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No one likes these things — least of all the sailor. They have a very tough skin which can be used like leather which you have on your shoes, and the Chinese who are yellow men living in the East, not far from the land of the Yellow Dragon, boil the shark's fins to make soup, and this is counted a great delicacy. Apart from that, and the oil which some people get from the sharks' liver, that's all the good he is. All the rest of him is very bad indeed, and he is a nasty creature.

I expect you wonder why the Red Sea is called red, and Daddy will make a guess and say that is because there is a great amount of very fine sand which has been blown out from the surrounding desert on windy days, and this floats about on the surface of the water giving it a dirty reddish brown colour in the light from the burning sun. The Red Sea is quite big, so we did'nt see any land until we came to Aden which guards the entrance for Saint George. We did'nt stop here because we were impatient to get on, and it was very hot indeed, so the sooner we left the better.

We now came to another sea called the Arabian Sea, and this stretches all the way to India. The date was the eighteenth of July, so we had been at sea fourteen days, or two weeks, and now we changed course once again to a little Horth of East and sailed along past the "Southern Gates of Arabia", which is all a great desert called the Hadramaut, and was only recently explored by a very "brave lady called Freya Stark. If Mummy likes she can read all about this in a book written by this lady, which is in Daddy's library.

The monsoon which brings rain to much of the East was now begun, and the sky held great black clouds which scudded along in the wind, which was South East. Now this wind was right in our beam all the rest of the way, so we rolled, and we rolled, and we rolled — sometimes as much as thirty degrees, and once within two degrees of the danger mark. Of course this ship had never been designed to have all her "cargo" so far above the water line, and the addition of guns, and great rafts and other things, did not help to stop her rolling once she had started. This did'nt worry us a lot because so few people knew just how near turning turtle she was. Naturally it was difficult to keep one's balance, and walk about on the decks, but it had always been difficult to walk about anyway — because the ship was so crowded, so we mostly sat down. The principal things to suffer at this time were cups, saucers, plates and teapots etc., which were broken by the dozen. It was very funny to sit up above and watch the officers having their meals — to see the crockery go sliding backwards and forwards and end up complete with contents in their laps, or on the floor. Like little Audrey we laughed, and we laughed, and we laughed. We did'nt mind very much because we had tin cups and plates which could'nt break, and we did'nt mind the food dropping on the floor because it was seldom fit to eat anyway.

At last, and on the twenty second day of July we came off the Port of Bombay, and soon afterwards our anchor was holding us fast to the bottom of the road-stead. This run from Port Glasgow was the fastest made by the "Boissevain" up to date, and was particularly good because of the time lost in the fog, and now Daddy was seven thousand miles from Seaford, and you. Many other great ships were also there including one which I forgot to mention passed us in the Bed Sea. This was the only ship which did pass us the whole way out, and she was called the "Capetown Castle" and only took fourteen days from Liverpool. About this time when everyone was on deck taking a look at the gateway to India — or what we could see of it — several people who had managed to get some fishing lines and hooks let them down over the side, and soon pulled out some very queer looking fish which blew themselves up like small footballs when they were hooked out of the water.

Very soon after this some tugs, which are quite small boats with very strong engines, came alongside, and the crew of the "Boissevain" threw down to them a rope each. On the end of these ropes were tied some great ropes like the ones I told you about at Port Said, and after untying these the men on the tugs tied them to a strong post on the deck, and then we hauled up our anchor. After a good deal of pushing and pulling on the part of the tugs, we were manoevered until we lay alongside a wharf — but about a hundred yards out — Now the tugs pulled very hard indeed, but we were stuck in the mud, and of course lots of people were very rude indeed in several languages. After still further pulling, and with some help from the ship's engines, the crew managed to get close enough to throw a line ashore, and then a great crowd of coolies all crying out very excitedly, rushed at the rope and other ropes which were soon slung ashore — at the same time the tugs were pushing as bard as they could go, and eventually we were tied up alongside the wharf. The first thing we saw there was a very "big notice hung on the side of a big building, and this said "WELCOME TO INDIA" and also "KEEP MUM" as some of us were already doing that in another sense, we did'nt take much notice of a band which was playing to welcome us. After many rude remarks from the men, and mainly because the rain began to pour down, the band, looking rather annoyed, went under cover. Now we had to wait about for an hour or two whilst various officials came on board, and during this time we had our first look at some of the Indians. There were mostly of the poorer, or coolie type, and wore little but a loin cloth, some however had on a few more garments which were in a varied state of dilapidation. It was very funny to see some of these walking around under an umbrella. There were also a few Indian women visible, wearing saris which are a kind of big coloured veil sufficient to cover most of their bodies. Some of these women also had rings through their noses and ears, and also a little red spot on their foreheads, which indicates, to those who know, what caste of the Hindu religion they belong to. It was now about midday and it was'nt very hot because of the monsoon, and the rain pouring down in sheets. We all went below now to finish packing up our kit, and after putting on our packs, outside which were strapped two blankets, our topees which are hats to keep out the sun, and picking up our guns and kitbags, respirators etc., we staggered ashore with the feeling that however interesting a horse's life must be — a dog's life was nothing to this! The gang planks were at a very acute angle and very slippery with mud and rain, and, laden as we were, it was very difficult not to slip and fall down the gangway — perhaps knocking over several more in the process — However, Daddy managed to get ashore successfully and with all the others waited in a huge shed for some lorries to take us to the camp.

