Such a day, torrents of rain. Draft of 137 expected tonight. Am sending three officers and some N.C.O.’s to look after them in the back areas, as they are not to come into the line this time. Great officers’ rugby match with 12^th yesterday. Result, they beat us by one goal after a good game. Guns were noisy last night up to midnight—much warmer. Had another fire going in my hut and was very cosy from 5.00—7.00 p.m. Great loss the ‘Britannic’. We used to see her in Belfast. Fear the Roumanians are in a bad way.

Footnote

His Majesty’s Hospital Ship Britannic was a sister ship to RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic, all of which had been built in Belfast. She was not completed until 1915, when she entered service with the Admiralty as a hospital ship. On 21 November 1916 she was sunk by a mine laid near the island of Kea in the Aegean Sea. Of the 1,065 crew and medical staff on board (she was on her way to Lemnos to collect wounded and sick) only 30 were killed. One of the survivors was Violet Jessop, who had also survived the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912.

HMHS Britannic