Australian Hospital, Lemnos & HMHS Aquitania

[JoMH]

Hello Everyone,

Just recently, I struck gold in the form of a few letters written by Chaplain Charles J H Dobson 9/633 (NZEF).

Two of the letters are written from Lemnos 'No 1 Aust S(tat?) Hosp, Mudros', and are dated 27th and 29th September 1915. I have tried a search here for Australian Hospital on Lemnos, but without much success. Does anyone have any information about this hospital - type of building, where in the port, or any other references to it?

A third letter is written from 'HMHS Aquitania' and has no date. I surmise that the 'Aquitania' was on her way to England, as Dobson's war file has him turning up in the 3rd London General Hospital on 9th November. Can anyone confirm this please, and possibly give dates or other details of a likely voyage in October?

In both the hospital at Mudros and the Hospital Ship, Dobson was a patient.

With thanks in anticipation,

Joanna

[jhill]

In case you have not already consulted them, I recommend browsing the excellent on-line Australian Histories, especially Chapter XVII entitled "The Rush of Sick through Mudros Harbour : Development of Lemnos". This gives some information on both No 1 Australian Stationary Hospital and the Acquitania.

[JoMH]

Hi James,

That's great, and I will get on to that.

Also, I will add details about Lemnos and the 'Aquitania' from the letters to this thread.

Many thanks,

Joanna

[JoMH]

Some observations on Lemnos from Dobson's letter dated 29.9.15, Mudros.

... Here the days are shortening and there is a hint of winter in the air... There is no bush on the low hills surrounding this harbour. I believe there is a good deal in other parts of the Island but none of it is any good for milling. The houses in the villages are built of stone and mud and have no architectural merit. The walls are from two to three feet thick. A feature of the villages is the handsome church in each. Religious observances seem to play a large part in the lives of the people. Villages are scattered all over the Island. The capital is Castio on the coast. It has about four thousand people and is backed by a precipice on top of which is an old fort. Agriculture is the chief industry. A quaint characteristic of the place is the number of old fashioned wind mills on the higher ground. The mountains are not high but in places are very nearly grand in their brokenness and a relief after the deadly flatness of Egypt. As far as I know there are no rivers and the people rely on wells for water. I found that cotton grows here and I have a ripe cocoon which I am keeping to send to Dossie. It is the first I have seen. I am sorry I will not be able to go back to the front for a time. I am being sent away from here but do not yet know when or where to...

Goes on to say that he has been ill with dysentery more or less since his first attack 'down on the canal', his general health has been worn out. He has had a good many injections and he has not been properly treated before.

...Quite 80% of the sickness here is dysentry. One of the commissioners was in here the other day, a well know pathologist, and he said it was endemic to the place. A good many men have died of it. We had a visit from some Canadian sisters. They have a hospital on the other side of the harbour...

... Last week the Greeks here were mobilised. ...Greece will get about 5,000 reservists from Egypt. The Greeks in other countries are very loyal to their home...

...The children here seem to suffer from sore eyes quite as much as the Egyptians.

...This harbour is a wonderful place. It is always full of battle ships, transports, supply ships and hospital ships.

[JoMH]

Looking through one of the letters from Lemnos (dated 29.9.15) again today, I found this brief reference:

"I haven't told you much news in this. I don't see anybody. Donald my cousin and Col. Hughes came to see me, but visitors are rare."

This is a long shot, but does anyone have any ideas as to who Colonel Hughes was? Rev Dobson was officially attached to the Otago Mounted Rifles at this time, though I am getting a picture of him working in a hospital in Alexandria, and on hospital ships between Egypt and Gallipoli, with one known spell at Gallipoli in August (Hill 60). All this punctuated with periods of sickness (dysentery).

I would very much appreciate any thoughts on this.

Joanna

[JoMH]

From searches, I am getting Lt. Col. J G Hughes, commander of Canterbury Battalion during the August offensive, as a possibility. I know Dobson was at Gallipoli on 28th August at time of Hill 60.

Any other thoughts?

[JoMH]

Here are some extracts from the letter Dobson wrote on board HMHS Aquitania. The letter is undated, but as the previous letter I have a copy of was dated 29/9/15 when he was ill at Mudros, and he subsequently turns up in 3rd London General Hospital 9/11/15, I am guessing 'some time in October 1915'.

We are taking on some thousands on this boat. A South African hospital ship was discharging into us on one side yesterday and a French boat on the other. At dinner last night there were English, Scotch, Irish, Canadian, South African, Australian and New Zealand officers present. The Canadian nurses have a close fitting navy blue tunic with scarlet collar and cuffs and they have two stars on their shoulders to denote their rank as lieutenants. They look a bit like the girl who jumps through the burning hoops in the circus, but its rather striking.

I am sending Dossie a post card of this boat. She is very huge but somehow it doesn't strike one at once. I'm reviving memories of the Pateena, Arcihusa [?] and Nikan [?] for purposes of comparison.

I don't know where we are going in England.

I found a photo of an SS Pateena - she was about the size of a small bath as compared to the Aquitania's being something like the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool.

Joanna

[revellations]

Joanna,

I am in th early stages of writing a book about the 1st Aust. Stationary Hospital. Is there anything particular you would like to know? I would like to see the whole letter if it is available to be seen.

Thanks

Scott

[JoMH]

Hello Scott,

That's great news. Thanks for getting in touch. I don't know why I haven't spotted you before.

Things I would like to know about 1st Aust Stationary Hospital, if possible:

Do you have any photographs of the hospital or Lemnos?

