should not
infect myself; but she looked so done up (she is a bad sailor) I thought
she had had enough, and the other sisters could quite well manage the
hospital, so I sent her to disinfect, and go to bed.
The poor man died about 10 A.M., and was buried in the afternoon, Lord
Roberts and all his staff attending. I don't think anything is more
solemn than a funeral at sea; the slow march out to the stern, and the
service read, and then the engines stop, and there is such a hush when
the constant beat of the screw ceases; next the little splash as the
body, heavily weighted and sewn up in a blanket, slides into the sea,
and then the mournful "Last Post" sounded: once more the engines start,
and we all go back to our posts.
I did not put on a regular night sister except when there was special
need; but we took it in turns to be responsible for a night at a time,
and the responsible one stayed up till twelve, and then (if all was
quiet) turned in, and was called again at 4 A.M. to take a look round;
but if she was kept up much, we relieved her from duty for the next
morning; we had very good orderlies, and we found this plan worked well.
XL
S.S. "CANADA" (nearing ST. HELENA, on return
voyage to the CAPE), _January 1901_.
I am now on my way back to the Cape after sixteen days' leave in
England; a rushing time, amid snow and sleet; but I must first tell you
about the voyage home.
We reached St. Helena on December 16th, and Lord Roberts and nearly
every one went ashore for a few hours. I did not go off as I was busy in
the hospital. Several men were very ill with enteric, and one with
double pneumonia; of course it was frightfully stuffy for them in the
hospital, but Lord Roberts had most kindly said that we were to use part
of the upper deck (that had been reserved for him and his family), if it
would be any better for the men; so we rigged up a screen, and put two
or three men, who seemed most in need of fresh air, up there, and they
were so grateful.
There was always a good supply of ice, and the sterilised milk was good;
one man (who was very ill) could not take it, but for him I was able to
get fresh milk, as there were two cows on board. The "skoff" for the
convalescents was excellent, and they were all delighted with the
variety of food supplied by the company, after the sameness of the army
rations. Both the ship's officers and the stewards were most kind in
every way in helping me to get what I wanted for the men.
We had a spell of very hot weather between the 16th and the 21st, and
on the 20th we had another sad death, a young St. John's Ambulance man,
who was admitted on the 16th with acute rheumatism (he had had enteric
in South Africa). It was my night on duty, and at 11.45 I did not think
he seemed so well, and I found his temperature had run up to 105°, and
his pulse was very bad; we did everything that was possible for the poor
boy, but his temperature continued to rise and his heart to fail; he was
dreadfully breathless, and it was so difficult to prop him up enough in
the bunks; by 1 A.M. his temperature had reached 106.6°, and he knew
that he was dying, and was able to tell me where to write to his mother.
He died very soon after.
It was dreadfully sad for the other men, as, of course, they were all
awake, and in such terribly close quarters--one man in the bunk above
him, and two more close beside him; and it does seem such hard luck for
these two men to have got through their time in South Africa and then to
knock over just when they are nearing home.
A nice sergeant in a bunk near by saw that I was very much cut up about
this poor boy, and said, "Never mind, Sister, no one could have done
more for the poor lad to give him a chance than you have; but I know I
have seen many men die on the battlefield, but it's a lot worse to see
one die between decks here." Afterwards we carried him out to a small
bathroom, and he was buried the next day.
I found one of the patients in the hospital was a Bart.'s student who
had been serving at the front.
Both Lord and Lady Roberts took a great interest in the men, and Lord
Roberts used to come up to me in the morning and ask how they had got
through the night; and he would ask after the men who were especially
ill by name: of course they were awfully pleased when I told them.
They both went round the hospital several times, and on Christmas Day
they went down and shook hands with all the men in hospital, wishing
them a happy day, and then they sent down a large sugared cake and some
chocolate for the men who were well enough to enjoy it, and the very
sick ones all had some champagne; the men appreciated it very much, and
there was a great demand for envelopes to take "a bit of Bobs' cake
home."
Many of the beautiful baskets of flowers that came on board for Lady
Roberts at the different ports found their way down to the hospital, and
the men especially treasured a beautiful Union Jack that came on board
at Madeira, made of red geraniums and blue and white violets.
By the 22nd it had become cooler and rather damp, so all the men
returned to the hospital (from the upper deck). On the 24th one of the
officer patients had to have an anæsthetic for a slight operation on his
arm; and I had a busy night in the hospital, as one man had a fit, and
there were several enterics very ill.
On Christmas Day it was good to see about twenty officers and between
forty and fifty men at the early Communion Service, and we also had a
service in the hospital. The saloon was quite full for the morning
services at 9.15 and at 10 A.M.--there were too many for all to attend
one service.
Sister and I found two huge stockings on our plates at breakfast time,
with all sorts of silly presents in them. We had a very pleasant day
and a jolly dinner party at night.
