A Prisoner in Turkey Part 12

CHAPTER XV

THE SHIP

At last the ship came, and lay off Phokea, outside the Gulf of Smyrna.

We went off in tugs, out of that lovely bay, more beautiful, to my mind, than the bay of Naples, and we went on board the Australian hospital ship "Kanowna," where they gave us a royal welcome.

This was the 1st of November, 1918.

_August the 9th_, 1915--_November the 1st_, 1918.

They had many cots prepared, expecting many sick and cripples. They asked as we came on board where the sick were, and we replied that they were dead.

Phokea was a beautiful little Greek town when war broke out; it has vineyards and olive groves behind it, and it looks out on the bluest of bays. It had once been inhabited by Greek subjects of the Turks, but now it lay bare and empty, with hollow windows staring at the sea. There was an old Englishman on board, a civilian who had been many years in Smyrna, and him I asked why it lay thus desolate. "When the Turks declared a Jihad," he said, "a holy war, soldiers and a rabble came to Phokea, and crucified the Greek men upon olive trees; the women they raped and then cut their hands and feet off. What happened to the children I do not know."

There our last sun set on Turkey, and we steamed away to the South.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The complete figures, according to information received up to 25th October:--

BRITISH PRISONERS OF WAR IN TURKEY.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- Believed Repatriated, Still captured. Escaped, or Died. Untraced. prisoners.

Released. ------------------+---------+------------+-------+---------+---------- Officers-- British 472 43 14 None 415 Indian 231 7 7 None 217 ---------+------------+-------+---------+---------- Total officers 703 50 21 None 632 Other ranks-- British 4,932 279 1,840 449 2,364 Indian 10,948 1,177 1,429 1,773 6,569 ---------+------------+-------+---------+---------- Total other ranks 15,880 1,456 3,269 2,222 8,933 Total all ranks 16,583 1,506 3,290 2,222 9,565 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

[2] A fellow prisoner, who was kind enough to read through the MS. of this book for me, contributes the following note:--

"To do our difficulties justice I think you ought to say that besides the loss of value of paper against gold, the rise of prices reduced the purchasing power of the Tq to _one-twentieth_ of what it was in the summer of 1915. This is strictly true. I have a list of the prices of ordinary commodities up to Spring, 1918. Actually the purchasing value of 20 from England was between twenty and twenty-four shillings in the winter 1917-18 as compared to the early Autumn, 1915."--A.D.P.

_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_

POEMS IN CAPTIVITY

Crown 8vo. +7s. 6d.+ net.

John Still was captured by the Turks in Gallipoli in 1915, and remained in captivity for over three years, during which he found it essential to have some absorbing mental occupation to preserve his sanity. He discovered in himself then, for the first time, the power of writing verse. For many years before the war he lived in Ceylon, and the latter part of the book is taken up with poems on its peoples and lost cities, the first part containing the poems inspired by captivity.

_Morning Post._--"The poems have a quiet power that grows on the reader."

_Nation._--"Such excellent reading."

_Ill.u.s.trated London News._--"One of the most interesting books of war-verse which have yet appeared."

_Outlook._--"'The Ballad of Suvla Bay' is among the finest poems of the war."

_Daily Graphic._--"Mr. Still has an unusual command of varied form."

_Book Monthly._--"Mr. Still's verse is charged with the full ripening of poetic harvest."

_Pall Mall Gazette._--"Mr. Still is distinctly happy in expression, and his work has a very real interest."

_Scotsman._--"This remarkable volume."

_Athenaeum._--"Undeniably interesting."

_Bookman._--"Mr. Still is a poet of considerable worth."

_Ladies' Field._--"It contains very splendid verse. The strength and simplicity of them will appeal to a big public."

JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST., W. 1

THE ROAD TO EN-DOR

_Being an Account of how two prisoners of War at Yozgad in Turkey won their way to freedom._

By E. H. JONES, Lieut. Indian Army Reserve

With Ill.u.s.trations by C. W. HILL, Lieut. R.A.F.

Third Edition. Crown 8vo. +8s. 6d.+ net.

This book, besides being an extraordinary story, will specially appeal to every one who is interested in spiritualism. It tells in minute and exact detail how two young British officers, who previously knew nothing of the subject, took up spiritualism--originally to amuse their fellow-prisoners in a Turkish prison camp; how they afterwards convinced not only the Turkish officials of their mediumistic powers, but even their fellow-officers; how eventually the "spook" ran the camp, securing many privileges for the inmates, and finally nearly effected the escape of the mediums and kidnapped the Turkish Governor and Interpreter.

Afterwards the two officers feigned madness so effectually that they were repatriated on compa.s.sionate grounds as insane, and had some difficulty in convincing the British authorities of their sanity. The book reads like a wild romance, but it is authenticated in every detail by fellow-officers and official doc.u.ments. The Turkish Governor was actually court-martialled for his part in a treasure hunt inst.i.tuted by the "spook"; and since the Armistice the authors have received letters from Turkish officials asking them to return and persist in the search for the hidden treasure.

_Morning Post._--"It is easily the most surprising story of the escape of prisoners of war which has yet appeared.... No more effective exposure of the methods of the medium has ever been written.... This book is indeed an invaluable reduction to absurdity of the claims of the spiritualist coteries."

_Daily Telegraph._--"This is one of the most realistic, grimmest, and at the same time most entertaining, books ever given to the public.... 'The Road to En-dor' is a book with a thrill on every page, is full of genuine adventure.... Everybody should read it."

_Times._--"Astounding.... Of great value."

_Punch._--"The most extraordinary war-tale which has come my way."