The weather whilst crossing the Mediterranean was simply perfect. All day long we had beautiful warm sunshine and cloudless sky, which was the bluest sky I have ever seen. The sea also had a lovely ultra-marine blue colour and was as calm as glass all the way so that even though we were hungry most of the time it was impossible to be despondent. On May 17th 1916, early in the morning we spied land ahead and shortly afterwards the “Scotian” sailed into the beautiful harbour of Marseilles, past the famous Castle D’If of the “Count of Monte Christo” fame, and anchored in the middle of the harbour for the day. We could see the shore quite plainly and the sight of green grass and red tiled cottages and white walled houses, with the sun reflecting on the windows made our hearts rejoice as we had been out of touch with civilisation and green grass, etc. for over two and a half months, so that for the remainder of that day we were up on deck as much as possible, leaning over the bulwark, feasting our eyes on the beautiful scene and joking with the Frenchmen who rowed round the ship in their boats. Next morning, we drew into the wharf and most of the troops disembarked and the remainder were detailed to clean the ship out so as to make it ready for the next lot of troops. We then formed up in column of route and were marched a distance of six miles to a place called Mussôt segregation camp where we were informed that we were to be confined for a fortnight or longer on account of our ship having a case of smallpox aboard.

Mussôt was once a Chateau belonging to a wealthy Frenchman and contained about 100 acres of ground, studded with avenues and clumps of pine trees growing well apart, and was situated about 7 miles from Marseilles. It was taken over by the British Government as a quarantine camp and it was here that we were confined during our quarantine period. The camp was surrounded by a wall over fourteen feet high, fringed with broken glass and in addition sentries were placed at intervals of fifty yards all around the walls to prevent the men from getting out.

We were quartered in bell tents as usual and were fed much better than when we were aboard the “Scotian.” Here we made our first acquaintance of Meat and Vegetable ration, margarine and hard “Anzac Wafers.” During our stay in this camp we were only paid 5 francs per man per week, so that we could not say that we were over flush of money, as 5 francs was only worth 3/7 in English money.

We were not asked to do any parades, and our work only included the ordinary routine and guards and piquets. Most of our spare time went in sleeping or playing Housy-housy”,”Crown and Anchor” and other petty gambling games, and in attending the concerts which were organized nearly every evening, to which the Red Cross nurses from the Hospital nearby usually contributed songs etc. Much to the satisfaction of the men. Frequently we were marched out of camp by companies in charge of one of our officers, who were real good sports and we generally made for the beach, there stripped and bathed most of the morning. Of course the main road was only about 100 yards away, but it must have been considered a fine sight by the French to see two or three hundred soldiers bathing mother naked on the beach, judging by the numbers who were there to watch the performance. I may state here, that in France they do not mind such things, and it does not shock their modesty.

When the swim was over, we usually marched back whistling and singing all the way, the balmy sun of the South of France making everyone feel as happy as the day was long, until we reached the camp where we were dismissed for dinner. When we had been in Mussôt for a week, we all began to learn the run of the ropes and began to look around for means to get out of the camp into Marseilles itself. One afternoon, Bert Allen, Harold Mitchell and I decided to take the risk and jump the wall and go into Marseilles. To do this, we looked around the walls of the camp until we espied a place where a pine tree was growing close to the wall, and which looked easy to climb. Then we waited our opportunity at dusk and watched the sentry as he walked up and down his beat.

When his back was turned, Bert Allen slipped up and climbed the tree and slipped onto the wall, and then jumped down into the lane beyond. One after the other we repeated the performance until we were all safely on the other side of the wall, the sentry being none the wiser as at the place we had chosen the sentry’s beat was about forty paces from the wall and providing we made no row and were not seen as we slipped past, there was not much chance of being caught. Well, once outside the camp, the next thing was to get into the city of Marseilles, seven miles away so we made our way through the narrow lanes, until at last we arrived at the tramline which ran down to the beach where we were accustomed to bathe. Here we waited until a tram came along going to the city and then boarded it and went along in high glee at the success of our enterprise, when suddenly on looking behind us, we saw two Military Policemen coming up the corridor of the tram towards us. As we did not want to be caught we all jumped off the tram, suddenly, as it was travelling fast and ran up a side lane leaving the M.P.’s on the tram. Having escaped this danger, we made a detour and caught another tram about a mile further on and finally arrived in Marseilles without further mishap.

