Small, William Filmer

Diary (18 pp) for the period 23 April to 23 September 1915 written by William Filmer Small, a refrigeration engineer, who served on board a merchant ship (unnamed) during the First World War. The entries cover his ship's role as a troop and stores (ammunition) carrier for the landing at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli on 25th April 1915 and chronicle the vessel's other assigned transport tasks. Most notably, in the temporary role of a Hospital Ship, carrying wounded off the peninsula, and ferrying ill and wounded troops from Lemnos to Alexandria and Malta. Includes references to the Suvla landings in August 1915 and reports of Turkish women used as snipers, and, later that month, of a fire in the ballast coalhold which necessitated removal of the wounded and, during the subsequent refit in Alexandria, the withdrawal of the medical staff. The vessel reverted to a troop transport in September 1915. Also included is a typed transcipt of the diary.