“We had heaps of fun …”

Ruby with several of her soldier patients in Kalamaria, the suburb of Salonika where the Canadian hospital was located.

In an incomplete letter to her sister Irene Nursing Sister Ruby Peterkin looks back over her long but clearly fun-filled sea voyage from Salonika to England via Crete and Taranto, Italy, where they boarded a train.

Ruby has returned from tending patients at the Canadian Medical Hospital #4 in Salonika over a span of almost two years. It seems the ship departed Salonika just days before the city was almost totally destroyed by fire on August 18 and 19. Ruby’s letter, written in September 1917, lacks its first page  and presumably the name of the ship, and her thoughts on the departure. As always, Ruby shares details with her sister Irene about the Canadian officers with whom they had “heaps of fun.”  She doesn’t mention the pneumonia and impending TB which soon will send her to hospital as a patient.

c/o Matron-in-Chief, 133 Oxford, Cranston’s Kenilworth Hotel’

Great Russell Street, W.C. 1, [Sept.] 1917

… from Ruby’s album. Could this be the ship that takes her to England?

We left Salonique on the 17^th on a transport – the day before that hapless city was consumed by fire. The sisters from No. 5 & No. 1 Canadian and about 100 Br. officers on leave were also on board. Also the men of the three Can. Hosps. but only Maj. McVicar and Capt. Trump and two officers from 1^st & 5^th came. The remainder of the officers were to follow shortly. The boat was very comfortable and we had a great trip among the Isles of Greece, travelling only at night and stopping in harbour in the day time. In most of the harbour we could get ashore and go in swimming. We had three days at Crete and had a great time. There are some of the naval men there who have not been home since Gallipoli and have not seen English girls since then. The first afternoon they gave a picnic in a little cove for twelve of us. We went in swimming and then had tea on the rocks and went back to the boat at nine o’clock.

The next day, I and three other sisters went ashore with Maj. McVicar and up to the town which is about three miles in. We had lunch and then I just had time to dash back to the ship in time to meet two of the naval officers who were to call for Miss Austin and I at 2 o’cl. They took us in the town again – you went by sail-boat to the dock then took a carriage – we had ices and tea and then drove back in the island and saw the house where Venezelos was born. There is a gorge which goes right across the island and we drove a long way up this. It was beautiful. Then we came back to the club house – the naval officers have on and had dinner there. It was too funny for any thing because it is not at all like a club house at home. There are really no eats in it and they had gone to a tremendous lot of trouble to bring dishes and eats and everything from their ships over there then they made an omelette on a primus stove for a hot dish.

There were four other girls, Scottish women, and four other officers – at the dinner too. We had heaps of fun.

Then the next day we had another bathing picnic on shore but had to be on board at four so these two nice officers came on and had tea with us there and we sailed again at six.

We were on the transport eleven days, going from Salonique to Taranto. We left Taranto the same day – Monday and came up through Italy by the troop route and so missed Rome. The Italian journey was unspeakably hot, dusty and uncomfortable. We had no berths and no where to wash and travelled without a break from 3 o’clock Monday till twelve midnight Tuesday except two hours in Boulogria at noon, where we had lunch. Otherwise, we dashed out at every station where there was a buffet, grabbed all the food we could reach, threw them some money and scrambled back on the train flourishing our trophies. And if you could have seen us washing in a three minute stop under the drip from the pipe that fills the engine – Matron and all – with one eye on the train. It was really worth having a moving picture then.

We arrived in Torino at 12 and I think would have mentioned if we had to go on that night or next morning. However, they took us to a good hotel and we did not leave till 5 next day. Then we had dinner at Modane on the frontier and changed into a French train which was much more comfortable although we still did not have sleepers. We arrived in Paris at 10.a.m.

We had two days in Paris then crossed the channel Saturday night and arrived here at noon yesterday. Do you wonder that I thought of nothing but getting to bed? Capt. Trump came all the way with us and Maj. McVicar with the men. They were both supposed to go with the men so that we had to kind of smuggle Capt Trump along and what we should have done without him I do not know.

 We are all to go to Basingstoke on Thursday and have 3 weeks leave from there —