We are to have a very lively night, that is evident. The Turks usually cease firing their big guns by this time of night, but their shells are still flying thick. The British guns are at present quiet, but the French 75's are barking furiously. It is a delight to hear their sharp, clean bark. The enemy's machine-guns have also been very active this afternoon, the crack, crack, crack, of the Turkish one being easily distinguishable from the noise made by ours. The day of our landing taught me this.
_May 27th._--I must have slept three or four hours last night, but not soundly. There was constant rifle fire beside us with one big fusillade before midnight. But what annoyed me was the smell of the thyme and other sweet-smelling herbs I had made a bed of, covering all over with a new rubber ground sheet which was very odoriferous. The mixture of odours was not pleasant. I had trampled the plants with my boots to produce as strong a smell as possible, and succeeded so well that it actually made my eyes smart all night. I rose early and was over near Gully Beach about 6 o'clock. Since then shells have been flying on our four sides and high in the air, and I hear of considerable damage.
We are much upset by the news which reached us at 7.45 that at 7 another of our ships had been torpedoed, lying just off our Beach in full view of all there. It is rumoured that it is the "Majestic," but her name we are not yet sure of. The men who brought this news out to us say they saw the men on board line up before she went down, and dive into the sea. Terrible news!
_May 28th._--Back at W. Beach. What we heard yesterday about the "Majestic" was only too true. She lies in front of our camp, about 300 yards from the edge of the cliff, a considerable part of her still above water. There is much discussion as to what part of her it is that is visible, but it appears to me to be the keel, certainly the ram is there. The killed and drowned are between fifty and sixty. Several I have spoken to distinctly saw the wake of the torpedo for many hundred yards. The "Majestic" was lying in the midst of other shipping--only supply boats of no great size, besides trawlers and destroyers, but a gap must have been left and through this the torpedo had found its way. The Admiral and Ashmead-Bartlett were both on board. The latter was on the "Triumph" when she went down two days before.