Names of hospital staff at that time - September 1915.

Who might the 'well known pathologist' - mentioned in post #4 - have been?

What was the treatment for dysentery at that time?

There will probably be more!

I am sending a PM.

All the best,

Joanna

[pmaasz]

Joanna: A book I have about the Dardanelles has colour plates of paintings done by the author and two show the Aquitania in Mudros harbour. One of them has a smaller ship alongside and it is said there were transfers of wounded between the two for shipping them back to England. I think that means it was Aquitania taking them back but I can't be sure.

[JoMH]

It's my lucky day today!

I don't know how many runs the Aquitania might have made between Lemnos and England. Can I ask the title of the book and the name of its author?

Is it likely that the smaller ship would have been taking patients from Mudros - or from Gallipoli. Or where wounded coming to Mudros from other places as well?

I always imagined that Dobson's reference to 'taking on some thousands' - post #7 - would have been at Malta, but have no basis for this.

Would love to see those images...

With thanks,

Joanna

[pmaasz]

Joanna:

The book is: "The Dardanelles, Colour Sketches from Gallipoli", Norman Wilkinson, Longmans, Green & Co, London 1916. He refers to large numbers of hospital ships being required to carry wounded, the smaller ones taking two or three hundred but the 'Aquitania' taking as many as four thousand. I will scan the pictures for you and email them.

Peter

[JoMH]

Many thanks. The paintings are very clear, and I see that Norman Wilkinson was credited with the idea for 'dazzle painting'.

James' earlier post with the pdf of 'The Rush of Sick: Lemnos' gives a very comprehensive account of the gigantic difficulties of transporting wounded and sick. Two references to 'Aquitania' are particularly interesting:

"By Sept 26th, out of 34 hospital ships available, 16, with the help of occasional transports and the monthly visit of the Aquitania barely suffice to clear sick and wounded from the beaches and Mudros."

"Immediate tension relieved by the arrival on Oct 17th of the Aquitania, now as a hospital carrier, whereby on the 20th 3,855 cases of all degrees of severity were cleared from Lemnos to England."

This clearing on the 20th probably included Chaplain Dobson.

Joanna

[kjharris]

Hi Joanna,

The well known pathologist on Lemnos was probably Major later Colonel Sir Charles Martin, previous director of the Lister Institute in London. He was at No 3 Australian General Hospital and was assisted by Sister Fannie Eleanor Williams and other AAMC staff.

Hi Scott, should you require any information about Australian nurses at 1 ASH please let me know.

regards,

Kirsty Harris

[JoMH]

Many thanks Kirsty.

It looks highly likely that Sir Charles Martin was the pathologist referred to, and would be interesting if Scott has any references to him for while he was at Lemnos as well.

Joanna

[revellations]

Joanna,

It is most likely that Sir Charles Martin was on the island of Lemnos however he has not come up in any of my reference material relating to the 1ASH. 1ASH did have a pathologist attached to the hospital and he was a famous Adelaide Doctor called Archibald Watson (http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120444b.htm). It is possible that this was the pathologist he was refering too.

Kirsty,

I would love to know more about the Nurses of 1ASH. I have a list of names of ones I know about but if you have anything further then this would be appreciated.

Cheers

Scott

[JoMH]

Thank you Scott,

Archibald Watson - what a character. Two good possibilities, so I am stuck for choice.

Joanna

[Bryn]

Joanna,

Have a look here:

Savage, A. W. Photographs of the Third Australian General Hospital at Lemnos, Egypt & Brighton (Eng.) / taken by A. W. Savage 1915 - 17. Mitchell Library PXE 698

http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailP...px?itemID=69841

There is an article: Edmonds, A. H. 'The Anzacs at Lemnos', in Reveille RSS&AILA, NSW Branch, Sydney. 1 Apr 1935, p 22, 25.

I'll check to see whether I can find my copy, and if so, will post it.

Regarding the Canadian nurses mentioned previously, two of them died on Lemnos.

Though technically the Canadians did not serve on the Gallipoli Peninsula itself (Newfoundland was not then part of Canada), they established three hospitals in support of the campaign. Nos. 1 and 3 Canadian Stationary Hospitals were landed at Mudros, Lemnos, on 17th August 1915. Each was equipped and staffed for 400 cases. They were staffed with female nurses, who were well housed in huts (most accommodation on the islands was in tents). In 2001 I went to Lemnos and saw the graves of two nurses side-by-side in Portianos Military cemetery, West Mudros.

They were Nursing Sister Mary Frances Munro, Canadian Army Medical Corps, who died 7 Sep 1915, and Matron Jessie Brown Jaggard, Canadian Army Medical Corps, who died 25 Sep 1915.

I found Matron Jaggard's epitaph to be particularly enigmatic:

What I Aspired To Be

And Was Not, Comforts Me

No. 5 Candian Stationary Hospital was established in Cairo at about the same time.

[JoMH]

Thank you Bryn,

The photos by Savage really help give an idea of the conditions on the island. I would very much appreciate seeing 'The Anzacs at Lemnos' if you can find it.

I've discovered the lines from Matron Jaggard's epitaph come from a long poem, 'Rabbi Ben Ezra', of 1864 by Browning which begins with the lines 'Grow old along with me! / The best is yet to be':

For thence, - a paradox

Which comforts while it mocks, -

Shall life succeed in that it seems to fail:

What I aspired to be,

And was not, comforts me:

A brute I might have been, but would not sink i' the scale

....

Joanna