Nov 11th, Zanzibar (letter continued)
Little did I think when I left Bombay that this was going to prove the most interesting and exciting voyage in the whole of my career.

Well after a lot of delay we all got inside Tanga harbour and the troops at once proceeded to disembark, a lengthy process, under cover of HMS Fox's guns. The first place we took was a square tower over which floated a German flag which was replaced by the Union Jack. The day after the troops went ashore I landed in the ship's boat and took the effects of two officers to headquarters. I was then about a hundred yards from the enemy's lines but couldn't see them as the jungle was so dense. That day the Fox bombarded the town of Tanga and the Bharata, one of our ships, mounted the guns she had on board and fired shrapnel.

We could see the fighting as we were only about 5 cables off the beach. Fancy seeing a real, live action! The fighting went on for 3 days. At the end of the 4th day the Military Transport Officer came aboard and asked for volunteers to man our lifeboats. Four of us, myself included with a big army revolver stuck in my belt, went ashore under the M.T.O's orders. The Bharata, Karmala and Pentakota's boats were also near the beach. It was only then that we found out what all this was about.

When it came to charging with fixed bayonets our native regiments refused and as the Germans were hailing bullets down on them from maxims fixed up in the houses the only thing to do was to retreat. There was only one English regiment but they could not push on without backing from the rear. The troops all got back on board ship and although there were only four ships boats we shipped the whole lot (7,500) in three and a half hours! The commander of the Fox said it was the smartest thing he'd ever seen and the ships officers were complimented on their gallantry!

The convoy left having failed in its objective, the English officers are fairly sick over it. We were transformed into a hospital ship and stopped behind the others to take the wounded from the shore hospital. We are now in Zanzibar coaling and provisioning then we go to Mombassa where the rest have gone and from there full steam to Bombay.

Nov 23th, Mombassa (letter continued)
There's a French mail boat leaving shortly so please excuse this abrupt ending.... We are waiting for the hospital ship Madras and then we proceed to India...

Mombassa Hospital
1.1.15 (to mother)
A nice place to start the New Year in......don't get alarmed I'm convalescent now and will rejoin my ship on Monday. I came here after one of our trips down the coast with a touch of fever. The military authorities are greatly pleased with the B(arjora) and her little manoeuvres on the coast. She succeeded in drawing off the enemy (with her guns) from a small town which was eventually taken by our men. We drew most of the enemy's forces from the town by a simple process of bluffing, I cannot explain more fully.

....your son has seen active service and on more than one occasion volunteered for outings about which I am not allowed to tell you. I've had a rifle slung across my shoulders and a revolver in my belt but enough said, I'm satisfied and I hope some more will turn up.

Jack spent the rest of the war in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. In 1917 his ship was torpedoed two hours out from Naples but it was salvaged and repaired. At the end of the war he was transporting munitions from America to France.

After the war Jack became a Captain (British Molasses Co.). In February 1933, having visited his family in Guernsey, he rejoined m.v. Athel Empress but collapsed whilst bound for California via the Panama Canal. He returned to England where he died that September, aged 43.