I won't describe the next stage of the journey except to say it was very uncomfortable standing up in the lorry packed tight with lots more men and equipment, with the floor about three inches deep in water, and rain beating in from all sides. After travelling for about five miles through Bombay which we could see occasionally in the rain, we at last came to a very great camp indeed, in which were lots of men. This place was called "Worli" after the locality. Daddy was pleasantly surprised to hear someone asking outside for all the Senior N.C.O’s because this was the first time since he had left Tangmere that be knew such a sub-division of the R.A.F. existed! After clambering stiffly down from the lorry Daddy went along to a big hut made of brick with a tiled roof and shuttered windows. He very quickly found himself a bed, which he learned later was called a charpoy, and just as quickly hastened off to the Sergeants' Mess where he enjoyed the first "civilised" meal for nearly a month. The meal was served by Indians who are called "bearers" and they were all dressed in white and quickly obtained anything that was necessary. In the meantime of course all the men had also been taken to their huts and were now also having their lunch, which is called "tiffin" in India.

After a short rest on his charpoy Daddy went off with a lot more sergeants and W.O's to the store where he drew some sheets, a mosquito net and towels to mention only some of the things, and then he handed in his gun and ammunition to the armoury and went with the others to get paid. It says much for the organisation of this camp that everything was completed by four o'clock that afternoon, and we were then free to do what we liked, except go to Bombay, until nine next morning. Now this Indian money Daddy was paid, is different to English money, and is called a number of things. Firstly there is the rupee of which there are thirteen and a quarter to the pound, then the anna which is worth a little more than a penny, and of which there are sixteen to every rupee, and finally a pice, and there are four of these to every anna.

Now the main thing everyone was wanting was a good wash, so off Daddy trooped with some of the others to the showers, which were just at the end of every hut, and here he covered himself in soap and had a good wash — the first proper wash since leaving England! After changing into some clean clothes Daddy was ready for anything, and shortly afterwards he had his evening meal and strolled down the road to a place called "Tin-Town". This was nothing but a collection of corrugated iron nuts with open fronts and in these were Indians who endeavoured to sell Daddy and others all sorts of things — from pins to cases — and from rings to what have you. Now Daddy had made some enquiries before coming to this place so he knew that the people in the Bazaar knew that we had only just come from England, and therefore could hardly be expected to know just how much the rupee was worth. However, Daddy knew very well that it was worth just one shilling and sixpence, so when the Indians told him how much anything cost he immediately knew what it would cost in England. There was a difference though because quite a number of things which were sold at these places could’nt be obtained at all in England, or, if at all, only with coupons. Of course this business in England was because everyone was making fireworks and guns and ships and aeroplanes, so they could’nt find the time to make anything else; and all this was because of the Black and Yellow Dragons I have spoken to you about before. However many of these things had come from England which at all times must send goods abroad in order to buy food and other things, and even sent things overseas which Mummy and lots more people would have liked to have seen in the shops in England. This made quite a difference to many things which looked a little dear in "Tin-Town" and it was sometimes worth while to pay more for something that Mummy could’nt get. Daddy only bought some little things like combs and kirby grips for Mummy, and kept all his money till he was able to go to Bombay. He also went along to a Chinese Restaurant and bad a very nice prawn salad, and afterwards some fruit salad. By now it was about nine o'clock and Daddy was feeling very tired. At that time you would just be resting after your lunch because the time would be about three o'clock in the afternoon in England. This is because the sun is moving round the world all the time, or so it appears, for actually the world is moving round the sun. This makes it necessary to add on hours as you go East from Greenwich, which is in England, and take them off when going West. You can see that if you went to America — which is West — the time you would be laying down after your lunch would’nt be three o'clock, but only eleven o'clock in the morning, so you would be asking Mummy then what there was to eat, and not having your afternoon rest after eating it.

It was lovely to go back into the big, airy hut and make the charpoy down, putting in the sheets, and fixing the mosquito net, and then going straight off to the best sleep for a long time. I forgot to tell you that before this Daddy had written off a letter to Mummy telling of his safe arrival in India, and this letter would be carried very swiftly to England where the postman would pop it into the letter box at twenty-two Kedale Road.

The neat morning Daddy got up about eight o'clock as there was no great hurry, and be had been very tired indeed, and after a wash went along to have his breakfast. There was nothing to do then till nine o'clock and during that time Daddy was able to buy a newspaper and read all about everything that was happening everywhere. He thought the news was very good, and judged that he would not have to be in India a long time. Now on this Parade we just all stood around quite comfortably while the man in charge, who was a Plight Sergeant told us lots of things not to do whilst in India, and also some of the things we might manage. At the same time he read out a number of names of those who were already posted, and of course they had to go and get packed up at once so as to catch a train which would take them wherever they were going. After this Parade there was nothing to do till two o'clock in the afternoon, so Daddy wrote another letter to Mummy, and also to Nana and Pop. Of course at that time Daddy was allowed to tell Mummy and everyone at home only that he was in India and not where — this was because if he told them where, it might have got to the ears of the dragon, who would have come along with some fireworks and made things quite uncomfortable.

After a day or two just like this Daddy began to look round for someone to wash his clothes — as he was tired of washing them himself — so he was lucky to meet the manager of a canteen who told him where to go. Daddy took a great pile of dirty clothes to this place which was called the "dhobi man" and was very surprised to get them back the next day, all nice and clean with the tunics ironed, and this did'nt cost very much at all. Thereafter the dhobi man called regularly. Daddy did'nt know till later that the dhobi man cleans clothes by bashing them on stones using plenty of water — but very little soap, and he found this out by noticing that after a very short while indeed there were no buttons on his pyjamas!

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