24th November 1915

The H.M.S. Endymion, which bombarded the Olive Grove after a particularly bad

day of bombardment from the Turkish position.

[Courtesy of Wikipedia]

Wednesday 24th

Sergt Smith left early this morning as the sea had moderated.

The man who was to come had not arrived as I had expected in the evening but I was surprised to hear voices outside my tent early & I gathered that parties had just come across. I found it correct & then I searched for Gunner who was to come as a buyer for our Brigade. I came across Gnr Eltham & found he was the man & fixed up things & he Purchased some goods as well. I decided to leave in the morning & leave him to get other items. Had a hot water Bath & then loaded up Transport & got cases to wharf shed for the early morning Boat. I was to sleep there & guard the cases & Potatos & oranges etc I had got. We made several good bargains in Potatoes & oranges & it made the day pass quickly. The shed was not a very comfortable place but it might have been worse. I could not sleep though. There were some Manchester Chaps there & we made tea & had several tins of Salmon.

QMS Alex McLaren

27 Park Street

Whiteinch

Glasgow N.B.

The M.L.O came down & informed us owing to the congested state of Transport & on the other side no goods could be taken by the Trawlers. This disturbed me greatly & I immediately saw principal M.L.O after mess & had to journey up near the Turkish Prisoners Camp. I got no satisfaction & was told that 20 cases only cld go by each boat. If the rule was to apply long it meant a delay of over a month for some of the goods purchased by other representatives. I interviewed H.Q. officers & asked to be allowed to take half one day & leave the others to follow. He did not say no & next morning I was up early & bundled as many boxes as I & Eltham & the Manchester chaps could.

[Courtesy of State Library of New South Wales - William Sparkes diary]

[Author's Note:  Will Sparkes entries for the 24th & 25th November run together - for

the purposes of our day by day, the lengthy passage has been split into separate days

as best as possible.]

24

(Captain Alan Percy Crisp, temporary O/C 7^th Battery)

The Battery did not fire.

[Courtesy of Australian War Memorial - Official unit war diary, 7th Battery]

24.11.15

(Major Francis Augustus Hughes, temporary O/C 3rd Field Artillery Brigade)

1100 Heavy gun from the Left fired towards BEACH.

1110 Enemy gun from OLIVE GROVE firing on BEACH cannot locate it.

1150 Enemy Gun from OLIVE GROVE bombarded CLARKES GULLY, unlocated.

1340 Two enemy guns from OLIVE GROVE fired towards BEACH both unlocated.  8th.Battery retaliated on enemy trenches SQS.68-Q-4 ad 68-V-1-2.

1555 Enemy small gun from LEFT fired on RIGHT FLANK not located.

1630 Observed for H.M.S."Endymion" firing on OLIVE GROVE.  Fire apparently on target and effective.

[Courtesy of Australian War Memorial - Official unit war diary, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade]