Letters to Miss Reid
From
Sergeant R. Buckingham
April 12th, 1917
Bramshett Camp,
Near Liphook Station,
Hants, England,
April 12, 1917
Dear Miss Reid,
How are you these days. Here I am away over in England enjoying the best of health and camp life. At preventive are in a quarantine Camp, before we go to our permanent camp which is just across the road. We are under canvass at present and it is very cold these nights, as for the last three mornings we have got up to look out upon a great white sheet, but as soon as old king Sel comes out it soon goes. We had a most enjoyable passage across the ocean, taking about nine days in all from the time we left Halifax Harbor. We left Chatham on a Thursday three weeks ago tonight, and got to Halifax late Sunday night following. We board the S.S. Lapland, a large and luxurious boat, and went out into the Halifax Harbor and lay there for three days. On the next Wednesday we hove up our anchor and our eyes turned towards the new land or “Over ’eme” as the English boys say it.
The voyage was very calm, until the next Monday when it began to roll and I felt the effects of the rolling but not entirely under the weather. We had a little excitement when we landed at the mouth of the Mersey, just before we prepared to land at Liverpool deck. It was about 1:30 a.m. in the morning when I heard a pal of mine yell, “ Come on Bob she has been hit”. At first I didn’t know whether it was a dream or not but soon came to my senses when I heard the boys rushing for the upper decks. I soon got out of bed and in a jiffy was up on deck, even though spassely clad, and believe me it was some cold up there in the raw wind which was blowing off the seas. We had been hit by one of those awful things which are a menace to shipping, A German mine, and it blew a hole in our bow 3′ by 4′ and the water was fast-coming. We were ordered to move to the back to the boat in order to hold the boat up out of the water as high as possible. In the excitement that followed the explosion a number of the boys were hurt, but not seriously, one poor fellow from the 24 Battalion, Montreal, could not be found at the roll call, and it was concluded he had been killed and blown out through the hole. We then got on the train at Liverpool and such trains. The engines are very small and the cars similar to that, neither one being much larger than a good sized motor car but they can surely go.
I will drop you a card or letter later on when I go on my leave telling you about my travels. If you get any spare time just drop me a line, and be sure and do that,
With best regards to all,
From your old Sunday school kid,
Bob.
Now don’t forget an old friend.
