If the cabins were to be kept clean, we had to do it ourselves. Every
morning saw the occupants sweeping out and cleaning up their cabins,
as no ship's servant ever entered them. The water supply was very
limited, and had to be fetched by ourselves--no matter what the
weather--sometimes from the fore peak and sometimes from a pump near the
ship's galley. Washing water and drinking water were served out twice a
day, at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., an ordinary water-can being the allowance of
the former, and a water-bottle that of the latter. The supply of washing
water was very inadequate, and no hot water was ever available. After
washing ourselves, we had to wash our clothes in the same water--for
there was of course no laundry on board--and then the cabin floor after
that. By this time the water was mud. It was impossible to have a proper
bath all the time we were on board, for there was no water supply in the
bathroom, and it was kept in an extremely dirty condition. "Laundry
work" was usually done by the prisoners after breakfast, and lines were
rigged on any available part of the ship to dry the clothes. It was a
sight for the gods to see the military officers presiding at their
washtubs on deck, and then hanging out their washing. On fine days with
a big wash the array of drying garments in various parts of the ship was
quite imposing.

My wife managed to borrow some irons from the Australian stewardess,
which she heated on the stove in the cook's galley. With these she
ironed her blouses and my shirts and soft collars, while I helped with
the hankeys. The ironing space was not ideal, being the cover, about
twenty inches square, of the cabin washstand. But the result was highly
creditable!

The saloon, about eighteen feet square, in which all the meals were