Atlantic Crossing Sep 26 – Oct 12, 1914

The 15^th Battalion arrived by train at Quebec in the rain on September 26^th and began boarding their transport ship the former White Star liner S.S. Megantic.  After mooring in the St Lawrence off Quebec City for several days as other convoy ships were loaded, the vessels moved down river and joined the remainder of the fleet assembling in the Gaspe. The convoy consisted of thirty-two transports and seven Royal Navy escorts –at that time this was the largest number of troops ever transported across an ocean at one time. The ships were arranged in three parallel columns spaced two miles apart with one half mile between ships in each column and the escorts positioned on all four flanks.

The convoy set sail on October 3^rd and the crossing was relatively uneventful. Time on board ship was spent in lectures, map reading, signals training, light drill, physical training, evening concerts, boxing bouts and games.

The convoy arrived off the UK on October 12^th, docked in Plymouth on the 14^th and the troops disembarked on the 16^th. The battalion departed in two main bodies by train for Patney – one led by the Commanding Officer Lt Col Currie and the other by the Second-in-Command Major Marshall – and, on arrival, marched the remaining 11 miles to South Down Camp South on Salisbury Plain.