We reached Madeira that evening, and did not leave again till 2 P.M. the
next day, so I had a run ashore with some people in the morning. On the
28th we anchored at Gibraltar at 8.30 A.M., and the guns thundered out
such a welcome to Lord Roberts! We stayed there till 1 P.M. the next
day, and I again went ashore with some friends, and had a good look
round the town.
Sir George White and his daughter came on board, and afterwards Lord and
Lady Roberts went ashore.
We had fairly good weather all the way home, but after Gibraltar the
ship was rather inclined to roll; the remark on the ship's log was
"fresh to moderate gale, with confused (!) sea." Two of the sisters were
rather bad, so the remaining sister and I had a busy time between the
sick officers and the hospital; and, though neither of us was sea-sick,
I can't say that we exactly enjoyed it when we had to sponge a bad
typhoid in an upper berth (to reach whom we had to stand on a box, and
have a man wedged in the gangway to hold our basin of water; never quite
sure whether the next roll would not oblige him to pitch all the water
over either us or our patient); and the daily syringing of the arm of
the officer who had the operation was just about as much as I could
stand on the rough days; so we were glad when the wind abated, and all
the sisters could take their turn for night duty, &c.
Lord Roberts was awfully nice to me about having looked after the men on
board, and he asked me whether I wanted anything he could help me with;
so I told him I only wanted to be sure they would let me go back and do
some more work, and not get sent to a home station; so he most kindly
sent for his secretary, and asked him to write to the Director-General
to say he would be obliged if my wishes on this point could be attended
to. Was it not kind of him? If I had not been so surprised I should have
asked to be allowed to work for the same Major again, but he was just
chatting in such a kind, informal way on the deck, that I did not
realise how much he could have helped me if I had thought to ask.
I saw the New Year in down in the hospital, and the stokers made such a
noise to celebrate it, beating with their shovels, &c. Luckily, by then,
all our patients were improving, though some of them were still very
ill; all except the very sick ones were tremendously excited at the
thought of getting home.
We were rather before our time, so, on the evening of January 1st, we
had to anchor in Swanage Bay, and then arrived and anchored off Cowes
the next morning at 10 A.M. It was freezing hard and bitterly cold, and
we were all longing to get home; but in the afternoon Lord Roberts went
ashore to be received by Queen Victoria at Osborne. He returned an Earl
and a Knight of the Garter, and I believe the Queen handed him the V.C.
won by his son at Colenso.
That night we anchored off Netley, and the cold was intense; we got up
to Southampton at 9.30 A.M. on January 3rd, and such a crowd was there
to welcome Lord Roberts. Of course it was some time before he got away
and we could get our patients landed; but as soon as we got into dock
some orderlies came on board from Netley with a good supply of fresh
milk, which was much enjoyed in the hospital, and, eventually, we were
thankful to see all the bad cases safely off to Netley--three of them
had been so very ill, and several times we had thought they could not
live to get home.
It is always a little sad saying good-bye to people you have got to know
well on board ship, but not nearly so bad near home as out at the front.
We had orders to report ourselves at the War Office, and, after having
cleared up the hospital, we were able to get away about 1 P.M.
The next day I called at the War Office, and presented Lord Roberts'
letter, and was told that I should go back; they would let me know
when--and then I went on leave.
On the 15th of January I had a wire to rejoin the ship for the return
voyage on the 19th. It was bitterly cold all the time I was in England,
and I had rather a rush to get some new uniform and other necessaries,
to unpack and "sort myself," and repack again.
When I got on board the _Canada_ I was rejoiced to find that Sister ----
was returning too, and three of our original medical officers.
The ship was very full (122 in the saloon), and there were sixteen
sisters and one other lady; but my old friend, the stewardess, was kind
enough to manoeuvre so that I got a small cabin to myself.
Just before we got away the _Manhattan_ backed into our stern, and sent
us first with such a bang against the wharf, that the people standing
there fell down flat like ninepins (and it was raining, so there were
inches of mud for them to fall into!); and then we broke away from our
moorings, with some visitors and the embarkation officers still on
board. After a little excitement they managed to anchor off Netley, and
found our damage was chiefly to the boat deck (one boat was stove in)
and the railings--it would have been more serious if our steam had not
been up and ready for us to get away, so they were able to get her under
control at once--but there we had to remain all the next day repairing,
and it was very tantalising having to waste that time on board,
especially as I have some relations who live within a couple of miles of
where we were anchored.
Before we sailed we heard that the Queen was very ill, and I fear she
has been very feeble lately, and very much troubled about the war; so we
all feel anxious, and every night when the band plays "God Save the
Queen," and all stand at the salute, we wonder how she is.
XLI
S.S. "VICTORIAN" (between CAPE TOWN
and DURBAN), _February 1901_.
