1914-11-05ma

Letters from Hamilton soldier-volunteers were always of interest to readers of Hamilton newspapers.

On November 5, 1914, the Hamilton Herald published two letters which had recently been received by Mr. H. G. and Mrs. Wright, parents of Lieutenant G. Craig Wright who had left Hamilton with the first overseas contingent of the Thirteenth Royal Regiment

The first was written while Lieutenant Wright was crossing the Atlantic on board the Steamship Tyrolla :

“Dear Mother and Dad:

Well, we are nearing the end of our journey now, so I think I will sit down and tell you about our voyage. I suppose you all received my letters from Father Point and Gaspe bay. They allowed us to send mail from both points, but I rather think they just took it ashore and kept it there for a time.

“I am writing now on Tuesday October 12, and as we came on board Friday, the 25^th of September, we have been here for nearly three weeks., so you see that we have not been traveling very fast, as our best run for the day was 242 miles.

“The speed of the fleet is just as great as the speed of the slowest vessel, and some of them are pretty slow – a couple can hardly make nine knots. The boat we are on can only make about twelve.

“For a couple of days we had a lot of trouble with the Monmouth. Some parts of the day she would be alright and could possibly go along in fine style, but of course would not be able to go any faster than the other boats in the line, namely at the standard rate of nine knots. But then sometimes, she would drop away down to almost eight knots and consequently would hold everybody back.

“They finally got away from that by putting the Monmouth out of the line, and letting her go along by herself, so that sometimes she would be away at the head of the line, and, at other times she would be at the rear, while the rest of us were able to go along in fine order.

“We were kept at Gaspe bay until Saturday October 2, waiting for all the transports to arrive, finally putting out

“ Well, it is now Wednesday evening, and we have just arrived in old England, so I will finish this letter in order to get it mailed as soon as possible. We are at Plymouth, but have not as yet disembarked. We expect to get off tomorrow. We do not know as yet where we go into camp, probably at Salisbury.

“Yesterday, we ran into a pretty strong gale and it lasted until we reached the bay at Plymouth this evening. It was pretty rough, but I do not think anyone was the worse, as we are all pretty well seasoned to it, after nearly three weeks on board. It will be rather odd going ashore, as the old boat seems like home, although tonight, everybody is setting around very restless, just waiting to get ashore. The waiting, I think, is the worst part of the whole trip.

“We had a mighty good time all the way across, too. I enjoyed it very much and am feeling fine. Tomorrow, if possible, I will cabl;e in order to let you know about my safe arrival.

“This bay we are in is a sight worth seeing just now, for it is full of ocean liners, battleships and cruisers, with quite a few torpedo boats thrown in. It is pretty around here, too.

“Well, I think I have told all there is to tell, and my next job will be getting this posted as soon as possible. Give my love to the kids.

“From your loving son,

“GEORGE”

“P.S. Did I tell you that I received my sleeping bag all right? I got it just before leaving Valcartier. It is O.K.” ¹

¹ “Boys Able to Weather It : Lieut. G. C. Wright’s Letters Indicate That Troops Are Fit”

Hamilton Herald     November 5, 1914 .

          “G.C.W.”

In that same day’s issue of the Hamilton Herald, a second letter home from Lieutenant Wright appeared:

“Dear Mother :

“I just received your letter, October 6, and was very glad to hear from you, as it had been some time since I heard from home. We just arrived here today, after being in Plymouth for a week. It was pretty slow lying there in the river and watching other men disembark. We, however, had leave ashore once in a while, and therefore saw quite a lot of Plymouth.

“It is a great old town, and I enjoyed very much wandering around seeing the country.

“We left the boat yesterday afternoon at 5:15 o’clock, and marched three miles in the rain through the town to the station, arriving at Lavington at 11:15, and then came the hard work.

“We marched away at 12:30 in the morning, still raining, and, of course, it was pitch dark. You could hardly see your hand in front of your face. We had to go eight miles to our camp and it took a little over three hours, getting in at half-past three in the morning, tired out and wet, but the worst was yet to come.

“We got the men under canvas all right, but we had no place to go. I tried to get warm at a fire. We could not get a change of clothes as our transport had not arrived.

“At five o’clock, I got so tired  that I went into a canteen tent, and lay down on a table, wet clothes and all. I went right off to sleep for two hours, after which I felt much refreshed, but I was still wet and were were not able to change our clothes until about 10 o’clock.

“If I had gone through all this at home, I would surely have had a cold, but there it did nt bother me a lot, and except for being a little stiff, I feel fine now. I am rather glad to get under canvas again, for we were rather crowded on board ship and it was not very comfortable. I might say that we just spent four weeks on the boat.

“We will be at Salisbury for two months anyway, and maybe for the most of the winter. I am going to get a few days’ leave pretty soon and go up to see London.

“Well, mother, give my love to father and all the kids.

“From your loving so,

“GEORGE”  ¹