Wallet 1 of 1 – Diary of Alfred Edwin Sharp, 1914-1915

Sharp, Alfred Edwin (Paymaster Lieutenant Commander, b.1894 - d.1991)

Places	Approximate locations: At sea Asia: Netherlands East Indies, Java Europe: Gibraltar North & Central America: Caribbean, Lesser Antilles, Windward Islands, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Vincent North & Central America: Mexico North & Central America: Panama Oceania: Australia, Queensland Oceania: German New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, New Pomerania, Gazelle Peninsula, Rabaul Oceania: Pacific Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, New Britain Oceania: Pacific Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, New Britain, Gazelle Peninsula, Rabaul Area, Keravia Bay Oceania: Pacific Islands, Fiji, Suva Oceania: Pacific Islands, New Hebrides Oceania: Pacific Islands, Samoa Oceania: Papua, Port Moresby Oceans: Atlantic Ocean Oceans: Indian Ocean, Cocos Keeling Islands South America: Brazil South America: Colombia South America: Falkland Islands South America: Tierra del Fuego, Strait of Magellan
Accession Number	AWM2020.22.106
Collection number	1DRL/0565
Collection type	Digitised Collection
Record type	Folder
Item count	1
Object type	Diary
Physical description	44 Image/s captured
Maker	Sharp, Alfred Edwin
Place made	At sea
Date made	1914-1915
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
Copying Provisions	Digital format and content protected by copyright.
Source credit to	This item has been digitised with funding provided by Commonwealth Government.

Description

Collection relating to the First World War service of Paymaster Clerk Alfred Edwin Sharp, HMAS Australia, at sea, 1914-1915.

Wallet 1 of 1 – Collection consists of a diary kept by Paymaster Clerk Sharp, on board HMAS Australia, between 04 August 1914 and 23 January 1915. Sharp records events whilst serving on HMAS Australia cruising the Pacific Ocean, including seeking German ships, serving with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force at New Britain, and actions in German New Guinea and German Samoa. He mentions the submarine HMAS AE1 as 'missing'. Much of the diary describes the duties of HMAS Australia, including off the west coast of South America and the journey through the Straits of Magellan into the South Atlantic. Diary contains a detailed description of the pursuit, capture and sinking of the German supply ship 'Eleanore Woermann' off the Falkland Islands in 1915. Sharp also describes issues in late January 1915 with the ship's stokers after orders were issued which the stokers considered impracticable.