Just as we got in sight of St. Helena on February 2nd our engines broke
down, and we had to lay to for some hours while they were being
repaired.
Then, as we steamed slowly up to the anchorage, H.M.S. _Thetis_
signalled to us that our Queen had died on January 22nd; so we ought to
have been singing "God Save the _King_" for the past eleven days.
The men were all joking and playing games, &c., when the news came, and
then there was such a hush of sorrow on the boat, and all the games were
put away. We were at St. Helena all the next day while the repairs were
going on. The _Mongolian_ arrived with 600 Boer prisoners, and last week
they had 1300 from Simon's Town. Since we were last here some of the
prisoners had made an attempt at escape, and they had also had a nasty
mutiny amongst the men of the West Indian Regiment, who were stationed
there.
We anchored in Table Bay, after a very uneventful voyage (with no work
in the hospital, except five cases of German measles), on February 8th,
but did not get alongside till the following evening; and then (as we
were receiving fresh orders about every half hour) we stayed quietly on
board till the 11th--when the _Canada_ was sailing again.
The only thing that was definite was that the medical officers and
sisters who had been in Natal before were to return to that command,
but how to get there was a different matter; the ship by which they
proposed to send us by was not yet in, and it seemed likely that when
the _Canada_ left we should remain on the wharf sitting on our boxes.
Sister ---- and I were the only sisters who had been in Natal before, so
we saw the others off by train for Pretoria and Elandsfontein.
Then the _City of Vienna_ came in, and she was so full she could only
just take on the medical officers, and Sister and I had to wait to go by
some other boat; but we were told we could go out to Wynberg and lodge
at the hospital till they could find berths for us, leaving our heavy
baggage in store at the docks.
There we were kept waiting ten days for a ship, and had a very dull time
of it, as we were afraid to go to any distance in case any sudden orders
came for us.
Wynberg is a very pretty place in pine woods; but the huts were infested
with creatures, so that sleep was difficult, and though we are neither
of us very particular about our food, it was so badly served and dirty
that we could not enjoy it.
I can't understand about the mess, as the sisters have to pay all their
allowance of 21s. a week for food, and don't get anything like such good
food as we had at a cost of 14s. or 15s. a week (though the actual cost
of food is less at Cape Town), and they have no variety. There were some
Pretoria sisters staying there to recruit after enteric, and I felt so
sorry for them, as the food was absolutely unsuitable for convalescents;
and they told me they had been very well cared for all the time they
were ill at Pretoria, and so they were missing the careful feeding they
had been used to.
Of course we did not get to know really very much about the hospital,
as we were not on duty, and were only "lodgers," but a sister who came
out with us was on duty, and was not at all happy; there were so many
petty rules for the sisters that they seemed to spend their time in
trying to evade them--not a good hospital tone.
We found no news at all in the Cape Town papers, but certainly the war
does not seem likely to be over just yet; they say all civil traffic and
mails north of De Aar have been stopped.
There was a rumour that there were Boers within thirty miles of Cape
Town, so all the Boer prisoners were being sent away from Simon's Town.
Some naval guns have been mounted on the "Lion's Head" (a part of Table
Mountain), and the Town Guard were sent up there in watches, as well as
some of the regulars.
The Town Guard were most energetic and constantly drilling. One day I
wanted to speak to one of the Customs' men, and found they were all
drilling with their rifles in the Customs' shed, and the Customs'
business had to wait.
Then, of course, you will have heard there was plague in Cape Town, and
there was some alarm lest it should get amongst the soldiers, and
cripple us in that way; but they seem to be attacking it in an energetic
way, and so far it is practically confined to the coloured people.
As usual it started among the rats on the South Arm at the docks; large
numbers of them died, and the rest went off in a body to Green Point, at
which place there is a large military camp, so that the sanitary
officials were rather anxious.
Then the natives got frightened, and wanted to go home; but the
Government stopped that by not allowing any of them to travel by train,
except with special permits; this was partly to prevent their spreading
the plague about the country, and also because it would have been
difficult to get the dock work done if the natives had cleared.
At the same time a large native location is being built on the Cape
flats (where they will all have to live), and a light railway to bring
them into their work.
Rats are being bought for threepence each, and several hundreds of their
bodies are being cremated daily at the gasworks.
At last we went into Cape Town and saw the P.M.O., but he said he could
not say when we should get on; so we went on to our friend the
embarkation officer, and told him that if there was no transport coming
soon, we would pay our own passage to go up to Natal by a mailboat
rather than waste more time at Wynberg; but he promised we should get a
ship before the next mail and save our money, which we were glad enough
to do; but my private opinion is that we should have been waiting at
Wynberg still if we had not gone into Cape Town and agitated about it!
We paid a visit to the Yeomanry Hospital at Maitland, where a brother of
Sister's was in as a patient (but getting better), and I found several
old friends on the staff there.