Once in Marseilles, we strolled about seeing the sights and looking at the shops and people and having numerous glasses of French bottled beer, until we presently found ourselves near the quayside where we noticed an huge houseboat from which we heard sounds of singing, music and clapping. Being ready for any devilment we four strolled inside and met a young and beautiful Frenchwoman, who on seeing that we were Australian soldiers, immediately asked us if we should like to go upstairs and listen to the entertainment. We replied, in answer to her rather quaint English, that we certainly would be highly honoured to do so and forthwith she led us up stairs where we discovered that the entertainment was for the benefit of a batch of French wounded soldiers to the number of 150 or so. We followed her down the aisle through the lines of Frenchmen, who all eyed us curiously, wondering I suppose who we might be, until we reached the rear end of the boat where all the visitors were seated. She then introduced us to two or three old gentlemen and some nice pretty young mademoiselles and left us. However, since most of the young ladies and the gentlemen could speak a little English, we were soon at our ease and found ourselves chatting away as if we had known one another for years. Presently, a waiter brought us two bottles of champagne, with which we drank the health of France and our own particular lady friend. The concert meanwhile still went on until suddenly everyone jumped up and began singing the Marseillaise and when it was sung, they endeavoured to do their duty by “God Save the King” but as evidently only we four knew the tune or the words, the attempt petered out in dismal failure. Thereupon the guests all departed, we amongst them. Once on the Quayside we began to laugh about and discuss our experience, thinking it was all finished, when we heard a Frenchman calling us to come back.

We thereupon went back and had a yarn with some of the French gentlemen, who it seems, had been wool buyers in Sydney many years ago, and who wanted to wish us luck, etc. This was effectually done with the aid of another glass of champagne and after bidding each other goodbye, we departed. Next we visited a restaurant nearby and ate a meal which cost nearly 6/- per head, but we did not mind as it was the first decent meal we had had since leaving Australia and we thoroughly enjoyed it. After wandering about the city for some time we caught the last tram going in the required direction and about 10 p.m. found ourselves standing outside the camp walls wondering how we were going to get in without being caught. Presently, from out the shadow of the wall, an officer slipped and suggested that as he was in a similar position to ourselves, he would march us through the main gate as a piquet. Instantly, about a dozen other privates emerged from the darkness nearby, much to our surprise and volunteered to form the piquet. The Officer, (who turned out later to be the Camp Adjutant!) then marched us up to the gate and gave the order “Piquet halt!” and having satisfied the sentry on duty that we were genuine, marched us through the gate into safety and dismissed us after swearing us to secrecy, and we went to our tents in time to answer tattoo call.

Next day we all had our gear put through a machine called a fumigator, so that we knew that we would not be long before we vacated the camp. Two days later, we again took “French leave” from the camp by the same route, this time arriving in Marseilles without any trouble at all about three o’clock in the afternoon. This time we confined our energies solely to sight seeing and first of all visited the Cathedral Notre Dame de la Garde, which was situated on the heights to the westward of the town, from which a magnificent view of Marseilles and surrounding country was obtained. We then descended the mountain by means of an ascension railway, made our way back to the centre of Marseilles and spent the rest of the afternoon in eating and drinking and purchasing souvenir views of the city etc.

About nine o’clock, we arrived back where we caught the train from near Mussôt and before returning to camp, we visited a French opera house for an hour or so. About 11 p.m. we arrived at the wall of the camp at the place we had escaped from and by the aid of a long pole managed to sneak into camp and back to our tents after having spent a very enjoyable afternoon, which was even more pleasant to us because it happened to be against the rules of the camp. Two more days passed uneventfully, when on the morning of June 1st we were ordered to pack our gear in readiness to entrain for the North of France.

We were then fallen in and marched five or six miles to our entraining point and boarded an huge troop train, of 20 odd carriages of the 3rd class type, and commenced our long and interesting journey across France. The journey took 54 hours to accomplish and we stopped for three hours each day to clean up and eat our meals, etc. There was a liberal supply of food on the train and hot tea was boiled at every halt so that we were not worried with food troubles. Any discomfort we did have to bear was caused through our cramped space in the compartment we occupied, which made it hard to get any sleep and made it necessary to sit up in our places most of the journey. On leaving Marseilles, we journeyed northward, passing numerous trainloads of troops and wounded men from the firing line, of all nationalities, including French, French Colonials, British and Belgian, all of whom, with the exception of the badly wounded were very uproarious in their greetings which they shouted to us as we rambled past their trains. Our men, of course, responded with rough good humour, making use of their execrable French and generally speaking, returned as good as they got in the way of banter, throwing spare tins of bully beef, etc. into their compartments we passed, which were received with shouts of “Très bon Australie” and so on.

The aspect of the country we passed through was magnificent, as it was the month of June when the woods and fields looked their best. The grass was the greenest grass I have ever seen and as it was long and mixed with all coloured wild flowers, such as poppies, cornflowers, daisies, blue bells and many other coloured flowers of which I do not know the name, the country generally looked beautiful. Instead of fences, most of the fields and meadows were divided with hedges of hawthorn, which gave the country the appearance of a gigantic patchwork quilt with its innumerable square paddocks and cultivation patches. The crops of rye, wheat, lucerne, clover, rape, peas, potatoes and turnips etc. were all well grown and the fruit trees were nearly all in full bloom, whilst the meadows contained little groups of cattle, sheep and horses. Every little while we would run through a small farming village and the peasants, on catching sight of the Australian hats, and khaki uniforms of our men would stop their work and rush out of doors, waving their aprons and handkerchiefs whilst our men would yell back cheers and greetings to them until they were out of sight.