At Newcastle the _Pamir_ took on field-guns for the English Expeditionary Force in the Dardanelles and shells for the big guns of their battleships. They are of a different calibre. We put the guns in the hold forward and the shells aft. As we had a good deal of room left aft, because the twelve-inch shells, though heavy, take little space, they told us to go by way of Gibraltar to fetch the supplies and baggage of a company of soldiers bound for Gallipoli who were to leave at the same time as we, but on another boat. All this was a little complicated, but we have seen plenty of complications since the war began. Moreover, the English aren’t fussy. The officers who supervised the loading would come around for five minutes every day, take a look and go away. This is the first time that the _Pamir_ has carried shells--real ones, charged with high explosive--and you can imagine how scared we were that one of them would fall into the bottom of the hold and blow the old hooker to blazes! Fourgues seized the opportunity to have all the cables of the winches and the steel-work of the derricks changed, saying that they were a little old and that he could not guarantee their strength. The English made no bother at all about it, but gave us a fine cable, brand-new, of high quality steel. We even had two or three hundred yards left! Didn’t I tell you, the _Pamir_ sailed refitted fore and aft? It took ten days to get to Gib., which is rather long, but as we ran into a lot of fog, with that kind of cargo Fourgues was not anxious to have a collision so he slowed down. Think of it! We had the munitions of two big English battleships, and if the _Pamir_ went down, they would have had to wait at least two months before they could send the Turks a single shell! Really, Fourgues knows his business. When we have a cargo of rubbish he doesn’t care at what speed he goes or into what weather, but with this stuff aboard he keeps inspecting the holds to see if all is safely stowed and that no cases of cartridges are broken or shells lying around loose. The English stowed it all very well, however, with good oak and new pine. There was no danger of it shifting. The _Pamir_ is rich! We shall have all that timber, and Fourgues hopes they will give him more munitions to transport, now that he is fitted up for it, because that seems more like real war-work.