The serjeant brought them to attention, then marched away. An hour later the squad was still waiting on the quay, with all the other escouades of conscripts. No officers or NCOs were there. It was wintry and cold on the bleak and exposed quay, and the young soldiers became restless to be on the ship. Eventually, they began to drift towards the nearest gangplank and went aboard.

Thus they discovered the first casualty of war: truth.

Spoder said that what they found on the ship were conditions so foul it seemed inevitable that disease would be rife. The interior had apparently never been cleaned: there was filth everywhere, and the air was rank and disgusting. There were no cabins, only narrow stretches of bare deck, and nowhere to sleep other than in some hard, cramped space on the deck, shared with others. The food was more or less uneatable. There were no facilities for exercise, there was no escape from the constant heat, noise, stench and crowding. Once the ship set sail it was impossible to move up or down to other decks. Everyone was grouching and complaining and selfishly argumentative – it was not long before the first fights broke out.

The hell of the boat continued for what Spoder estimated was at least four days. The lights were never dimmed, and there were no routines by which the passage of time could be measured. Spoder said he managed to grab some light sleep about ten times, always in short, disturbed sessions. He was soon hungry, exhausted, nauseated, frightened and angry. Then the ship ran at full speed on to some rocks.

There was an explosive, grinding roar and the entire vessel jerked violently upwards. Instantly, all the lights went out. Everyone standing was thrown to the deck. In the total darkness there was complete chaos. Spoder suffered a series of violent blows from men behind and around him. He returned them reflexively. Everyone was fighting for survival, scrambling and kicking against each other, forcing themselves upwards, trying to find air and light and freedom. Then the ship rolled to one side, with the tortured racket of the splitting hull against the rocks, amplified by the bare metal plates and bulkheads of the ship’s construction. The screaming and shouting actually intensified. Spoder said he found himself cushioned by many bodies as he fell, so although he was smothered and trapped in the confusion of the heap of struggling men, he suffered no serious injuries.