Got the news of the Dardanelles action with the oft-sunk (by journalists) Goeben etc. Doesn’t seem very wonderful to me; we get two boats sunk, sink the small German and the big one gets away and grounds herself, probably to be repaired to have another go. We can’t afford to skite; even on the water, given equal forces, they seem to fight as well as we do.
A mild excitement was the Court Martial of our Trumpeter – a fat jolly chap – for trotting on cobble road, – he got off.