The Schoolboy Stow-away

West Kent Yeomanry on board SS Olympic

Passage to Gallipoli - 3

…So I hid myself for 3 hours waiting for our lot to come up. Then when they came I had to wait for about half an hour before they got on the boat, and when they went on the boat I saw to my horror that two officers were standing at the gangway, so I couId not get on with the crowd. When they had all got on the boat, about 6 minutes later I saw the Machine Gun Section going on so I risked it and succeeded in getting on with them without being seen by anyone.

Then I asked a steward with a squint where the engine room was. I thought I would go down with the stokers, but as he did not know where it was I thought it useless wandering about in case I would run into an officer, so I moved on, thinking in about 5 minutes I would be put off the boat. But I ran into a sergeant who took me into his cabin where I stayed from 6pm that night till 7 am next morning when to my horror I saw that we were still in dock so I had to hide myself away till we were out to sea….