THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY, 08 October 1914 – ”After a week at sea certain supplies ran short. On the Andania cigarette stocks were exhausted, and cheese was substituted for butter and jam. Flour, too, was lacking, but each day a fatigue party was told off to ground up a few bushels of wheat. The “flour” so manufactured could not be mistaken for the refined product of Canadian mills, but as someone pointed out, the resulting bread, if not particularly palatable, was wonderful stuff to fight on, a recommendation which did much to popularize it with the troops.” [1]
Nicholson in his “Official History” observed:- The crossing which was uneventful, lasted twelve days. The sea was smooth, and there was little demand for the 20,000 boxes of a secret mal-de-mer remedy in the medical stores.” [2] “On 8 October the convoy said good-bye to the cruiser Lancaster, flagship of the North American Squadron, which with H.M.S. Glory had been guarding the southern flank.” [3]
[1] R.C. Featherstonhaugh, The Royal Montreal Regiment 14th Battalion C.E.F. 1914-1925, Montreal, The Gazette, Printing Co., Ltd., 1927, pg. 14.
[2] Sir Andrew Macphail, History of the Canadian Forces, 1914-1918 – Medical Services, Ottawa, 1925, pg. 26, quoted inCol. G.W.L. Nicholson, CD., Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War: Canadian Expeditionary Force1914-1919, Duhamel, Queens Printer, Ottawa, 1962, pg. 31.
[3] Col. G.W.L. Nicholson, CD., Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War: Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919, Duhamel, Queens Printer, Ottawa, 1962, pg. 32.