Delhi
Nov 9.16.
Dear Mother
Very many thanks for your letter last week. I say we’ve just heard this evening about the Arabia being sunk, & all the passengers saved; I do hope the last part is true, but we have only got the bare wire announcing the facts, & shan’t know any details till tomorrow morning’s paper. I do hope & pray it’s true about all the passengers. I have an idea my friend Mrs Proctor was on board, & also two more people from Lansdowne, a Major & Mrs Rait of the I.M.S. whom I knew. What can be done to such swine as these Germans. I’m afraid it means a mail gone, but that after all is nothing so long as lives are saved.
We have settled down fairly comfortably now, & have 2 nice big tents for our mess. It’s getting awfully chilly here in the evening and much cooler by day. The C.O. and I share a car, on hire, between us, & it is almost a necessity to have one, as we are 3 miles out of Delhi and the distances are considerable here. I had my first driving lesson today, & hope to become quite a chauffeur by the time we leave here! The car is a 4-seater “Chevrolet”, a Yankee make & not very well known I imagine, but it goes along quite well & is quite comfortable.
I had a morning’s duck shooting the other day, but shot disgracefully & only got 6 birds; it was bitterly cold in the early morning standing in the water waiting for the birds; I hope to get a good few mornings’ similar sport, as it’s well worth it, but I really must shoot better. Nell was lamenting the fact of your not paying them a visit while you were “down west”, but I don’t expect you could manage it. Thanks awfully for the bound “Daily Mirror”, I love getting it as it gives you such a lot of news without reading much.
Bed time excuse a short note
Best love to all
yr loving son
Ted.
Report on sinking of Arabia, Melbourne Argus, 9/11/16
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1626791
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Arabia
http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?132080%23130741
http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=15029
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Series_490
